People from all across Manitoba gathered in a field just off of Kokomo Road east of Steinbach Saturday to watch a plowing match.

John Hildebrandt is the Vice President of the Southeast Manitoba Draft Horse Association and Chairman of The Plow Match for the six years it has been running. Hildebrandt says The Plow Match consisted of two main kinds of events, one involving horses and the other tractors. He notes both contests are judged on how skillfully contestants display various plowing techniques such as “open splits” or crowns”.

Since its inception, Hildebrandt indicates, the number of people attending annually has grown to around 20 competitors with between 200 and 300 spectators every year. This year visitors came from all across the Province, he adds, “we had people come from Dauphin, Brandon, judges from Boissevain, and horses all the way from Kelwood.”

“Why do we do this?” exclaims Hildebrandt “Well for fun! I explained this to my grandson, I go through all this work, I do this stuff, and [for me] it's just like one of your video games: this is my game.”