Ribbons and awards | The summer show circuit is underway for Boulder Bluff Clydesdales
STRATHCLAIR, Man. — Blaine Martin’s father always said it cost the same to feed a good horse as a poor one.
“So you might as well feed something that is good,” said Blaine, who with his wife, Trinda, and their daughters, Charity and Britney, raise Boulder Bluff Clydesdales on their farm in western Manitoba.
He is also fond of the gentle horses’ trademark white markings.
“If you’re going to work with something, you better like looking at it,” he said.
The Martins keep 85 mares, running 12 to a stallion in a pasture. In addition, they operate a 55 head Hereford mix cow-calf operation and raise 35 Suffolk and Cheviot sheep on their 700 acres.
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They also lease 1,300 acres for hay and pasture and send cows and young horses to a community pasture.
The Martins sell lambs to a Brandon buyer and calves at the Strathclair auction mart each fall, but their horses go to buyers throughout North America.
A hired man handles much of the fieldwork, with the family concentrating its efforts on the animals. They get help from their working dogs, Maremma and Great Pyrenees crosses.
Charity and Britney began showing sheep before graduating to the heavy horses.
“They’re very good at doing it. They enjoy doing it and it shows,” said Trinda, noting Charity’s senior showmanship win at the World Clydesdale Show in Wisconsin last year.
Six of the top 11 horses in the open cart event also came from their breeding program.
The Martins sold 11 geldings to Budweiser for its hitch and placed first in the Canadian bred mare category at the Manitoba Clydesdale Classic in Austin in 2009.
Charity and Britney take training step by step, gaining the horse’s confidence and respect and getting to know each one individually.
“I like to hang out with them,” said Charity.
“We spoil them and make them like us,” said Britney, who called Clydesdales gentle and intelligent.
The Martins say show horses require a lot of work, starting with breeding.
“You pick and choose to get what you want,” said Charity.
“You’ve got to keep the good ones to get better in the breeding business,” said Blaine.
Trinda said the process of bringing horses into the barn and into “bloom” before shows starts at the feed bunk.
“Blaine is the mastermind of the feeding program,” she said. “(Blaine) decides what they eat.”
The family travels to shows to-gether. Trinda drives the truck, pulling the RV, while Blaine hauls heavy horses, wagons and gear in a semi trailer.
Charity said the bigger truck gives the horses room to lie down and move around, which is especially important for long hauls.
Blaine said a poor U.S. economy and cautious Canadians mean horse prices have sagged from 10 years ago, when colt prices did not drop below $800. Today, prices are $500 to $3,500.
“Good horses are still worth quite a lot of money,” he said. “There’s still a market for the horses, you just have to find it.”
Charity said Clydesdales are increasingly sold for riding and events like trail rides, jumping competitions, dressage and endurance. Others are used recreationally to pull sleighs.
Blaine said there are few newcomers in hitching teams, which require significant investment in rigging and carts.
A short walk from the farmhouse is the Martins’ modern 92 stall barn, which gives the family the room and opportunity to continue a tradition in Clydesdales that goes back to Blaine’s grandfather.
This day, the family was loading a semi to kick off the summer show circuit, beginning in Carberry, Man., and ending in Prince Albert, Sask. They have participated in the Calgary Stampede but prefer to support local events when they occur at the same time.
The Martins will lose some of their workforce this fall, when both girls begin studies at Brandon University.
It means more work for the parents because the girls manage the sheep and horse care and training, but the Martins remain optimistic about their future in the horse business.
“As long as the kids get the glory, we will stay in it,” said Blaine of their longtime show success.
He said horses have enriched family life through new friendships and travel across Canada and the United States.
“We never would have seen that country if not for horses,” Blaine said.
