The people that you meet
The old adage “it takes a village to raise a child” can also be easily applied to keeping horses and developing little riders into horse people. Some of the “villagers” play a smaller role but leave a big impression. Others do more of the day-to-day heavy lifting. Two of the best of the best were lost recently.

Mary Walker was an icon in the Maritime horse show world for decades, remembered for her grace and kindness, and especially for her immaculate presentation – her beautifully coiffed hair, her suits, and heels. (You can read more about her in the Nova Scotia Report on page 32.) When Mrs. Walker was judging, horse shows took on a different feel. Boots and hooves got an extra polish. Riders sat up a bit straighter.

Closer to my home, the horse community lost a dependable helper and friend. Malcolm Hamilton lived a humble life, making do with what he had, and making what he had into what he needed. When there was hay to move, stalls to build, fences to mend – Malcolm was called.

Twenty years ago, when we moved to our farm, Malcolm set the pasture fence lines with his team of Appaloosa ponies, Kenny and Willie. He drove them with voice commands from the back of the wagon, stopping to pound in each post without ever touching the reins. Malcolm and the ponies had worked in the woods the winter before. Malcolm sharpened and peeled the posts he made from the trees they harvested, then delivered them in the wagon he built, with the ponies he bred, raised, trained, and shod.

Malcolm may have been best known for the colourful Western suits he pulled out each year for the Hants County Exhibition. Each suit had a matching hat, and he had one for every day of the fair. He was one of a kind, and we miss him.

With hurricane Fiona still on our minds, Maritimers continue to deal with some very challenging and scary situations. The wildfires in May prompted a request to Teresa Alexander-Arab to prepare a planning guide for worst case scenarios, something we may not have felt necessary to consider just a few years ago. A shortage of large animal veterinarians is a concern almost everywhere, but nowhere more so than in the central to western part of Prince Edward Island. Nicole Kitchener, who caught up with the chair of a group trying desperately to find a solution, will have a report in the November issue.

I hope you enjoy this issue of Horse and Pony, the second with our new format. If you have a story idea, we’d love to hear from you. At this point it looks like many of us will still be in the hayfields when this issue lands in your mailbox.

All the best,