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Show HORSE POWER The teams of horses tested in pulling pul-ling contests conducted at the recent Iowa State Fai developed all the way from 8.6 'to 21.2 horsepower, and exerted 2,000 to 2,300 pounds in tractive pull, according to a report re-port furnisher by the Horse Association Associa-tion of America. Actual measurement of the horsepower horse-power and tractive pull developed in these tests was made possible thru the horse and mule dynamometer, the invention of Professor E. V. Collins, Col-lins, of the Iowa State College. With this dynamometer predetermined loads can be imposed on horses or mules for any required distance or time, and pair after pair can be tested test-ed with assurance that the load remains re-mains the same. "Tractive pull" refers to energy exerited in a direct pull, and is the same as the pull required to pull a weight out of a hole in the ground. The tractive pull required to pull an ordinary walking plow in stubble turning a furrow six inches deep and 1 4inches wide, is about 400 pounds; or in other words the team has to expend the sameenergy as it would in pulling 400 pound weight out of a deep hole in the ground. "No final conclusions can be drawn from these first tests, says the Association's As-sociation's report, but evidence brought out indicates that the value of weight has not been over-emphasized by horse users. The true pulling light teams were able to start nearly as large loads as the heavier pairs, but could not carry through i. e., could not pull the load the required re-quired distance. Furthermore the tremendous effort they were obliged to make showed that they would soon be so exhausted they could not starti such a load. The heaviest city "team weight 3,630 Jpounds were able to start heavier loads than all but two of their competitors, and carried them more quickly, with fewer trials and with less exhaustion |