There is something about being around draft horses that I have always enjoyed.
It probably goes back to stories my dad used to tell about how he quit school in Grade 8 to stay home and work the big horses in the field.
When I was a youngster, a few decades ago now, the stories were most intriguing because of the prospect of quitting school, but as I grew older I came to understand my dad's love of the big horses.
At the recent Grain Millers Harvest Showdown in Yorkton, it was great to see the gentle giants as part of the event, especially when the draft horse show has been eliminated from Canadian Western Agribition. I have to think that is a mistake by the CWA given how impressive a ring full of four and six-horse hitches are. It is sad that has been lost at what we often hear referred to as the premier livestock show in Canada.
In the case of the Yorkton show, one of the most amazing moments for me was to watch young school students gathered around the massive draft horses. The children were in awe, but also so excited to be able to reach out and pet the big horses which took the attention in their usual docile nature.
That is perhaps the most amazing thing about draft horses, how the powerful horses are so amazingly calm. The seeming opposites come into focus when watching the horse pull competition. Between pulls, the horses stand quietly on the sidelines.
Once they are hooked to the pulling sled, there is an explosion of power as the horses get down to the business of pulling. To see the horse pulling up to 10,000 pounds shows their great power, and how it was that much of the Canadian Prairies was transformed to farmland through the sweat of horses such as those now relegated to pulling show wagons and competitive pulling as they have given way to mechanization.
It is good though, that breeders are keeping draft breeds alive, and in terms of raising top animals, the Canadian Prairies certainly excel.
An example of the quality was seen at the recent World Clydesdale Show held in Wisconsin.
Donegal Dr. Pepper was recently named Supreme Champion Clydesdale of the world at the show. The six-year-old stallion was raised by Greg Gallagher of Canora and was chosen Grand Champion Stallion of the show for his current owners"Bob and Laura Gookin of Boulevard, Cal. He topped a field of 108 stallions that were eligible for the title.
The championship was one of several top-10 class finishes to come back to Western Canada.
And in 2012 it will be the Belgian breed's time to shine as their world show is held in Brandon, an event high on my "must attend" list for next year. No doubt Western Canadian bloodlines will once again shine.
Certainly draft horses are integral to our farm heritage, and any effort to maintain the breeds gets my applause.
In that same vein, it's hats off to Merlin Ford of the Kuroki area and his ongoing efforts to chronicle the history of draft horses in a new book. Check it out at www.clippityclop.ca.
For me, the big horses are a living connection to the farm efforts of my grandfather and my dad, and that will always make them special, and an element of any agricultural event I will be drawn to.
