By: Bruce A. Roy
The year’s end is a time to reflect on the past; a time to look to the future. Over the past century, the Belgian and Percheron breeds across Canada have been on a rollercoaster.
When the national breed organizations were formed, the draft horse enjoyed an explosive trade. Following World War I, the trade slowed substantially until the Great Depression of the 1930s. These were halcyon years for draft horse breeders, as the number of draft horses employed increased.
However, World War II brought this trade to an end. Thousands of heavy horses were sold for slaughter in the years that followed this conflict, as mechanization destroyed a market for the draft horse. Few draft horses were bred during the 1950s and 1960s, for there was no demand for them. Only a breed’s superior seedstock survived these frightful years.
Since the 1970s the draft horse breeds in Canada and the United States, in the British Isles, Australia, and New Zealand, have returned to the equine scene. Record numbers of Belgians and Percherons are currently registered. Public interest in all breeds is expanding, while seedstock sales have escalated to record levels.
The Canadian Belgian Horse Association was incorporated on October 3, 1907, under the Live Stock Pedigree Act. Paul Tourigny of Victoriaville, PQ, was the founding president; Arthur Paquet of Quebec City, PQ, was the first secretary-treasurer. Lois Sandwith of Kingsley, NB, is the current president, while the current secretary-treasurer is Barb Meyers of Schomberg, ON.
The Canadian Percheron Horse Breeders Association was incorporated on December 3, 1907, under the Live Stock Pedigree Act. W.N. Thorne of Aldersyde, AB, was the founding president; F.R. Pike of High River, AB, was the initial secretary-treasurer.
While he would accept no office for himself at that time, George Lane, Bar U Ranch of Pekisko, AB, was the ramrod responsible for this breed society’s birth. He remains an icon in breed circles.
The president of today’s Canadian Percheron Association is David Logie of Cambridge, NS, while Kathy Ackles of Vernon, BC, is the secretary-treasurer.
Both breed associations became members of the Canadian Livestock Records Corporation, a co-operative registry owned and operated by roughly 50 national livestock breed organizations.
The Canadian Belgian Horse Association parted company with this co-operative registry in the 1990s, a move many Belgian breeders now question.
However, the Canadian Livestock Records Corporation continues to issue certificates of registration and transfers of ownership for the Canadian Percheron Association. This time-tested co-operative, owned and operated by member breed societies, has implemented electronic Stud, Herd, and Flock Books, which have registered well over a million hits. This has resulted in many Percheron sales across the continent.
It is interesting to note a number of American livestock breeds are employing the services of Canadian Livestock Records Corporation, for a growing number can ill afford to hire individuals with the expertise of the men and women this co-operative employs.
Breed registries elsewhere in the world are currently in contact with Canadian Livestock Records Corporation, in attempt to ease their expenses, employ expertise, ensure accuracy and free their breed secretaries for essential promotional work.
Many markets for Canadian-bred draft horses have emerged. However, one market surpasses all others. This is the trade with the Amish communities, who are fast growing in number and size across America.
Tens of thousands of quality draft horses are currently employed by the Amish, who frequent more than 100 annual draft horse sales now held across the continent. While most of these public auctions are found in the United States, the catalogued consignment will vary from 50 head at the smaller sales to more than 2,000 head at the larger sales.
You would be pressed to find draft horses consigned to most of these public auctions that are not docked, as Amish farmers will employ docked draft horses only in a multiple hitch. This is to ensure the safety of the horses found in these large agricultural hitches, which were promoted by universities, agricultural colleges and experimental farms to lighten the draft; and for the safety of those family members who handle each multiple hitch.
A growing number of today’s stockmen employ a team of draft horses, for economic reasons, as do many resorts, which employ draft horses for carriage, hay, and sleigh rides. Draft horses are environmentally friendly, which has prompted their limited return in the forest industry.
There is a growing demand for pulling horses, as this sport increases in popularity, and for hitch horses, which have become a popular attraction, fielded in a show ring or out on parade.
A growing number of pedigreed draft horses have entered crossbreeding programs. You will find many Thoroughbred- or Friesian-sired Sport Horses that are Belgian, Clydesdale, Percheron, or Shire crossbreds; the stamp and style of horse known as a heavy hunter.
Horses of this type currently enjoy a strong demand in the equine world. Other crossbreds, usually a Quarter Horse x Belgian or a Quarter Horse x Percheron, are sought by guides and outfitters, who seek a larger, better-footed mount or pack horse of dependable disposition.
There are many markets for today’s draft horse, a growing export market included. Stallions and mares bred in North America enjoyed a strong export trade this past year.
Buyers from Japan purchased 60 head of registered Belgians and Percherons at the Fall Draft Horse Sale held in Waverly, Iowa, while the Pakistan Army negotiated the purchase of 18 head of Percherons, seedstock of American and Canadian bloodlines located in America’s Midwest.
An Alberta-bred Percheron stallion sold to Italy is scheduled to enter the National Stud Farm near Milan to correct Italian-bred Sport Horse underpinning, while a Percheron stallion bred in Ohio has sold to England.
Over the past 100 years, Belgian and Percheron breeders across Canada have tasted success and suffered humiliation. However, it is time to honour officers and members, past and present in each breed.
I take this occasion to wish Belgian and Percheron breeders a happy 100th birthday, for it was horses of these mighty breeds that laboured long and hard with the Clydesdale and Shire to build our nation.
For additional information about the Wild Rose Draft Association, phone Barb Stephenson at (403) 933-5765.
