Photo Challenge: Working Horses

In honor of Monday’s Labor Day, we present you with horses who are still on the job!

Horses are largely a recreational venture in the United States — mechanization removed the need for the horse as a working partner. While there are plenty of full-time jobs that revolve around horses, such as veterinarians, trainers, breeders, grooms and many, many more, the majority of these horses are still produced for leisure riding or for sport competition.

However, there are a few corners of Horse Nation where the horse is still an important working partner — from packing supplies into the backcountry to tending to cattle to working the farm, horses still contribute to the working world!

Little bit of calf management through the ears of my buckskin mare Cheyenne. Photo by Hailey Longstreth.

Crossing the Bechler river with our trusty mules in tow. #adventure #wilderness #yellowstone #yellowstoneforever #backcountry #horsenation #wearetrailriders #horses #explore #packtrip

A post shared by Bijmin Swart (@bijmin) on Sep 4, 2017 at 8:15am PDT

We took out our draft horse team Rocky and Randy last evening to spread some manure–specifically, the pack bedding from our winter goat quarters. Packing the bedding provides a natural source of heat to keep the kids warm, and in the summer we clean out the pack and spread on our pastures as a natural source of fertilizer.

A post shared by Peterson Farm (@petersonfarm) on Jun 2, 2017 at 10:10am PDT

Keep an eye out for next week’s 24-hour photo challenge! We announce challenge subjects on Monday afternoon on both Instagram and Facebook.

Go riding!