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About Us |
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| Alex and the Polar Boys were featured as the
first pair of model horses made by the Peter Stone Horse Company at the May
Day Parade in Shipshewana, Indiana. After the parade we did a photo shoot-
as shown below. (For models of the Polar Boys
click here.) See the Silk painting and
prints here. |
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Alex is driving the Polar Boys, Dianna Radermacher is
sitting beside him and Joe Yoder is the Groom. |
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| Alex Fraser has
been involved with horses since he was a young boy living in Ketchum, Idaho.
He used to coax the neighbor's horses over to a fence and crawl up on
their back, to ride around the corral. That
neighbor was Frank McMaster, an old horseman / trainer who was one of the
original horse whisperers way-back before whispering was a catchy phrase. To
keep Alex off the horses he was training, Frank gave him a safe pony for his
own, thinking this would keep him out of trouble. That thrill soon wore off
and Alex wanted to learn more about training horses. Frank couldn't get rid
of Alex so he soon put him to work on a dude string - taking people out for
a ride in the mountains around Red Fish lake near Stanley, Idaho. Even as a
teenager, Alex had horse instinct and common sense, and was able to tack-up
and select horses depending on the dude's experience, size and temperament.
He also worked at the Sun Valley Stables and then started training horses
and teaching people to ride. |
| A year after Alex
moved to Sandpoint, Idaho, he met Kayo and found out they shared the same
birthday. She had no previous experience with horses but accepted his offer
to go riding. Alex was training horses for other people and gave the gentler
horses to Kayo to ride. They were married in 1975 and have been together
ever since. They started buying their own horses to train and sell. To add
to his experience as a full service horseman, Alex attended horse-shoeing
school in Arizona. They wintered there with two of their own horses. |
| The Frasers became
involved in draft horses in 1976 after watching a local horse-logger pull
out some timber on the neighbors land. The giant of a horse was quiet,
gentle, willing and very able to do the work. This new aspect of
horsemanship intrigued the young couple and offered them a power source they
could use to clear a building site on their own property. They bought a
Belgian mare that was being used as a logging horse and with the help of
some ol' timers in the area who grew up working horses, Alex and Kayo learned
how to drive and work horses. Alex used his new skills to do some custom
horse logging around North Idaho. Later that fall they drove their horse in
a local show. And didn't do too bad, considering this was their first
attempt. |
| They soon were logging small parcels for
people who didn't want the larger equipment tearing up the timber area. Soon
the need for a second horse was becoming apparent. This is when
"draft-horse-itis set in. The infliction of draft-horse-itis, as Kayo calls
it, is when you get hooked on these amazing horses and you always have an
itch to improve your stock and expand on your equipment and activities. You
get one horse then you need two, and more harness and more vehicles and then
more horses - it is not curable! But it is fun! |
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With two horses the
Frasers were now able to do more things. In the summer they used the horses
to mow and rake the hay they would need for the winter. During the autumn
months they skid in fire wood or sold logs to the local lumber mill. When
there was snow on the ground they gave sleigh rides. |
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Haying became an annual
event which soon attracted the help of the neighborhood kids who all wanted
to learn how to drive the horses. This photo is one of many that were taken
by photo-journalist Chris Pietsch and published in the National Geographic
World, the kids edition, in the September 1983 issue. It was a six page
color spread. These kids and several others became the crew for the Fraser
Belgians at the horse shows for many years. |
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This is one of the few
photos I could find that had both Alex and Kayo at the same time. Kayo is
driving Amateur Team at the Denver Stock Show- and placed 3rd in this class.
The photo was taken by Browarny
Photographics, Inc. |
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| Kayo served
as Secretary/Treasurer for the North Idaho Draft Horse Association for three
years. Around 1976 she started a newsletter for the Association which she
titled the News Spreader. Many people inquired about finding a harness
maker, wheelwright, breeders, etc, so Kayo started an international draft
horse resource directory called The Reach. She published this from
1980 to 1990 when she sold the business so she could take care of her mother
in Florida who was dying of cancer. |
| In
1980, Alex apprenticed with a draft horse show judge who was also a
Percheron breeder in Canada. Since then, Alex has judged draft horse shows
in Idaho, Montana, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, and California. The
Grass Valley, California Draft Horse Classic has had him back twice to judge
that top quality show. |
| Alex
worked for a local harness shop for several years and learned how to make
and repair harness. He designed and help to construct his own set of show
harness. It was a different design than was typical for the show ring. This
one was made with Rosewood harness leather, instead of black or russet, with
brass hardware. He used a combination of English and Western designs for a
finer harness construction. Very elegant! |
| For the horses, Alex bought dark red horses with
very little white. These were great horses that the hitch people over looked
because they didn't have white manes and tails. "But they could really
move!" |
| Their show wagon was also different than
most. They bought the wagon in parts and had pieces made to complete it.
From the looks of it - the wagon could have been used as a hose or water
wagon for a fire department in the 1900's. Kayo learned how to paint from an
ol' time antique car restorer, and painted it a dark British Racing Green
metallic. The hardware was either brass plated or solid brass. Polished up -
it looked like gold. The wheels were the same color as the body which was
different from most of the hitch wagons in those days, with the lighter
colored wheels and chassis. |
| The judges
didn't like this new look at first but they finally noticed how nice the
hitch looked and how well the horses performed. Alex said, "whether or not
the judges liked it - the crowd sure did. That "look" helped me to sell a
lot of horses." It was also the look that led to the creation of the Fraser
School of Driving. |
| Another
source of income for Alex and Kayo included the creation and operation of a
horse-drawn trolley ride business on the streets of Sandpoint, Idaho. They
trained people to drive the trolley horses for several years until the
"kids" who helped them were old enough to drive commercially. They ran this
business for eight years and sold it before they moved to Montana. |
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The Frasers showed
draft horses with a lot of success for over 25 years. They had a six horse
hitch of Belgians showing from a Single Cart, Teams, Tandem, Unicorn, Four
Horse Hitch, Four Abreast and the Six horse Driving and Conformation
classes. They attended all the shows available in the west including the
Denver Stock Show in Colorado, The Calgary Stampede in Canada, The Draft
Horse Classic in California, The Idaho Draft Horse International in
Sandpoint and the Draft Horse and Mule Extravaganza in Monroe, Washington. The
ribbons really piled up! |
| They later trained and
showed a Six Horse Hitch of Dapple Grey Percherons for a client in
Arizona/Colorado. |
| In 1989, Dawna, a woman
from California saw the Fraser's Hitch of Belgians at the Sandpoint show and
said, "That is what I want!" Meaning the quality of horses, turn out and way
of driving. She had been driving for years but was not very confident, so
she asked Alex if he would start a driving school to teach her to show the
way he was showing. |
| Alex and Kayo moved to
Montana in 1990 to help a friend with his draft horses and to take care of a
portion of his 1200 acre ranch. It wasn't until 1995 that they officially
started The Fraser School of Driving. |
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Dawna was their first
out of state client. She booked a week of driving lessons and said her
only regret was that she didn't book two weeks of lessons. She had a lot fun and
learned more than she expected. She eventually decided to buy the team of
Belgian draft horses that she used for the lessons, took them home and used them
on wagon train rides and at the shows. |
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The first instate student was
Paula Scott. She had been showing a pair of Norwegian Fjords at the
Combined Driving Events (CDE), but wanted to do learn how to drive a team of
four
Fjords. She finally talked Alex into driving for her at the CDEs and she has been a good client and friend ever since.
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Alex went to his first show in Utah with
Paula Scott's
four in hand of Norwegian Fjords. Never having seen a CDE, he successfully
completed the courses and was instantly hooked on this new aspect of driving. Learning the rules was the next on going challenge.
Paula brought in the top CDE drivers and clinicians so Alex would become
proficient in this new phase of horsemanship. They were the only team of 4
horses
showing at the CDEs in the western part of the United States for many years.
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They decided to retire the Fjords in 2004. Paula had Alex
buy her some awesome ponies and she bought a single horse from him that she
competing with at Training Level. This photo was taken of Paula driving
Jesse at the CDE in Jackson, WY.
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Alex takes turns driving Paula's pair and driving his
own horses, including The Polar Boys. They are awesome! This photo was taken by Sharon from
Oregon. |
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