From the Montana Draft Horse and Mule Association “Teamster Hall
of Fame” website:
“The Montana Draft Horse and Mule Association has selected 2012 inductees into the Montana Draft Horse and Mule Association Teamster Hall of Fame. 2012 Inductees are Jim and Donna Norgaard of Roy, Rusty and Margaret Hebel of Dillon, and Doc Hammill of Eureka, Montana.The Induction Ceremony will take place at the Big Sky EXPO, Saturday, September 15, 2012.
at Deer Lodge, Montana. Check the EXPO website for details and additional information
http://www.montanadrafthorsemule.com/teamsterhalloffame.htm"The draft animal era in America dates from the mid-1800s to the 1930s when expansion and industrialization depended on horses, mules, oxen, and the teamsters who drove them. The majority of people who use our modern highways and are served by railroads may not realize that draft animals were used to build early transportation systems. Draft animals served our nation in many ways in the past.
The use of draft animals has not entirely ended. Indeed, while many think the use of draft horses, mules and oxen is novel, there has been increasing use in recent years. Without individuals, such as those honored by the Montana Draft Teamster Hall of Fame, skills needed to use draft animals would be difficult to obtain.
The Montana Draft Teamster Hall of Fame is dedicated to those individuals that have made significant contributions to the preservation and dissemination of knowledge, education, and use of draft animals and or draft equipment for work or pleasure in Montana. Induction into the Montana Draft Teamster Hall of Fame is based on an outstanding record of contributions to teamster education, preservation and use of draft animals or restoration of equipment used by draft animals.
The Class of 2012 has a remarkable record has a remarkable record of achievement in the preservation and use of draft horses and mules and the education of teamsters. 2012 Hall of Fame Inductees are Jim and Donna Norgaard of Roy, Rusty and Margaret Hebel of Dillon and “Doc” Hammill of Eureka, Montana."
About Doc
Doug “Doc”
Hammill has many, many years of experience with horses in harness. “Doc” often tells students about how he, as a
youngster of 7, decided to hitch and drive his pony. He recollects that he
nailed ‘shafts’ (two small pieces of lumber about
the right size) onto a two wheeled cart.
He fashioned a harness of found objects, including leather straps and
bailing twine, and secured the pony to the cart. Using more twine for lines, he
jumped on the cart-Ben Hur style and drove off…..never bothering to check to
see if the pony had ever been trained to drive.
He countered
much of what he learned the hard way as a youth, by seeking out good older
teamsters to spend time with when he moved to Montana as a young veterinarian
in the ‘60s. Doc often credits his many
good teamster mentors with really teaching him to drive and work with horses in
harness. Over time Doc, a well-respected veterinarian, acquired his first team
of Clydesdales and a piece of ground. There,
he raised many colts, farmed his eighty acres near Creston, Montana, using horse drawn plows, discs, rakes,
harrows, mowers, balers, drills, and combines, wagons and carts pulled by his Clydesdales
and mules. Throughout, his learning process, Doc has taken what he has learned
from research, his own trials, and his mentors, and has created his own style
of horsemanship; he calls it “Gentle Horsemanship”.
Doc created of
“Old West Adventures” and as owner/operator for over ten years, he treated
thousands of customers to wagon and sleigh rides pulled by his Clydesdales at
Big Mountain in Whitefish, Montana. He
also organized and participated in
authentic wagon trips in Montana, some for pleasure, some commercial, with
horse drawn wagons pulled by hitches of two and four horses or mules.
For the last 15
years or so, Doc has combined his passion for teaching and sharing his
knowledge of equines and driving horses in harness to help interested people
learn to drive and work horses in harness. He often says, “Passing on what I’ve been so
fortunate to learn in over 45 years of working with horses is also a way of
honoring my teachers.”
First
at his remote Hard Trigger Ranch near East Glacier, Montana and more recently
at Therriault Creek Ranch near Eureka, Montana, students come from all over the
US, Canada, some traveling from Europe and Australia to learn driving skills
and how to work with horses from Doc. Students of “Doc Hammill Horsemanship”
number in the thousands. He regularly travels to other locations in the US and
Canada to do Driving and Working Horses in Harness Workshops. He has dedicated
his life to bringing “gentle horsemanship” (his term for natural horsemanship)
to people and especially the draft horse and mule world through workshops and
clinics, written words and educational DVDs.
Doc has
written a draft horse driving column, “Ask a Teamster,” in The Small Farmers
Journal for more than 15 years, as well as a regular contributor to Rural
Heritage Magazine. He is a frequent presenter at Horse Progress Days and other
draft horse events around the country. Doc has produced several educational
DVDs, featuring his gentle horsemanship techniques that have helped many, many
people learn to drive and work with horses.
