The best things in the world come to southwestern Manitoba because of competition
This weekend, at the 2023 World Clydesdale Show and World Heavy Horseshoeing Championship in Brandon, you can hear the thundering sound of heavy horses’ hooves.
Charity Thevenot is a fourth-generation Clydesdale breeder and one of the people who put on the show. Thevenot came to the show with 16 horses. He is from Strathclair, Manitoba, and shows with Boulder Bluff Clydesdales.
Her family’s love for the gentle giants led them to help put together the World Clydesdale Competition and bring it to the Wheat City.
“You can go to many other shows with Percherons, Belgians, and Clydesdales, but sometimes it’s nice to keep the breeds separate and see how they do against just their own breed,” Thevenot said.
“We like putting the Clydesdales on display…. They’re fun to work with, and I think people enjoy watching them.”
More than 350 horses have signed up for the show, which will be held at the Keystone Centre in Brandon for the first time from July 19–23. The horses compete in team races, horse hitches, and barrel races, among other things.
Thevenot said that people can feel the weight of the horses. People get excited when they hear their thundering hooves before they see them enter the ring.
“They are very strong and impressive animals. “I think that’s why people are so amazed by them,” Thevenot said.
“When working with them, many of them are very gentle. A lot of people call them “gentle giants.” People really like walking through the barns and getting close to them.
The World Clydesdale Show and the World Heavy Horseshoeing Championship worked together to show people how hard it is to take care of heavy horses.
“That’s not something a lot of people get to see. Thevenot said, “They like it.” “Many people who live in Brandon like the heavy horses…. Many people might want to come and see them.
“We’ve added some things that people might not see very often.”
Jonathan Green helped set up the World Heavy Horseshoeing Competition. Forty people from nine teams competed. Green says it’s good for farriers to show the public how they make horseshoes and put them on animals.
Green said that the competition is a way for many farriers to keep learning. They get to test their skills and improve their craft by working with judges from all over the world and their peers.
He said that it has been great to show how good farriers are on an international level in Brandon.
Green now lives near Winnipeg, but he used to live in Western Manitoba. He said that showing off his old home has been one of the best parts of the show.
Green said, “It gives the local farriers a chance to step up on the international scene.” “It’s been great to see that,” she said.
During the competition, farriers make shoes out of straight bar stock and put them on a heavy horse in a certain amount of time. The shoes are made to fit the needs of a judge, who then looks at how well they were made.
The race is different because the horses are so big and their feet are so big.
Green said, “The shoes and the steel we use to make them are much heavier and thicker, so it takes a lot more heat and work to shape the steel to fit a foot.”
Thevenot thinks it’s great to have competitors from all over the country because it gives him a chance to learn from them and see how they work with their horses.
Exhibitors learn from each other, and for many, it’s a chance to see how people from different parts of the world work with their animals.
For Thevenot, one of the best parts of the week is hearing judges on the world stage name Manitobans as winners. When a person from Manitoba won a title, the crowd in the arena cheered loudly.
Thevenot said, “It’s just cool for people to see that local people also do this kind of thing and show at this level.” “They like to see it.”
