Even 21st century technology can sometimes benefit from some good old fashioned horse power. Take Fred, one of the Belgian workhorses owned and driven by Claude Desmarais. Fred isn’t pulling a carriage for tourists in Central Park. No, he’s pulling fiber optic cable through the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.

When the terrain is too rugged for conventional fiber installation crews, Desmarais and his draft horses step up to the plate. It is thanks to this “old fashioned” draft technology that parts of rural Vermont — and other states with similar issues — are getting lit up with fiber.

For more than three decades Desmarais and his teams have been in demand and there’s no sign of his workload dropping off. After all, Fred’s not only effective, he’s sustainable — he barely impacts his environment, even when crossing private land and he leaves fertilizer wherever he goes. No extra charge!