Through sheer dumb luck, I’ve ended up living in the middle of horse country. I call it ‘horse country’ because everywhere around me, there are horses. According to the Headwaters Horse Country site, this happens to be part of the region where 78% of Ontario’s horse population resides.

In horse country, there are the backyard horses. My neighbour across the road has three draft horses, a couple of riding horses, and a miniature horse. I assume all these horses are retired, as I’ve never seen them do anything but loaf around enjoying the good life.

Then, there are the road signs in horse country.

Horse country has harness racing. Within a five-minute drive from my house, there are at least two training centres for harness horses. Woodbine Mohawk Park, a harness racing track which hosts some of the richest harness races in both Ontario and Canada, is a fifteen-minute drive away.

Horses in horse country need a ‘horsepital’. The Ontario Veterinary College, the oldest veterinary college in Canada and the U.S., is also a fifteen-minute drive away – very convenient when my OTTB Larry had to visit for a neurological workup recently.

Needless to say, there are a zillion boarding stables in horse country. I know of half a dozen within a ten-minute drive of my house. There are probably more. There was a lot of choice in picking a place for Larry to live.

A half hour drive away is the town of Elmira, located in an area that is home to the largest population of Old Order Mennonites in Canada. My website designer’s office is on the main street, and every time I visit, the clop of horses pulling buggies drifts through the window.

I’m not sure how many hunt clubs there are in horse country. Several. Nowadays, ‘fox hunting’ clubs chase coyote scent. Some are drag hunts, where the hounds track the scent of coyote urine laid down beforehand. (I wonder where they get the urine?) Live hunts rarely catch a coyote. As one of my hunting friends says, “Coyotes are fast and far smarter than our hounds, so we actually find ourselves in the ‘displacement’ business… Farmers welcome us onto their lands when they have a coyote problem. A morning’s hunt will usually pressure the coyote pack to move on to less troublesome territory.” I get the feeling from my hunting friends that the real point is to enjoy the riding and the countryside. The poster below shows how embedded hunting has become in the community of Erin.

Where there are horses, there are horse shows. The Royal Horse Show at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto is the pinnacle show of the year. Touted as ‘North America’s #1 indoor equestrian event’, it starts later this week. I’m sure a lot of you will be going!

This little tour has barely scratched the surface of horse country. I hope you enjoyed it!