Goodchild does more than sing a sleighing song

Clark Goodchild, of Le Mars, rides in the one-horse open sleigh he built. Twister, his palomino quarter horse, is driving the sleigh through the snow as a part of Goodchild's training for Twister. [Click to enlarge]

"Dashing through the snow in a one horse open sleigh."

You might see Clark Goodchild doing just that this winter.

For the Le Mars man, it's not just a song.

It's a horse training tool.

Goodchild, a real estate man who works with horses in his free time, built an open sleigh to be pulled by his palomino quarter horse Twister.

"I recently trained him to drive," Goodchild said. "It's good to teach horses to drive a sleigh first because of the control factor."

He explained. A wagon, with wheels, could be much more dangerous to teach a horse to pull first because the wagon responds more easily to the horse's pull -- increasing the potential of a runaway horse and wagon.

A sleigh, on the other hand, is more dead weight.

"They're actually dragging something," Goodchild said. "You don't take a raw horse and hitch him to a wheeled cart."

With this idea in mind, Goodchild decided to build a one-horse sleigh.

The sleigh Goodchild built consists of the box, which he built, which is where the rider sits.

"I built it with the idea of a Santa sleigh," he said. "It could fit two adults, or an adult and a few kids."

He attached the box to runners, which he ordered, made of curved wood. The runners have metal strips on them to handle the wear and tear.

As for the horse, Twister's training began in late summer.

"He has to get used to the blinders and all the stuff dangling off his body," Goodchild explained. "For a horse that's quite a feat."

Horses are herd animals, so when they're by themselves, they tend to be jittery, Goodchild said. On top of that, they are naturally preyed-upon animals, he said. So their instinct when they hear something rustling or moving behind or near them is to flee.

When you're riding in a sleigh or wagon attached to a horse, you don't want that horse to be thinking "run!"

In all things, Goodchild handles horses with healthy dose of respect for the beasts.

"They are a 1,200 pound animal," he said.

After Twister, who is seven years old, got used to the blinders and the rest of the gear, Goodchild hitched him up to some freight pallets to pull around. With weights on them, the pallets served as a good transition for Twister to get used to dragging something behind him.

Finally it came time to hitch Twister to the sleigh.

Goodchild said the horse is handling the new "discipline" just fine.

"He's green, but he's doing good," Goodchild said. "I'm pleased with the way he handles it."

The next step for Twister will be making the transition from a sleigh to something with wheels.

"That will be less dead weight, but he's much more safe and controlled now," Goodchild said.

He plans to get a wagon or some kind of wheeled device to have Twister pull him in. Parades and outings like that could be in the future. Goodchild is a member of the Le Mars Saddle Club.

Goodchild's sleighride memories date back to his childhood.

"I grew up with horses," he said. "When I was a kid my parents had a cutting sleigh. My dad loved horses."

Goodchild's own interest in the animals was rekindled six years ago when his own kids left home and he had more time to pick up a hobby.

Since then, he even broke one horse, Chief, who is now four-years-old, for riding and he's training Twister to drive.

"It's good therapy -- they don't talk back," Goodchild laughed. "There are definitely rewards with it."

His enjoyment of working with horses is really what sparked the whole sleigh idea.

"I'm not going to take the winter off from my horses because there's snow on the ground," Goodchild said. "I don't care if it's zero degrees, I ride."

Then he paused and grinned.

"After zero, I'll stop."