CELPIP Reading Part 3 Practice Test: The Canadian Horse: The Little Iron Horse

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Visitors to farms in Quebec and Ontario sometimes notice a horse that is smaller and stockier than most riding breeds, usually dark in colour, with a thick, wavy mane and tail. Its neck is strongly arched, and its legs are short and sturdy. This is the Canadian Horse, a breed whose history in North America goes back more than three centuries. Its ancestors were horses shipped from France to the colony of New France in the second half of the 1600s, on the orders of the French king. Over many generations, bred in isolation from other kinds of horses and under harsh conditions, these animals gradually developed into a distinct type of their own, one that was well suited to long, cold winters.

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The breed earned a reputation for strength far beyond what its size would suggest, and it became known by the nickname “the little iron horse.” Settlers relied on it to plough fields, haul timber, pull sleighs over frozen rivers and carry families to church on Sundays. In winter, when roads were buried in snow, a sturdy horse could make the difference between a family reaching town and being cut off for weeks. Owners valued its calm temperament as much as its toughness: a Canadian Horse could be trusted around children, and it could work all day on a modest amount of hay. Many people who keep the breed today say that these same qualities make it a sensible choice for inexperienced riders.

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Ironically, the very qualities that made the horse so useful nearly led to its disappearance. During the nineteenth century, large numbers were sold to buyers in the United States, where they were in demand for farm work and for pulling coaches and carriages. Others were bred with larger horses to produce heavier animals, and horses of the original type became harder and harder to find. By the late 1800s, concern was growing in Quebec that the breed could be lost altogether. Breeders began recording pure-bred animals in an official register, and for a time this helped to protect the bloodline.

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The spread of tractors and cars in the middle of the twentieth century left farmers with little reason to keep working horses, and numbers fell sharply again. By the 1970s, only a few hundred registered Canadian Horses remained, and the breed was considered at serious risk. A small group of dedicated breeders responded by tracking down the remaining animals and carefully planning which ones to breed, so that the bloodline would not be weakened. They also promoted the horse at agricultural fairs and kept careful records of every foal. Their work has largely paid off: the population has grown to several thousand, although conservation groups still describe the breed as one to watch. In the early 2000s, Parliament recognized the Canadian Horse as the country’s national horse, and today it can be seen at fairs, in driving competitions and on trail rides across the country.