Sunriver Stables employee Tim Nivison drives a sleigh full of holiday passengers, pulled by a 16-year-old Belgian draft horse named Willy, in Sunriver on Tuesday afternoon.

They’re an icon in Christmas carols and on winter postcards. But in real life, horse-drawn sleighs are not so simple.

Sleigh rides can be a fun tradition or more trouble than they’re worth, depending on whom you ask.

In Sunriver, giant draft horses don bells daily and pull sleds through the snow or — if the weather doesn’t cooperate — over pavement, thanks to tiny, removable wheels.

Meanwhile, the award-winning Lone Pine Clydesdales head into the barn when the snow flies, and the sleigh sits idle.

“It is kind of an outdated mode of transportation,” admits Jon Russell, who co-owns the Sunriver Stables with his wife, Jackie. “On the other hand, it still holds that imagination for people, that they are riding in a sleigh with snow. It’s a romantic idea.”

And in Sunriver, it’s a tradition. The resort has offered horse-drawn sleigh rides from November through March for the past 14 years.

A sleigh ride there lasts 30 to 40 minutes and costs $100 or $125, depending on the date, for up to five people.

The sleighs are a traditional vis-a-vis — French for “face-to-face” — style, which means they include two benches facing one another. Up to five people fit in each sleigh.

The Sunriver sleighs dash along a bike path next to the Deschutes River. They go over a meadow and through the woods. Transportation to grandmother’s house is not included.

Rocky Hegele, who co-owns Lone Pine Clydesdales with his wife, Candy, says there are quite a few draft horse enthusiasts in Central Oregon.

“I think everyone (with draft horses) has got a sleigh sitting around back somewhere,” he says.

But there’s a reason you don’t hear sleigh bells ringing on their ranches all winter.

“It’s not too fun,” he says with a laugh. “It’s cold and snowy, and after we go all summer doing wagons and parades and horse shows, we’re ready to stay inside.”

When people call his ranch seeking sleigh rides, Hegele says he tries to talk them out of it.

“To me, it’s not worth taking a really expensive horse out into the snow,” he explains.

Pulling a sleigh is different from pulling a cart or wagon.

“Everything is at a walk,” Hegele says. “And the sleigh is, when you go to turn, you’re actually sliding it. Wagons track behind you, like you’re pulling a trailer. But with sleighs, you really have to be careful.”

A horse that pulls a sleigh needs special equipment, too. In Sunriver, the horses wear shoes coated with a special substance called borium to keep them from slipping on the snow or ice.

The resort has five draft horses that pull sleighs. A pair of 15-year-old Haflingers named Bert and Ernie pull as a team. The others — a 12-year-old shire-thoroughbred cross named Mike, a 16-year-old Belgian named Willie and a 7-year-old Percheron named Prince — pull solo.

Draft horses, which are bred for heavy pulling, have a different personality than the lighter horse breeds more likely to carry a saddle and rider, says Russell.

“There’s more of a depth of personality,” he explains. “I think it’s their eyes — you look in their eyes, and there’s just more in there.”

Hegele says draft horses are more easygoing than lighter breeds.

“They’re a lot more willing to please. They were bred to work, and that’s just how they are. … After I bought my first team (of draft horses), all the other horses left,” he says with a laugh.

According to Russell, sleigh rides are a popular activity in part because they suit all ages.

“They’re fun for babies, and they’re fun for grandma,” he says. “It’s not every day you can take the whole family outside. And that’s what the holidays are about.”

Sometimes, a sleigh ride marks the beginning of a new family. Roughly a dozen people each year propose marriage during the Sunriver sleigh rides, said Russell.

“I guess romance isn’t dead after all,” he says. “At least for a few guys.”

Book a sleigh

To reserve a sleigh ride in Sunriver, call 541-593-6995.