‘Gentle giants’ on display

On Saturday, visitors at Maasdam Barns in Fairfield had the opportunity to meet some “gentle giants.”

Maasdam Barns hosted its August Horses at the Barn event, a monthly chance for people to get to see the barn’s signature draft horses up close.

“With this being an ever-changing museum, we want to help people experience different things about farm life,” caretaker Leon Connelly said. “Everybody likes live animals. It’s nice to educate people on farm animals, because it’s not every day that you see horses.”

He said the idea for the Horses at the Barn events came from visitors to Maasdam Barns.

“When we have bus tours come here there are two things they ask,” he said. “Where are the restrooms, and where are the horses?”

Connelly said that Maasdam Barns has been known for its draft horses for several decades.

“In 1935, Louis d’Or was the world’s biggest horse and weighed 2,400 pounds,” he said. “He was kind of the crown jewel of the claim to fame for this farm.

“The Maasdam family won quite a few trophies, that we now have in our museum, for draft horses.”

To make it easier for people to visit the horses, a paddock was built.

“This piece of ground was all sloped off, so we put a lot of fill dirt in here and made it a useful piece of ground and put up this paddock,” Connelly said. “When you see it without horses in it, it looks huge. But, when you see it with some horses in it, it doesn’t look that big.”

Caliann Nupp, 8, and her 6-year-old sister Shila were among the first visitors Saturday morning.

They took turns trying to feed hay to a pair of draft horses through the paddock fencing.

“He didn’t even try to eat my hand,” Shila said.

Caliann expressed her love for horses.

“I love horses,” she said. “They’re so full of joy.”

The next opportunities to visit the horses will be Sept. 11 and Oct. 9.