The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

"WEEKEND STAR" FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2000 - 7 Kings & Queens of the furrow George Finney wipes the sweat from his brow. In the scorching summer heat, he looks fondly at the two heavy horses hooked to the ancient plow as he prepares to plow his assigned field section. The veter- an plowman and senior citizen looks over his field with a practiced eye. It could be a page from the past, but it is the Region Of Durham Plowing Match, held last Friday on the DeGeer farm near Leaskdale. Among the many tractors of all descriptions, there are a select few in the annual match who draw their horsepower from the real thing: Big, sturdy teams of farm horses, whose place at the front of a plow go back to pioneer times. Mr. Finney said that he thinks the presence of the big horses at the matches is important. "In the old days, a straight (plow) furrow was a sign of a good farmer," he said. "It showed a man that took pride in the work. | can remember farming for my father when it didn't matter what you were doing - it could be spreading manure - you better do it in a straight line." A straight line isn't all there is to it, either. Mr. Finney said there are many ways to gain or lose points at the competitions. "There are 180 possible points in about 18 cate- gories where you can lose, for everything from straight lines to depth to how well you cover the sod and so on," he said. "There are a lot of ways to lose points, that's for sure." If the crowd is any indicator, the horse teams are still looked upon as an art form of sorts; they provide a liv- ing demonstration of a time long past. Mr. Finney hopes his 15 years of competition in horse drawn events will éncourage younger farmers into the almost lost art. "It's a part of the history, you know," he said. "I hope the younger fellas keep it up." George Finney lifts himself from the shade of his horse trailer and wipes his brow a final time, saying what thousands of Canadian farmers over 300 years have said as they led their teams to the field. "Well, | better get at it, hadn't I ?" Photos and story by Rik Davie Some of Ontario's best compete for titles at the Durham Ploughing Match held near Leaskdale Below: A sight from the past greeted spectators at the Region Of Durham Plowing Match last Friday near Leaskdale. Terry Linton of Roseneath Ont. showed his hand plowing technique with his horses... Karry and Pearl. The horses work Mr. Linton's farm on a regular basis when they are not showing their stuff to the crowds at plowing matches across the province. Above and left: George Finney shows the straight plowing style he said is the mark of a good farmer as he and his team plowed through the competition at the Region Of Durham Plowing Match last Friday. Michelle DeGeer, below, this year's Queen of the Furrow, at the Region of Durham Plowing Match, showed she knows her stuff during the plow competition last Friday. - RN URGE RE NC i oe EDO i SN re rat Te aA TR a nr -- i -- iE