Clydesdale show takes PNE crowds back in time
Sitting in the Agrodome, watching Doug McGibbon and his Carlaw Clydesdales put on a show, is a look back in time to the early days of the PNE.
When the fair was first held in 1910, horse-drawn wagons still ruled the roads. Cars were rare.
And, in those days, the fairgrounds were a long way from town.
“This is how they used to deliver beer,” McGibbon said this week, talking about his horses, who perform twice a day in a show at the Agrodome.
He believes the shows put on by his team are better than most other displays put on by draft horses. The 2,000-pound horses, organized into a team of six, are put through their paces as a team, going through tight, athletic manoeuvres designed to show how deliveries were made in days of yore.
“It’s only 15 minutes but I feel like I’ve been running a half marathon,” he said. “You’ve got to think well ahead. It’s a pretty energetic group.”
“They’re a whole lot more interesting to look at than the beer trucks,” he added with a laugh.
When people come through the stables to see the horses, “lots of them reminisce about the horses on their farms.”
“Some are just curious to see they’re such a big animal,” he said. “It’s fun to educate the people.”
“And it lets people see something they don’t often see.”
His dad Lawrence, who used to run the horse teams but now calls the action over the loudspeaker for the audience. McGibbon’s girlfriend and another friend also help out with the show.
Performing at the PNE is one of a half-dozen or so shows McGibbon and his family put on during the year.
They were at the Calgary Stampede earlier this summer and then were seen in a parade at home in Cranbrook. After the PNE, they’re off to a show in California.
They have been to the past three World Clydesdale shows in Madison, Wis. They’re going to next year’s event, too. Travelling never gets old, he said. The current group of horses — there are nine this year — is a pretty good bunch, he said. But that’s not always the case. “We’ve had a couple over the years, they’ve been like oil and water,” he said. “It’s quite funny, when they were out in the pasture, they wouldn’t be near each other.”
“A lot of people can’t believe they have different personalities ... everything from laid back to very excitable.”
“Some are like people. They sit there, or they vibrate if they’ve had too many coffees.”