At least one of the comments on one of my Christmas posts made me start to think about horses. The post isn't going out of my mind even if it's past Christmas.
The person said they would like to have a Christmas sleigh ride. I imagine people who want a sleigh ride at Christmas are thinking about lively horses and fancy sleighs.
However my sleigh rides were not of the fancy kind.
The Canadian prairies suffered more than most areas during the 30's. The depression was bad enough but then there was a drought that went along with the depression.
So we were still using horses until after the second world war. We didn't have enough money to buy tractors in the 30's. We couldn't buy tractors during the war and couldn't buy gas so the horse was important and used until after the war. .
The horses used were not the huge draft horses. They were known as the prairie horse. They weighed about 1000lbs and were willing workers. They were easy to keep. When the harvest was over most of these horses were turned out and let loose for the winter. These horses were able to find food and were able to get enough water from the snow. About 50% of the area was not developed so they could paw the snow back and get at the native grass. There were also straw stacks from the harvest that they could use but the straw was not that nutritious. Horses know what's good for them.
Roads were not kept open in the winters. There wasn't antifreeze at that time for cars. We didn't have snow removal equipment so we used horses to get us to town in the winter.
These were the same tough little horses we used to get to our cousins for Christmas. We didn't have fancy sleds. We used a heavy farm sleigh with a grain box on the sleigh. We used them to get from one place to another. It wasn't fancy. It was tough as it was cold.
I can't find my photo of Queenie and Daisy who were the last horses we had on the farm.
For some of you this will make no sense at all. This was agriculture on the Canadian prairie. It was tough but, the people who survived were proud.
Sounds like a tough life. I think many people are guilty of looking back on the past through rose-tinted specs; however much we moan about the present day I'm sure the past was harder in all sorts of ways.
ReplyDeleteThere was good and bad in those times. People spent more good time with each other.
DeleteThanks for the info. Those were tough horses! Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteHorses that came from other places needed much more food and they could not fend for themselves.
DeleteI'm a city girl born and raised and my farmer friend acts like I don't understand anything rural but I think I follow all this 🙂
ReplyDeleteHorses have been around for a very long time, theres a reason for that
Farmer friends are at times very rude when they deal with urban people.
DeleteIt makes perfect sense to me, not because I experienced such life but because I grew up living next to Amish who still live that way, including using those horses and sleighs.
ReplyDeleteThe Amish are a different culture so there's lots we can learn from their lives.
DeleteA sleigh ride sounds like fun! Take care, have a happy day!
ReplyDeleteYou pay for sleigh rides here in one of the parks.
DeleteI appreciate you sharing your memories of those times. I am sure that you experience nostalgia as you recount them.
ReplyDeleteSo much of the pattern of daily life is lost.
DeletePart of my family, fishers who also grew their own food in rural Newfoundland would understand exactly what you describe about the horses! Such important animals! Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThe Newfoundland people lived a very rigorous and challenging life and loved it or so they tell me.
DeleteHave you checked out the sleigh rides at Heritage Ranch in Red Deer?
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm aware of the sleigh rides here. They try to make it fun.
DeleteYou paint a good picture of how tough it was, Red.
ReplyDeleteIt was tough but neighbors, friends and relatives spent good time together.
DeleteI can truly picture this, Keith. Thank you for bearing witness.
ReplyDeleteFunny that my brothers don't remember much of this.
DeleteI imagine your '30s drought was the same one that contributed to the Dust Bowl on the American prairies? Your descriptions of that time are fascinating. Such a different world.
ReplyDeleteThe dust bowl was exactly what we experienced. A very good novel was written about people escaping the dust bowl. Was it by John Steinbach?
DeleteEven without photos, your words paint a picture that I can see.
ReplyDeleteWell thanks for the complement. I'm still looking for a photo of the last two horses we had.
DeleteReally nice glimpse into the Canadian past. As for myself, I'd think a sleigh ride would be too cold.
ReplyDeletethere are many more things in this life to enjoy.
DeleteDid the horses simply return in the spring?
ReplyDeleteAn incredible story and memory. Thanks for sharing, Red.
ReplyDeleteI have always loved being out on the land.
DeleteI grew up in the countryside. But decades later.
ReplyDeleteThese days we take so much of modern life for granted. I was brought up on the outskirts of a city so can remember horses (which pulled the breadman, milkman, coalman, and various tradesmen). It all seems so long ago.
ReplyDeleteYes, I remember these delivery wagons.
DeleteVery similar to what I heard from my father-in-law about his growing up in North Dakota. Always enjoy reading about your early years. Thanks Red, and if I haven't said it before, Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteThe North Dakota situation and ours was exactly the same.
DeleteMakes perfect sense...I think we have too much "on a plate" nowadays and expect things to run whatever the season
ReplyDeleteTechnology has speeded things up.
DeleteThanks for this different perspective. Yes, life was hard for many people. We tend to fantasize what we didn't experience.
ReplyDeleteThe experience we had in those tough conditions taught us many good lessons.
DeleteMy dad always told stories of horses in his family. It sounds very similar.
ReplyDeleteWe came just after the age of the horse being the power for agriculture.
DeleteI thought that I commented! I have a question: The horses just came back in the spring?
ReplyDeleteHorses have a very long history. And they have been hard workers!
ReplyDeleteI would go anyway it doesn't have to be fancy:) The school bus was a sleigh and it had on box on it with a window for seeing out and for the reins,the door in the back opened so the kids could get in...I heard that on really cold days a stove was lit inside. It was how my Mother In Laws friends got to school, she was lucky as she lived across the road from the school and most of the time the teacher lived with them:)
ReplyDeleteAs I recall, we went on a (what we thought would be a sleigh ride) in Illinois, but it was more a wagon pulled by a tractor on a farm. It was still a different experience for us though and fun. When I was very little, I think we had a horse. But when I think about it now... that can't be true.
ReplyDelete