Photo Stories: Horses

There’s a reason that cars took a long time to be adopted in Prince Edward Island. Islanders loved their horses. They depended on them for so much, to plow the fields, go to church, visit neighbours, and go to the Charlottetown market. Men in the community would challenge their neighbours to ice racing on the river. They took pride in their horse power. They gave them names. Strong work horses were hitched to a box sleigh in winter to carry goods to the market, or logs to the local sawmill. Refined horses were hitched to your finest sleigh or carriage to go to church or head out on a Sunday tour. Can you think of anything better than taking a carriage ride on a warm summer day?

Even after folks had cars, there were still families in Clyde River that kept a horse into the late 1950s and would use it like we would a second car, especially, in winter when you could attach it to a sleigh. For those of us who have pets, we know first hand how attached we can become. Horses depended on us and they became so well trained to the point where they would know the way home, like an early driverless car. Click on the album below to see the beautiful horses you would have found in the community if you could go back in time.