Six Star Magazine Six Star Magazine 2013 | Page 23

L

ong after Canada gave up the horse as its
principal means of transportation, fascination

with the large, fast, beautiful animal remains
especially strong.

We still measure engines in
‘horsepower.’ Whether 200 hp refers
to the strength of 200 horses or not,
few outside of the engineering lab
really know. Horses played an essential
role in the development of agriculture
and the Canadian nation. When the
‘horseless carriages,’ just as railroads
were originally named the ‘Iron Horse.’
And even now, when driving through
the countryside, coming across a horse
people almost always remark, “Look,
horses!”
A popular activity still is thoroughbred
horse-racing, which remains alive and well
in Canada and is called the “Sport of Kings.”
It confers nobility on the Thoroughbred,
actually the name of an equine breed.
Developed in 17th- and 18th-century
England, all modern Thoroughbreds can trace
their pedigrees to “three stallions originally
imported into England in the 17th century
and 18th century, and to a larger number of
foundation mares of mostly English breeding.”
Millions of Thoroughbreds exist today, and
more than 118,000 foals are registered each
year worldwide, according to Wikipedia.
Thoroughbreds, used mainly for racing, are
also bred for other riding disciplines such as
show ju