The Kentucky draft horse community recently had two draft horse legends pass away within a month of one another. The first to go was Charles Orme from Mt. Sterling who passed away on October 16th, 2025 at the age of 90. Charles was known as a premier breeder and teamster of Belgian Draft Horses. He served for many years as vice president of the Eastern Kentucky Draft Horse and Mule Association. He was famous for driving his team of 7 Belgians as they pulled his big John Deere gang plow in various demonstrations and plowing competitions where he won many blue ribbons. As his obituary noted, Charles religiously worked his horses daily on the farm and always made it a point to never miss the Mt. Hope sale every spring and fall. He was dedicated to his family, touched a lot of lives and never met a stranger.

Just a few weeks after Charles passed away, on November 8th, his close friend Mike Downs (71) joined him in death after losing his battle with cancer. Mike had served for many years as the president of the Eastern Kentucky Draft Horse and Mule Association. He and his wife Joyce also served as the hosts for the US Draft Horse and Mule Contest at their farm for the past 10 years. Mike was retired from Delta Natural Gas where he had represented that company in Eastern Kentucky for over 42 years. Mike had a herd of more than a dozen Belgian draft horses and produced several high quality Belgian foals each year. He loved his Kentucky home and served on many Bath County boards and committees and had recently been inducted into the Bath County Agriculture Hall of Fame. Like Charles, Mike had many friends and was the kind of individual who never met a stranger. He will be missed by a lot of us who were blessed enough to consider him a friend.

Both Charles and Mike took their last ride in a horse drawn wagon driven by their common close friend Mike Atkins from Stockdale, Ohio. In both cases, the Lord blessed their last ride by providing two beautiful days with plenty of sunshine. Below are photos taken at both funerals. Charles is being carried in a wagon rebuilt by one of his sons and Mike was carried in the show wagon that he had driven in many shows and parades. In both cases, the horses belong to Mike Atkins which was appropriate since Mr Atkins is the one who both breeders used to break and train their foals. Click on each of the links below to see some photos of each of their last rides.