Prince Edward Island Horses

This week we would like to share with you images from our November holiday in Prince Edward Island on the Atlantic coast of Canada. My two sisters and I had been planning this trip for months to celebrate our Mother's 80th birthday! My parents have lived quietly on the island since 1973.

Though I spent most of my early life on the island, it has been nearly 20 years since I have seen Prince Edward Island in it's winter mantle. Janet and I, with some much appreciated help from our very patient middle sister Joanne, scouted the countryside in search of horses to photograph. Our father was kind enough to loan us his brand new car, and was shocked to find there was no gas left in it by day three! He would have been horrified to see us driving around the countryside and slamming on the brakes at the mention of 'horse!'.

I expected we would mostly find the typical bay standardbred racehorses waiting for their racing season to start (a very popular sport on the island), but instead we found every size, shape and colour of horses and ponies. Some still fenced in by barbed wire (which probably stems from the word "barbaric"), some living on run down farms, with frozen water troughs (my sister determinedly bashed the ice in with a fencepost she pulled out of the ground!), and many with manes and tails tightly woven with burrs. Any white horses we found or pintos with white patches, were tinted with the famous red dirt of the province so the white fur took on a pinkish red hue!

To be fair, we didn't really tell anyone we were taking photos of their horses so none of them were conveniently groomed for us. Of course we found lots of well cared for, and obviously well loved horses. The stark, wintry backdrop and stunning sunsets made for some breathtaking landscapes.

Enjoy my photo journal of Prince Edward Island in November.

Congratulations to the horses of PEI for being our December 1^st, 2008 Horse of the Week.