Firsthand Report: Homesteaders with Horses

Read how and why this homesteading couple incorporates riding and draft horses on their mountainous Vermont farm.

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Jessica Klick’s husband, Ted, rides John, a Brabant draft horse.
Jessica Klick’s husband, Ted, rides John, a Brabant draft horse.
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Jessica drives two other Brabants, Millie and Donna.
Jessica drives two other Brabants, Millie and Donna.
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Jessica and Ted keep a large garden on their Vermont homestead. Jessica plants vegetables to eat seasonally, and store for the winter.
Jessica and Ted keep a large garden on their Vermont homestead. Jessica plants vegetables to eat seasonally, and store for the winter.
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Jessica plants cutting flowers, as well as edible flowers in her garden.
Jessica plants cutting flowers, as well as edible flowers in her garden.
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Jessica and Ted’s homestead has assorted fruit trees, including this apple tree.
Jessica and Ted’s homestead has assorted fruit trees, including this apple tree.
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The sap is cooked down to make maple syrup.
The sap is cooked down to make maple syrup.
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Jessica collects sap from a maple tree.
Jessica collects sap from a maple tree.
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Jessica and Ted keep six horses on their Vermont farm. Brabants are a breed of draft horse related to the American Belgian. The horses help collect maple syrup.
Jessica and Ted keep six horses on their Vermont farm. Brabants are a breed of draft horse related to the American Belgian. The horses help collect maple syrup.
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This horse, Louisa, came directly from Belgium.
This horse, Louisa, came directly from Belgium.
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This horse, John, came directly from Belgium.
This horse, John, came directly from Belgium.
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To protect the bees, birds and butterflies that visit her garden, Jessica controls pests using the least toxic methods available.
To protect the bees, birds and butterflies that visit her garden, Jessica controls pests using the least toxic methods available.
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Ted heads for home with his Brabant horses.
Ted heads for home with his Brabant horses.

My husband, Ted, and I live on a farm in Peru, Vt., near the top of a mountain. Part of our land is a sugar lot, a section of woods that we tap for maple syrup. We keep six horses on our farm: two riding horses and four Brabants, an old-fashioned breed of draft horse. Before I met Ted, he lived on the farm by himself, driving and riding his horses, and sugaring with them in season.

I studied plant pathology and tree fruit diseases in graduate school, and when I met Ted, I was a research assistant for a laboratory at Cornell University. When we got engaged, I left my job in New York to move to the farm. I have a passion for agriculture, and in the three years I’ve lived here, I’ve planted a large vegetable garden and started improving the orchard. I’m also learning how to drive horses.

Old-Fashioned Draft Horses

We end up putting more work into the horses than we get out of them, but that’s OK because we enjoy them. Brabants are the ancestors of the modern American Belgian draft horse: They are shorter and stockier than the American Belgian, with more feathering on the legs. Their calm temperament, hardiness and strength make them ideal work partners for our Vermont farm, where the winters are long, cold and snowy.

Ted bought his first team of Brabants, Millie and Donna, when they were young and green. He sent them to a local man to be trained to drive, and Ted took draft horse driving lessons. Now, he uses them for work and driving on the farm, and sometimes even ventures onto the local roads and trails in our carriage.

  • Published on Feb 1, 2007
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