Saskatchewan producer featured in Clydesdale documentary

Clydesdales are currently classified as vulnerable in the UK by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) in the 2020-2021 watchlist.

According to the RBST, Clydesdales were used as farm horses years ago, but their numbers dwindled in the UK with the increased use of mechanical power in agriculture and industrial work.

Kirkpatrick ended up purchasing a pregnant mare, called Amber, from Cey’s farm.

“They documented the journey of that horse going all the way over to Scotland,” Cey said. “I think it is great what Janice is doing there.”

Cey recalls it was actually in the summer of 2017 when Kirkpatrick visited his family’s farm with the film crew, to see the horses and purchase a Clydesdale.

He still keeps in touch with her.

“The mare is doing great and of course the filly foal, they call her Snowy, she is doing fine, growing. She is a nice big filly, which I had expected, genetically. She should have some great qualities coming out,” Cey said.

Since then, Cey has sold all his Clydesdales after receiving an attractive offer from a buyer in the United States.

Five generations

Cey is proud to have been a fifth generation Clydesdale breeder.

“It goes way back to my great great grandfather. My grandfather, my dad, myself and long before that I guess,” he said.

Derek Cey with one of his Clydes. (submitted photo/Derek Cey)

He used to own 100 Clydesdale horses at one time.

“They were such a gentle giant,” Cey said. “They were just a very elegant draft horse. If you were to try to kind of compare a vehicle, a Clydesdale in a draft would be like the Cadillac of the vehicle…. They travel so softly and gracefully. They are just a nice animal with a great disposition.”

With their long flowing feathers, the Clydesdales were kept for shows, and just as a hobby because Cey simply loved the breed.

“Our horses had a pretty cushy life I guess,” he said. “They weren’t out in the fields pulling the plows or anything like that.”

But he said it is a lot of work and a big commitment. Now he focuses his time on his family’s grain farm, recreation and health.

He said his children didn’t have the same passion to continue to raise Clydesdales as he did.

While he has less work now, Cey still fondly remembers all his Clydes, and their individual personalities.

“The biggest part I miss is when I would go to the pasture in the summertime and toot the horn. All their heads would perk up and they would come running for me,” he said. “I would give them some oats, and then go wander through, and just hang out with them.”

He said while the Clydesdale numbers are probably not as abundant as they were many years ago, he thinks they are still plentiful in Canada.

Delvin Szumutku, a director with the Clydesdale Horse Association of Canada, who is based in East Central Saskatchewan, is a Clydesdale breeder.

He believes the Clydesdale population in Canada has been mainly stable.

“I don’t know if I would be concerned by the numbers,” he said. “What would probably concern me more than the numbers is just the difficulty of breeding them. The breed is quite a fussy breed. It is a lot of work to get them raised and to get them on the ground, healthy. It requires a lot of hard work. That concerns me a little bit because as the people that were involved with horses all their lives get older there are less and less young people taking over that job, I consider it that privilege.”

Szumutku said when he grew up in his farming community many people had horses.

“I can’t remember a day on my farm without a Clydesdale horse,” he said. “But of course we grew up in a day when the horses had to work.”

Szumutku said much has changed in the last 30 or 40 years especially, and “the changes are immense.”

On a positive note, he believes there is renewed interest in Clydesdales.

Some people are purchasing them for Chore Team Challenges in shows.

Others are taking Clydesdale horseback riding lessons.

Szumutku said this has “done incredible things for the draft horse breed, especially for the Clydesdale breed.”

“It enables [people] to have that one horse if they want to ride them for pleasure,” he said.

As well, some people are using them again, similar to the olden days, to help with a few chores on the farm.

“They are finding that it is a much cheaper way of doing the work, because there is no fuel involved, no tractors to start in the heart of winter, and also they are finding out it is just a more enjoyable way of life,” Szumutku said.

—

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW

by Angela Brown

Saskatchewan producer featured in Clydesdale documentary

What's Trending