Bonds of affection Horse owners enthusiastic about their animals
At four years old, Rob tips the scales at 1,800 pounds but no one would ever accuse him of being chubby.
In fact, the handsome Belgian horse is still considered to be a growing adolescent. He happily eats 40 pounds of hay and two gallons of grain each day and when he’s fully grown in a year or two, he’ll probably weigh as much as 2,100 to 2,200 pounds.
He and three other Belgians, affectionately known as the Gentle Giants, are the pride and joy of the Peters family who are well-known locally for their big horses. They were among the horses shown at the second annual Sydney Horse Expo held at Centre 200 over the weekend. People from across Atlantic Canada gathered to watch competitions, see performances and generally learn more about their favorite animals and the special bond that exists between humans and horses.
It’s a bond that has existed a long time in the Peters family.
“This is the fifth generation showing Belgian horses,” says owner George Peters. “My father, my grandfather, my uncle, we’ve all done it. We’ve done sleigh rides, hay rides, showed mostly — that’s our favourite thing.”
The Peters family, which is now involved in the construction business, used the horses to work the fields and do other farm work in the past.
“We used to haul hay with them, 4,000- 5,000 bales of hay a year with them,” recalls George. “We plowed the fields with them, turn the ground, everything was done with the horses. Now we just exercise them a lot.”
In addition to being good workers, the Belgians are famed for their easy-going temperament.
“You can get a bad horse at any size but as a rule, the Belgian is the most docile of all the heavy horse breeds,” says Peters. “It’s just their nature — the way they were bred. We do love working with them.”
While their days of plowing the fields may be long gone, their gentle demeanour is perfect for hauling wagons and sleighs full of celebratory people.
“We do weddings, different things, whatever people look for,” says Peters. “People are amazed by their size.”
While pets may have owners, the Belgians need a staff — Peters says it takes a lot of effort to take care of them.
“My wife cleans all the harness, her and her friends, and my son and I do all the shoeing and we get them prepped and washed and a lot of friends help get them ready to come in here,” says Peters.
“It takes a lot of help to do this. We have four horses — that’s enough.”
Kathy MacIntyre, 50, lives on a dairy farm in Southside Boularderie.
While she’s used to being around large animals who earn their keep, she admits her own horse is more of guilty pleasure.
“My horse is basically a lawn ornament,” she laughs when referring to her 21-year-old horse. “I gave a retirement home to a standardbred. Her name is West River Hailey. She’s my little slice of horse heaven in my dairy farming life. I go over and spend a half hour a couple times daily with her and just feed her, talk to her, brush her — mostly feed her because that’s what she wants, but she’s my little bit of heaven and I go there.
“It’s great on a cold winter day when it’s really, really quiet and the snow is falling — she goes outside and I just watch her. I don’t ride her — I can. She is a standardbred so she’s trained to pull a sulky and race although she hasn’t done that in a long time.”
MacIntyre used to ride about 20 years ago but gave it up while she raised a family with her husband, whom she met 21 years ago at the Cape Breton Farmers Exhibition.
“Now that they’re older, I’m taking up my hobby again.”
MacIntyre was at the expo on Saturday watching the various competitions with another horse lover, Hannah MacDonald, 19, who became involved with horses when she was eight. Like Peters and MacIntyre, she agrees there’s a special bond that exists between horses and people.
“It’s something that clicks,” said MacDonald.
“It’s just something that you look forward to doing every day. And they’re always there — if something is going on in your life, the horse is always a good place to go — it’s a safe spot and you get on the back of a horse and you forget about anything else that is going on.
“It’s just really the strong bond between you and the horse.”