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The Amish communities of America are fascinating people who live according to a certain group of religious principles. One of the main and possibly most notable principles is the refusal to use any electronic devices and many other modern machines, including cars. Of course, like all groups, the Amish are made up of varying beliefs and practices. That being said, a driver of an Amish horse and buggy was caught on film, absolutely crushing a perfect drift with his one-horsepower rig. If you thought drifting a FWD car was hard, wait until you see this.

Amish horse and buggy drifting across two lanes of traffic
Amish drifting | Police dashcam footage

Amish driver pulls better drift than most Mustang drivers at Cars and Coffee

If you are asking yourself, “Wait! How can an Amish person drift without a car?” don’t overthink it. Just like the rest of us, sometimes you have to hoon whatever you drive, even if it’s a horse and buggy. 

According to CarScoops, of the roughly 350,000 Amish Americans, many still rely on the horse and buggy for their main mode of transportation. However, I would wager that very few of that number regularly can bust a crazy drift in the buggy with a single horse pulling. 

This amazing clip found its way to Reddit, where it thankfully discriminated into the rest of the internet so we could all enjoy this Amish driver’s incredible horsemanship. 

Did you know you can drift a horse and buggy? 

The video seems to be shot from a police dashcam showing the car driving down a rural road at night when a lit-up Amish horse and buggy comes careening off a side road, sliding into the main road right in front of the driver taking the video. The cart drift looks like something out of an Amish action film. The buggy nearly flips when the wheels catch traction, but our heroic driver manages to keep his one-horsepower rig on the tarmac. The horse-drawn buggy shoots a dramatic shower of sparks behind the buggy, covering the road in a flash. 

Despite some preconceived notions of the Amish people and their assumed quaintness, some Reddit users who claimed to live in Amish country commented saying that this kind of exciting driving is not as uncommon in Amish communities like the ones in Pennsylvania and Ohio, as we may think. Commenters even reference Amish folks drag racing horses and buggies. And, why wouldn’t they? 

The rest of the country is keen on driving fast cars and showboating to impress our crushes and friends, so why wouldn’t the Amish also want to live a little reckless from time to time? 

The need for speed is universal

YouTube is littered with videos of Amish youth doing what most other youths do when they get the key (reigns) to mom and dad’s car (buggy); they race it. These buggy races are not only more common than we might think, but they are also faster – well, maybe. 

The average Amish horse and buggy are usually doing between five and eight mph. However, we have seen things like a jet-powered buggy that could hit 60 and the insane (potentially offensive) Dodge Challenger on buggy wheels (this doesn’t exactly apply, but it’s a bucket of fun.)

Amish horses and buggies are fairly unique to the American Amish in our modern times. But, these people’s love of thrills (or maybe he was just late?) is nothing out of the ordinary. What can I say? People like to drive fast.

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