OLDS, Alta. – Don Strandquist brought only one horse to the provincial Percheron show at Olds, but the two-year-old filly was good enough to be named supreme champion.
The long-term Percheron breeder and showman from Stettler, Alta., has been a fixture at horse events for more than 40 years, exhibiting prize-winning animals all over North America.
While he said he is slowing down, his passion for Percherons appears to be holding strong, and he still shows to promote his breeding business and sits on the Canadian Percheron Association board of directors.
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“You have to keep your name out there because it doesn’t take long for people to forget about you,” he said after the Olds Fair and Rodeo Aug. 8.
The winner, a dark grey filly named Lakeview Heath Helena, is the daughter of a long-time champion that Strandquist retired at the age of 10.
The champion was born inky black and turned grey. Over time, the coat will fade to white. The horse will be trained to drive and Strandquist expects it will be sought after because of its colour.
“Guys with grey hitches are always on the lookout for grey horses,” he said.
Strandquist has five foals.
He started showing Percherons in 1964 with his wife’s father at the Calgary Stampede. In 42 years he missed only one Stampede.
Before that, he and his father, Orville Strandquist, were involved in chuck wagons but he developed a passion for heavy horses and has been promoting the breed with his wife and two sons.
Between farming and raising a family, summertime was horse show season. They entered all the classes but the six-horse hitch. With limited help, a four-horse hitch was as much work as they could manage, Strandquist said.
When he started four decades ago, the show season ran from May to the fall.
He showed at Toronto’s Royal Winter Fair 16 times and caught a special train for competitors that carried showmen and livestock eastward.
The one-way trip to Toronto averaged 108 hours so over time people switched to trucks and airplanes.
Now horse shows have evolved into weekend events with a larger emphasis on family involvement. When Strandquist started, men dominated the events.
Even though schedules are tight for many families, interest in heavy horses has not waned, partly because of the growth within 4-H clubs, in which more girls than boys adopt the giant horses.
These days Strandquist rents out his farm and runs a tack shop in Stettler. In addition to his work with heavy horses, he keeps team ropers for his sons and grandchildren, and has miniature horses.
“I always tell folks that’s what happens when you wash Percherons in too hot a water,” he said.
Percherons came from France and stand 16 to 18 hands high and weigh 1,600 to 2,400 pounds.
