Owner of horse-drawn carriage business says ‘expect the unexpected’

Expect the unexpected.

That's the rule that Karla DeCook and her husband, Mark, live by when they operate a horse-drawn carriage in a parade or other public event.

“Today, a cannon went off here during a parade,” said Karla DeCook, co-owner of Iowa Carriage Service in Sully. "We  can't practice cannon noises. I had someone alert me that it was going to happen and I just held onto the horses and they were fine.”

DeCook said staying alert is crucial when handling horses in any public setting.

“Any strange noise that they haven't heard before is going to startle or spook horses,” she said. “You can't acclimate horses to every noise that's going to happen.

“When we're waiting in line, I always stand in front of them. If something happens, I just grab the reins and settle them down.”

The DeCooks own Percherons, which they operate in a two-horse hitch. She said the horses weigh about 2,000 pounds apiece, as opposed to Belgian draft horses that typically weigh about 2,400 pounds.

“While horses can be dangerous, they're such gentle animals that don't purposely do anything,” DeCook said. "If they're spooked or you lose control, there's not much you can do about it.

“We always have two people with one of us sitting in the carriage controlling the lines and the other standing in front of the horses ready to grab the reins. That's true whether we're unloading them from a trailer or handling them in a parade.”