Draft Horses … and Elephants!

It wasn't always just draft horses for me.

Sometimes it was drafts - and elephants!

Yep, managing Belgian horses and overseeing elephants, all in the same day. Quite the combo, right?

It was back in my days managing the Alberta Game Farm, a major exotic animal park located just outside of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Sure, managing/driving/showing the farm's own championship hitch of Belgians was my pride and joy. They were a HUGE group of horses, highlighted by Cub (pictured below) who stood 19 hands high and weighed 2,300 lbs.

But on days when Cub and his hitch mates weren't quite ‘big’ enough, I always had an elephant like Tally (pictured above) nearby to make my day just a little ‘bigger.’

Although still young at the time, Tally was enormous, as you can see. Weighing approximately 5,000 lbs, she was one of the farm's main attractions (amongst others like guerrillas, tigers and polar bears too).

She loved her daily romps in the snow, even when it was minus 20 - which if you know much about Edmonton, is quite frequent.

And in the summer months, she thrilled thousands of adults and children, offering daily rides, doing media and making appearances.

I look pretty comfortable up there don't I? Well, I was - or at least as comfortable as I could possibly be on a 5,000 lb elephant. To be honest, Tally and I actually shared a pretty special friendship and bond.

There's nothing to me quite like having control of a 6 or 8-horse hitch of draft horses in my hands, entering a show ring or driving in a parade. But let me tell you ... being atop Tally on a regular basis came pretty darn close!