How Well They Served, Suffered, and Survived

Heavy Horses
Copyright 1986 Western Producer Prairie Books
165 pages,
ISBN 1-894004-74-4.

The man in charge of the Hudson's Bay Company trading post at Qu'Appelle reported losing twenty-four horses at one time, and the traders at Fort Edmonton who needed horses for freighting lost over a hundred in one night.

After a succession of horse thefts, William Laidlaw, who was in charge of the Hayfield Experimental Farm at Red River in 1818, was reduced to hitching three horses, two cows, one bull, and a buffalo heifer in order to make up two plow teams.

The Red River settlers proved their resourcefulness but they did not lose their longing for horses possessing both size and quality and most of the settlers, being Scottish, thought of Clydesdales. They dreamed of and may have prayed for a carefully chosen stallion of a British breed. Hudson's Bay Company officers in London were aware of the desire and the need for horse improvement and in a moment of unusual generosity, resolved to make the handsome gesture of a gift of a good stallion. The purchase would be made in England and shipped to Red River via York Factory.

George Simpson, the company governor of Rupert's Land, received the first intimation of the gift horse in a communication from London dated February 23, 1831: "We shall send a stallion of a proper breed by the ship to York Factory. We should think the Experimental Farm at Red River the best place to commence raising horses for the service."

George Simpson, later Sir George, issued an order for the collection of the best mares on the prairies, most of them to be placed at the experimental farm, a short distance back from Red River, in anticipation of the next breeding season.

Hopeful settlers were excited about the prospect of an imported stallion of "a proper breed," but tempered their optimism by concluding cynically that company officials in London wouldn't know "a proper breed" if they saw one. They were nonetheless eager to see this mystery horse and determine if it was a Clydesdale, Shire, Suffolk, Hackney, Thoroughbred, or something else.

The stallion was shipped from London early in 1831 and at York Factory, after almost two months on the ocean, transferred to a canoe or York boat far the precarious journey of some 700 miles to Red River. Nobody has explained the problems of transporting a mature stallion as a passenger in a canoe on northern waters, but doubtless they would be immense. To the everlasting credit of those in charge, the stallion was delivered safely at Point Douglas-now at the heart of Winnipeg-and received a welcome befitting a king.

Immediately, the mystery concerning "a proper breed" was brushed away: the horse was a Norfolk Trotter, a breed of minor prominence even in England and one of the breeds from which the Hackney horse was produced. His name was Fireaway and what was immediately more conversational than the matter of breed, the horse was magnificent and nobody from the settlement was trying to hide his delight.

Fireaway was of a utility or general purpose type which should have been highly acceptable at Red River. When he stepped from the canoe to the riverside, he stood like a statue, with head held high, ears erect, and tail carried with a flourish. He was a bright bay in color, standing sixteen hands in height and was said to be able to trot fifteen miles an hour.

George Simpson could report gleefully to the company officers in London: "The stallion sent out reached the settlement in perfect safety and in high condition. He will soon give us a better breed of horses. He is looked upon as one of the wonders of the world by the natives, many of whom have travelled great distances with no other object than to see him."

Having such a handsome horse at the second experimental farm at Red River obviously caught the attention of the horse thieves and an armed guard was placed with him. And, mated to the best of the Indian mares, the resulting offspring were, in both size and quality, far ahead of anything seen in the country.

Fireaway was indeed a blueblood, a purebred registered in the Norfolk Trotter Studbook of England. He was the first horse brought to the West for improvement purposes and he fulfilled the highest expectations. His offspring, for many years after his career ended, were conspicuous as the best buffalo runners, the best racing horses, the best farm horses, and those commanding the premiums when sales were made.

Then, with lingering memories of the Fireaway successes, the Hudson's Bay Company, in 1848, moved to repeat the gesture, sending an English Thoroughbred stallion, a grey Thoroughbred mare, an Ayrshire bull, and two Ayrshire cows. This was the second shipment of pedigreed stock on record. The idea was excellent and the five purebred animals deserved to be recognized as the first of their respective breeds in the country. But this time luck wasn't with the project; the Thoroughbred mare produced a promising foal the following spring but before the summer ended, both mare and foal were dead. The stallion, Melbourne by name, kicked his groom and broke his arm and before long, the five bluebloods were all but forgotten.

Settlers in the St. Lawrence River community were the first in the East to see heavy horse improvement by the importation of superior breeding stock. But improvement by breeding came slowly because an accelerating influx of settlers-in both the East and West-caused the demand for work horses to rise faster than the supply, and people needing power urgently often settled for small and inferior horses, aging horses, or bronchos. Even lame horses seemed better than nothing and for a time, horse numbers appeared more important than quality.

All Canadian settlers wanted horses, good horses, but when the supply was inadequate and the cost high, many turned to oxen, either buying trained work stock or following the simple expedient of carving a hardwood yoke to proper size and shape and breaking young steers to work in it.