Eight Horse Hitch Championship Classic, won by Lone Oak Percherons, Birtle, MB. Photographs by Sandy Black

The 102nd edition of the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair, held in Brandon, Manitoba from March 30-April 4, 2009, experienced a “Royal Wrap” and another successful year.

Crowds came out in full force to take pleasure in the ever-growing line-up of entertainment and shows. With a total of 119,100 visitors, there were great crowds at events throughout each day. Karen Oliver, the Provincial Exhibition’s General Manager, said that “with all the talk of recession, I was concerned it would impact [attendance] negatively.” She went on to add, “I think people love the fair and they’re pretty committed to attending and supporting it – it’s just what they need to get through this negative time.”

Heavy Horse classes are always the crowd favourites at the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair Horse Shows. Spectacular Percheron, Clydesdale and Belgian hitches were definitely “ready to rumble”, and caused the entire arena to shake when these “gentle giants” thundered down the ramp into the show ring. In all, ten draft horse families exhibited 104 entries in 20 driving classes, judged by Erin Freitag of New Carlisle, Indiania.

Equine ranchers find the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair provides an excellent venue to advertise their breeding programs and market their young show prospects to draft horse enthusiasts and fellow hitch owners from all over North America. Many of the horses in equine ranchers’ hitches were bred and raised at home, and were being demonstrated for potential buyers. Four Manitoba equine ranching families exhibited draft horses at this year’s Fair: Tom & Darlene Lane of Creekside Belgians of Birtle, Jim & Darlene Lane of Lone Oak Percherons of Birtle; Lyle & Kathy Brown of Brown’s Percherons of Lenore; and Keith & Shelley Conrad, Meadowlark Percherons of St. Alphonse.

Light Draft Team in Harness to Wagon, won by Delgaty/Coyote Creek Clydesdales, Brandon/Minnedosa, MB. Photographs by Sandy Black

Lone Oak Percherons, owned by Jim Lane of Birtle, Manitoba, who has been an equine rancher since 1984, won the Eight Horse Hitch Championship Classic. Lane’s hitch consisted of six geldings and two mares, who are full sisters. Lane said, “The two mares, Lone Oak Caitland, is four-years-old, and Lone Oak Kali is five. They are our point team of the hitch, and this was their first time to be shown at the Winter Fair. They won the Team of Purebred Mares to Wagon class this year. Lone Oak Caitland was the NAERIC Draft Horse Classic Futurity Champion as a two-year-old in 2007. Our lead team consisted of two geldings, Lone Oak Jaime and Jet, who are five and seven years old. Our swing team was a pair of four-year-old geldings, Lone Oak Jasper and Lone Oak Tommy, and our wheel team was another pair of geldings, Lone Oak Kirby and King, who are six and seven. We are quite proud of the fact that six of our eight hitch horses are home grown. Winning the Eight Horse Hitch Championship was the highlight of the Fair for us, although we were also pleased with earning second place in the Four and Six Horse Hitch Championship classes. We placed first in the Light Draft Team in Harness to Wagon class 1B, the Four Horse Team to Wagon class 10A, and the Six Horse Tandem Team to Wagon class class 12C. The fact that we didn’t have any three-year-olds in our hitches this year was a factor in our success. ”

Four Horse Team Championship Classic, won by Creekside Belgians, Birtle, MB. Photographs by Sandy Black

In the following results, equine ranching families are noted with an asterisk (*)

Draft Horse Hitch Show Results
Class Entries Winning Driver Owner
Light Draft Team in Harness to Wagon – class #1A 4 Allan Betteridge Delgaty/Coyote Creek Clydesdales,
Brandon/Minnedosa, MB
Light Draft Team in Harness to Wagon – class 1B 5 Jim Lane Lone Oak Percherons*
Birtle, MB
Eight Horse Hitch Championship
- class 20 4 Jim Lane Lone Oak Percherons*
Birtle, MB
Manitoba Hydro Super Team Competition – class 9 1 Lyle Brown Brown’s Percherons*
Lenore, MB
Heavy Draft Team in Harness to Wagon – class 2A 4 Zephrin Lariviere Prinsview Belgians
Ft. Saskatchewan, AB
Heavy Draft Team in Harness to Wagon – class 2B 4 Nick Den Brok Rocky Bar Belgians,
Esterhazy, SK
Team of Purebred Mares to Wagon – class 3 2 Jim Lane Lone Oak Percherons*
Birtle, MB
Single Heavy Horse Hitch to a Cart – class 4 9 Brenda Walsh Rocky Bar Belgians
Esterhazy, SK
Heavy Horse Team Driven by a Lady – class 5 9 Traci Den Brok Rocky Bar Belgians
Esterhazy, SK
Special Boys & Girls Showmanship Team – class 6 9 Rae-ann Lane Creekside Belgians*
Birtle, MB
Unicorn Class – class 7A 5 Tom Lane Creekside Belgians*
Birtle, MB
Unicorn Class – class 7B
4 Scott Ferguson Sarraillon Percherons
Stonewall, MB
Four Horse Team To Wagon – class 10A 5 Jim Lane Lone Oak Percherons*
Birtle, MB
Four Horse Team To Wagon – class 10B 4 Lyle Brown Brown’s Percherons*
Lenore, MB
Two Horse Obstacle Driving Challenge – class 8A 8 Nick Den Brok Rocky Bar Belgians
Esterhazy, SK
Four Horse Team Championship Classic – class 11 9 Tom Lane Creekside Belgians*
Birtle, MB
Six Horse Tandem Team To Wagon – class 12A 3 Brad Delgaty Delgaty/Coyote Creek Clydesdales
Brandon/Minnedosa, MB
Six Horse Tandem Team To Wagon – class 12B 3 Nick Den Brok Rocky Bar Belgians
Esterhazy, SK
Six Horse Tandem Team To Wagon – class 12C 3 Jim Lane Lone Oak Percherons*
Birtle, MB
BMO Six Horse Team Championship Classic–class 14 8 Nick Den Brok Rocky Bar Belgians
Esterhazy, SK


Creekside Belgians, owned by Tom Lane of Birtle, Manitoba, who has been an equine rancher since 1985, won the Four Horse Hitch Championship Classic. Lane said, “Our hitch consisted of all geldings. Our lead team was Peecos Dirk, who is a five-year-old, and Bar RB Baxter, who is four. Our wheel team was Franway Billy, a four-year-old and Creekside Phantom, who is five. We used Baxter as our lead horse, and Dirk and Ted to win our Unicorn Hitch class 7A and then our daughter Rae-ann (15), drove Baxter and Dirk to win the Special Boys & Girls Showmanship Team class. We were very pleased with our family’s results at this year’s show. We brought seven geldings in total; three of them were home grown. I’d have to say the highlight for us was winning the Four Horse Hitch championship - our horses were very steady that night and they stayed consistent throughout the class.”

The Clydesdale breed was well represented by Delgaty/Coyote Creek Clydesdales. Allan Betteridge of Minnedosa, MB drove their team for a win in the Light Draft Team in Harness to Wagon class 1A, and Brad Delgaty of Brandon, MB drove their hitch to win the Six Horse Tandem Team to Wagon class 12A.

About NAERIC

The North American Equine Ranching Information Council (NAERIC) is a non-profit association of equine ranchers engaged in horse production and management of pregnant mares. Estrogens extracted from pregnant mares' urine (PMU) are used in the production of hormone therapies for women. NAERIC serves its members, the horse industry and general public as an agribusiness resource by providing the latest information and research on ranch management, equine care, breeding practices and innovative marketing programs. The council is dedicated to ensuring the NAERIC brand represents overall quality. NAERIC supports and promotes the partnership between agriculture and women's health care. For complete information, visit www.naeric.org

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