A love of Belgians prompted Gerald Hendry to buy his first draft horse in 1994.
He liked the gentle giants so much, he became a Belgian breeder and has expanded his Kronau, Sask., herd to 25 breeding horses. The years of careful selection and calculations paid off when his three-year-old Belgian mare was named best of show at the Calgary Stampede heavy horse show July 4.
“This level of show is a lot different from the old farm teams. This is the big time. When you get to Calgary, you are in the big time,” he said.
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“The best of show and supreme gives you tons of mileage.”
The young female went up against the supreme champion mares, geldings and stallions from the Belgian, Shire, Clydesdale and Percheron breeds from Canada and the United States. Shown alone with a halter, her trainer Zephrin LaRiviere ran around the ring before four judges from Canada and the United States.
It is the first time a Belgian has been named best of show since 2000.
The horse stands 17.3 hands high and should reach 18 hands at full size.
“She is a really big footed, good bottoms as they say in this business, she is very clean boned,” he said.
Hendry bought his champion as a foal at an Ontario draft horse dispersal.
“It was a good day when I bought her and it was a good day yesterday.”
For the rest of this show season, horses from Hendry’s Flatlands Belgians are entered at Lloydminster, Vermilion and Canadian Western Agribition in Regina, where Hendry is chair of the draft horse committee. He is also president of the Canadian Belgian Horse Association.
His plan is to have this mare bred and trained for hitching teams once a suitable partner is found.
He does not show the horses personally but instead works with LaRiviere, who takes the show prospects in May.
He only shows in Western Canada because of work commitments selling hotel franchises across Canada.
He and his wife Diane, who works with the horses on their farm, have sold animals across North America.
Many buyers are looking for horses that work well in a team so geldings are often the most popular because they can show over the long term.
“For a breeder, that is who we are selling to. You hope they will end up as a hitch horse for somebody,” he said.
Besides the draft animals, Hendry breeds mammoth donkeys and is starting a mule program.
