We had been trying to keep this under wraps
>as we knew this would happen once folks found out that with some effort you
>can train moose to harness. Once this picture got out, it's been E-mailed
>around like crazy but no one has bothered to fill in the rest of the story
>so before any rampant rumors get going, I better write down what I know. I
>folks want to extrapolate on that, then Lord only knows where this picture
>and story will end up.
>
>
>The man in the picture is Jacques Leroux who lives up near Escourt Station
>and has always had work horses, first for actual work and then for show at
>Maine's' many summer fairs.
>
>
>
>I think he had two matched pairs, one Clydesdales and the other Belgiums.
>He would turn them out to pasture each morning and then work them in the
>afternoon dragging the sled around the fields.
>
>
>
>Three springs ago, he noticed a female moose coming to the pasture and
>helping herself of the hay and what grain the work horses didn't pick up
>off the ground. Jacques said he could get within 10 feet of the moose
>before it would turn and move off.
>
>
>Two springs ago, the moose foaled(?)at the edge of the work horse pasture
>and upon getting to it's feet had not only the mother in attendance but
>the four horses. The young moose grew up around the horses and each
>afternoon when Mr. Leroux took the teams for their daily exercise the
>yearling moose would trail along the entire route next to the near horse.
>
>
>At some point, the yearling got so accustomed to Mr. Leroux that, after he
>had brushed each horse after a workout, he started brushing down the moose.
>The moose tolerated this quite well so Mr. Leroux started draping harness
>parts over the yearling to see how he would tolerate these objects. The
>yearling was soon harness broken and now came the question of what could
>you do with a harness broke moose.
>
>
>As you may or may not know, a great deal of Maine is being bought up by
>folks "from away" and some of them understand principles of forest
>management. Well the folks buying small parcels of land up in the area of
>the Allagash have it in their mind that they don't want big skidders and
>processors and forwarders on their small wood lots. Enter Mr. Leroux with
>his teams of horses.
>
>
>Every morning, when Mr.. Leroux loaded the teams into the horse trailer to
>go off to the days job, the yearling moose got quite riled up and one day
>loaded himself right into the trailer with the horses. At the job site,
>Jacques unloaded the horses and as the moose stayed right with them, he
>would take the Clydesdales and his brother Gaston would take the Belgians
>and off into the woods they would go with the moose trailing behind. They
>would put the harness on the moose in case they encountered someone who
>they could kid with the explanation that the moose was a spare in case
>something happened to one of the horses. The work required them to skid
>cut, limbed and topped stems to the landing where the stems could be loaded
>onto a truck for the pulp mill.
>
>
>All morning long the two brothers brought out twitch after twitch of stems
>with the moose following the Belgian team for the most part. At lunch break
>Jacques had the bright idea of putting trace chains and a whiffle tree on
>the moose's harness and all afternoon the moose went back and forth
>following the Belgians in and out of the woods dragging his whiffletree
>along the ground. As there were no stumps in the skid trail, the whiffle
>tree never hung up on anything and that first day in harness went great. So
>next day, they hitched on first a small stem and the moose brought it out
>just fine following the Belgians.
>
>
>Mr. Leroux told me they were up to four small stems now and the moose was
>doing just great. He cautioned however that there were a few problems with
>using a bull moose. Come June, when the new antlers start, the new bone is
>"in velvet" and must itch like crazy as the moose stops every once in
>awhile and rubs his rack against just about anything to appease the itch.
>Once, before the brothers learned to tie him of by himself while they had
>lunch, moose was rubbing his antlers against the hame on the Clydesdale
>called Jack and got it wedged there for a bit. Jacques said he wished he
>had a camera as it looked like moose was trying to push Jack over.
>
>
>The other problem is the rutting season. The brothers learned quickly to
>leave moose in the barn as he was constantly on red alert in the woods
>during this time. The brothers are also considering trying this with two
>females to make a matched pair which would become an instant hit at the
>Maine Fairs. The trouble with the bulls is their racks. They would be
>constantly rubbing and hitting each other and yes they would have to be
>gelded as I just couldn't imagine getting the two bulls anywhere near each
>other, let alone in harness.
>
>
>So now that this picture is going all over the place, the surprise has been
>let out of the proverbial bag. The Leroux's want to continue the work of
>trying to get a pair of females in harness but they may have to end up
>breeding moose to do this and that's where they will run into trouble with
>the State of Maine IF & W. I'm sure they don't like the idea of the
>brothers "keeping" wild animals.
>
>
>Thought you should know the rest of the story. If any of you doubt this
>please contact Tom Whitworth in Ashland ,Maine. I think he said was a
>second cousin to the Lerouxs and has seen this anomaly many times.
>
>Regards from your frozen most Northeasterlystate,
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