The American Work Horse Museum is the creation of Dr. and Mrs. Henry Buckardt who gave their entire collection of horse-drawn agricultural equipment to the college of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech.

The Buckardt Collection has been supplemented by additional machinery generously contributed by members of the Virginia Draft Horse and Mule community.  

The Museum presents dozens of photographs of horse-drawn machinery in actual use.  These rare archival photographs are courtesy of the Blue Ridge Institute and Museum at Ferrum College.

• Plows including one brought from Scotland by an early American settler, one from Senator Byrd's apple orchard, and many more.
• Implements for preparing seedbeds, for planting and seeding, for cultivation and harvesting.
• Peanut Planters and Corn and Soybean planters.  Grain Drill were used to broadcast small grains and grasses in seedbeds.
• Hay-making machinery - horse drawn mowers, rakes and rare hay wagons.
• Hand Cradles and a rare folding bar reaper used for harvesting cereal grains.
• Horse Treadmills which were used to generate stationary power for light farm chores.
• Breed exhibits explaining the difference in the types of draft horses.
• Horse Collars of many types.
• Fly Nets that the horse would shake to keep off pests.
• Rare Old Photos of the horse-drawn farm equipment in use.  Remarkable and unusual high-quality images from the cameras of skilled Appalachian and USDA photographers.
• Wagons used for hay gathering and a different style that was useful for hauling those small grains.
• Postal Wagons used by the Rural Free Delivery (RFD) letter carriers.
• Seed Cleaning devices used to separate grains from the chaff.
• Harness and a complete explanation of how it works.