History

History of the Horse in Alberta:

It is thought by historians that horses disappeared from the North American continent 8000 years ago. Some recent archaeological finds show that they might have still been here as little as 2000 years ago.

However, before the incursion of the white man horses were extinct throughout the Americas. The first horses reintroduced, arrived with Columbus in 1493. As the Spaniards continued to explore and claim territory the range of the horse began to expand. The natives, then began to acquire these horses.

Some of the horses escaped from the Conquistadors, some were stolen and others taken in battle. By the late 1500 hundreds horse had started to become an intricate part of the Plains Indian life.

Around 1630 the first horse was brought back into what is now Alberta by the Blackfoot Indians. Through wars with other bands, these horses began to roam free throughout the prairies in ever increasing numbers.

The Cree, from the foothills and north, the Kotenai, from south-eastern British Columbia also began to obtain horses through raids on the Blackfoot or capture of the wild horses. By the 1800 hundreds horses were a common sight and important part of the Native culture and that of the White man coming to explore and settle in this area.

John McDougal, a missionary, in his journals, dated in the 1850’s, documents wild horses and moose being preyed upon by wolves in the areas between the North Saskatchewan and Oldman Rivers. The North West Mounted Police, upon coming to this area to bring law and order estimated there were thousands of wild horses in the areas that they settled.

The horse became an important animal in helping settle and open this province. Our entire western culture and heritage focuses around horses and the chores that they performed for us. The horse broke the land, hauled produce and helped harvest our forests and crops. They helped the ranchers in the operation of their cattle ranches. They were an important part of the everyday life of the early Albertans being the only means of transportation.

As late as the 1950’s horses were still being used in various parts of the province in the same fashion. I can remember our coal and water being brought to our farm by horse drawn wagons.

Any museum you enter depicting early life here in Alberta, will include horses in almost every aspect and or picture. They are a fundamental part of our western heritage and that of the First Nations people.

When you talk to the First Nations elders and the old timers who settled in this area, they will tell you stories of there always being horses running free and wild in this part of Alberta.

As late as 1985 there were estimated to be over a thousand free roaming wild horses in the foothills of Alberta. Today less than 300 hundred remain in Alberta.

In B.C., in the 1970’s all remaining wild horses in the Kootenay area were rounded up and or shot and killed. In a small pocket in central B.C. called the Brittany triangle a small band of wild horses still exist. There, as here, these horses are being threatened by an attitude of indifference and uncaring by government and industry. A legal battle has ensued and is now being fought in the courts of British Columbia to save them.

Our fight has just begun. Current legislation expires in December of 2003. In it’s present state, this no bones piece of paperwork offers very little in the way protection from eradication of these few remaining wild horses.

When you talk to government officials from the department of Renewable Resources you meet with an attitude of apathy, uncaring and total indifference.

That is also the attitude of a local lumber company who have timber rights in this vast area. They say that the horses damage the new seedlings, There is no proof of this and on the other hand I have watched cattle go into these areas and trample the young trees excessively , yet nothing is said about them.

The government wildlife people say that the horses take away the habitat and food sources of the deer, elk and moose. Yet I have seen deer and elk feeding amongst the horses. Very seldom do horses and moose eat the same food sources. Yet in the area I know there are wild horses, I see more moose than in areas where I don’t see the wild horses.

In winter I have seen barren slopes covered with hard crusted snow, with no tracks of anything, until! Then in come the horses with their broad hooves, breaking the crusted snow pawing for feed and the deer and elk will then follow to also get at that feed, that they couldn’t have accessed as easily with their small hooves.

I have seen deer run into the safety of a herd of horses to escape a predator. Also too, wolves are increasing in numbers and horses are an important food source to them.

They ( the government), say that the horses are feral, stray animals, which do not don’t belong in this area. Yet history, which they care to ignore, contradicts this.

The physique of these horses is also unique to them, which they have developed to fit and survive in their habitat. Their hooves are large to carry them over the muskeg and to help them paw through the snow for feed. Their legs are short and thick for strength which carries them swiftly through deadfalls, that on foot we would have to crawl through or over.

Their bodies are short, stocky and very muscled for strength and endurance. It has developed to allow then to travel up and down steep hills and through the forests, with ease and grace. Their nose which we call, roman, is to assist them in their forage for food in the under brush and through the snow. This did not happen overnight. In nature these physiological changes in animals to suit their habitat, take long periods of time.

There is no doubt that some domesticated horses have gained their freedom and joined in with some of these horses, but if you listen to the locals, the wild stallions will kill a domestic stud or gelding.

Further more if an animal has been running wild for generation after generation, who are we to say it is not wild.

If you study these horses and watch the way they interact as a family group, the way they flee predators and the way that they blend into ecological system in these foothills, you can have no doubt that they are truly wild animals.

To watch how a stallion will sacrifice himself to protect his herd, to watch the older mares take care of injured herd member or the foals of herd, one can’t help be kept in awe of this. These horses are fighting a desperate battle for survival.

They are still being chased for sport, shot and killed for bear or wolf bait or for no reason at all. They are snared, roped , corralled and sent to slaughter. These last wild horses are on the run for their lives. We can help.