FAMILY'S BELGIAN DRAFT HORSES ARE CHAMPIONS

OAK RIDGE -- Those who saw the team of Belgian draft horses in the Christmas Parade of Lights in Cape Girardeau were watching champions in action.

Dutch Valley Linda and Country Pride Amy recently finished first in the Best Pair of Mares Hitched competition at the 1999 North American International draft Horse Show in Louisville, Ky.

The mares were shown by Charles and Verla Mangels of Oak Ridge along with their son and daughter-in-law Weston and Sandy Mangels of Jackson and their young daughter Darla. In all, the Mangels' Belgians brought home a fourth-place, a fifth-place and two sixth-place awards.

This was the first time they had ever entered the big show at Freedom Hall and did so because they had had so much success with Dutch Valley Linda and Country Pride Amy earlier in the year. But they didn't expect to win the top prize among such top competition.

"We were flabbergasted," Charles said.

The winning hitch also appeared in the Oak Ridge High School 125th anniversary parade last fall and the Jackson Christmas Parade with Santa Claus in tow.

The Mangels family has been raising Belgian draft horses since 1949 and have shown them at the Southeast Missouri District Fair since 1951. They currently have about 15 horses, most of them mares.

The Mangels buy horses when they are 2 years old and train them to work on farms. They use them to plant corn and rake hay on their own farm. "We've got tractors but there are certain jobs we do with horses. It's part of the program." One of his sons, Steve, spent five years working with the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales at Grant's Farm. He does most of the farrier work and training.

Another Mangels son also helps raise the horses. Kent is the basketball coach at Kelly High School.

Belgians are the most popular breed of draft horses in America, Charles says, primarily because of a religion. "A lot of them are in the hands of the Amish and they use them," he says.

Belgian draft horses are a cousin to the famous Clydesdales. "They are basically the same size but just a little different," Charles says.

The champion mares are consigned to be sold next month in the Mid-America Draft Horse Sale at Rantoul, Ill. Charles Mangels says he doesn't have a problem selling the horses. "Some of the children have a little trouble with it, but it has always been a business to me," he said.

The pair of mares could bring as much as $10,000 at auction, he said.