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| Jeff, a Canadian
Horse chews on the buttons of Ken Morris's uniform Saturday
afternoon at the Linn County Fairgrounds. Ken and Jeff are members
of the Northwest Cavalry Association. Ken rides as a 1st Lt. in
the 10th New York Cavalry. |
Horse Of A Different Country
by Jennifer Moody
Mid-Valley Sunday
ALBANY - Les Brown wasn't worried about traveling
during wartime, when he made the 24-hour drive from his home in Hinton,
Alberta, Canada, to Albany for the Greater Northwest Equine Expo.
He wasn't worried about the possibility of tightened border security. He
wasn't even worried about the price of gas.
But given Canada's official position against
war with Iraq, he was a little worried about what people would say.
"We were concerned when we came down,
that we'd run into anti-Canadian sentiment, because of what Canada is
doing," Brown said. "Most Western Canadians support the American
position very, very strongly, but most of Eastern Canada doesn't."
Brown didn't have to worry. Instead of politics, he found most people far
more interested in talking about his Canadian horses, a breed used heavily
in the United States during the Civil War but cross-bred nearly out of
existence since.
"The people here for the Civil War re-enactments have a greater
interest in Canadian horses than anywhere else in the world," he
said. "That's why we came here."
The Equine Expo, which continues through 6 tonight at the Linn County Fair
& Expo Center, is the largest event held at the center. It includes
clinics, lectures and training sessions, along with booths featuring the
latest developments in the equine industry.
To Saturday's visitors, war with Iraq was a topic of discussion, but it
took a back saddle to the expo itself.
Seven-year-old Hailey McCarty of Aurora came just to see the horses - all
the horses - and to pet them if possible.
The Oregon Fjord Club obliged her, introducing her to a 5-year-old gelding
named Aesir and giving her one of their club stickers: "I Hugged a
Fjord - Have You?"
"Soft!" Hailey said, beaming.
"I told her she couldn't take him home," said Hailey's mother,
Debbie Douglas. Then she glanced at her daughter's fleece jacket, now
covered with tufts of hair. "You get to take some of him home,
though."
In the Al Khamsa Arabians stall section, Carol Tummonds said people
stopped occasionally to look at the map of the Middle East tacked on the
wall.
Conversation, though, centered on the breed, which the United States
imported mostly during the early 1900s. "They're so smart, they train
so easily, you partner with them ... you don't own them," Tummonds
said.
Back at the Canadian stalls, re-enactors with the Northwest Cavalry
Association talked about the advantages the breed's build gave to soldiers
in wartime and to re-enactors today.
Canadians, said Ken Morris of Portland, have heavy bones, large feet, wide
hips and a flat back. They are even-tempered and get excited, rather than
nervous, in a battle.
When he's in his Union uniform, Morris is a first lieutenant with the 10th
New York Cavalry. When he's a Confederate, he's with the 9th Virginia
Cavalry.
Many re-enactors play both sides, said Lois Warrick of Trail, who wore
Confederate gray on Saturday. (The jacket had a pocket, she explained.)
"Most re-enactors are very pro-union, even though we wear the
gray," she said.
"Actually, they were all Americans," added her husband, Tom
Warrick.
"They just had a slightly different philosophy," Lois said.
"But everybody was fighting for freedom. In the U.S., that's what
it's all about."
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