He's only two years old and already he carries the name of a knight.
Those are big shoes to fill for such a young spirit, but Sir Patrick Evergreen has so far lived up to expectations as one of the equestrian stars of Zane Pickering's heavy horse stable.
Coming off back-to-back wins the past two years at the Calgary Stampede, Patrick will strut his stuff this weekend in Ponoka, Alta., in the halter and single cart classes at the Wild Rose Futurity/Foal Show. He is the youngest horse in Pickering's six-horse hitch team that is preparing for the World Clydesdale show Oct. 15, 2015 in London, Ont.
A futurity show is a competition in which young horses of specific breeds are judged based on their physical structure and how they conform to the standards of that particular breed, as well as the performance of that horse in the arena.
"The judges will be looking for what Patrick has to offer for his breed and they'll be watching for his conformation, his style and his patience in pulling a cart, how easily he's controlled and that he's not a panicked horse," Pickering said. "The judge watches for their foot movement, their patience in standing and how they take to squaring up so their legs are even."
Pickering has owned Patrick since he was a six-month-old colt. He won the 2013 Calgary Stampede stud colt competition and was this year's halter champion in the two-year-old gelding class in Calgary.
"These are work horses and the excitement about it in promoting agriculture is that the sport has been getting bigger than ever over the last two or three years and it's grown immensely every year," said Pickering. "Patrick has the talent to go to the world show next year and he's in the top three horses all the time in Western Canada."
Jody Graham of Ponoka will serve as Patrick's teamster this weekend, walking and running with him in the arena, with Gord Campbell of Fawcett, Alta., handling Patrick's training.
Pickering is rekindling a family tradition that dates back to his grandfather's and father's working days when they used draft horses for moving heavy loads and in logging operations in the Mud River and Giscome areas close to Prince George. Before mechanization, farmers and loggers depended on working horses and it was common for them to enter their horses in hauling competitions at regional fairs to settle bragging rights over who owned the strongest animals. Pickering, 52, grew up on a potato farm east of the city in Blackburn, but by the time he was born the family had replaced its working horses with tractors.
"When I was a kid we were always around them but they kind of phased them out so I kind of missed that window," said Pickering. "It was always an ambition of mine to get back into it.
"It's actually quite competitive now in terms of teams showing up at these events because people are working them now in the fields and it's becoming quite a sport again."
Pickering's older animals, the heavy horse Belgians, Jack and Tom, will be in Lynden, Wash., this weekend at the Randy Witman Memorial heavy horse pull, their first-ever U.S. competition. Trainer Delbert Dillman of Prince George will be on the lines leading the team.
In late August, Jack and his Belgian horse stablemate Fred teamed up to win the Armstrong heavy wagon pull, but Fred is on the injured reserve list and won't be ready to pull a load this weekend.
"Fred has a bit of a bruise on his hoof so we're putting Tom with Jack," said Pickering. "Tom sizes up to Jack and they've been working out together and last weekend they did well at a ploughing competition in Valleyview (Alta.). They have to match in several different ways and with the stride they have to measure up to make them a team. We run about 23 head of draft horses so we have lots of animals to mix up and we're not stuck with any one team."
The heavy horse competition involves teams of two draft horses dragging a steel stone-boat loaded with cement blocks. If none of the teams can reach the required 14 feet, the winner is whichever team can pull the weight furthest. Depending on the type of ground, Pickering's heavyweight tandems can pull as much as 11,000 pounds. They stand 20 hands high (six-foot-eight) from the ground to the withers (top of the shoulder blades) and their chests are 40 inches wide.
Pickering plans to enter his heavy horse teams in the Great Lakes Equine Classic, Feb. 8-10 in Birch Lake, Mich., as well as next year's Calgary Stampede to help prepare them for the world championships in October.
"It's part of the heritage of Prince George," Pickering said. "It was a logging community and my family was active in it and we're still doing it. We'll take our horses out and we'll plow around town in different fields and we'll skid [logs] as well. It's not forgotten and we're keeping it alive."
