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Harrislea Clydesdale Cavalry
Doubling down on talent
Members of the New Brunswick Drill Team at the competition at Princess Louise Show Park in Sussex. From left to
right: Jennifer Hawkes and Harrislea Haley, Siobhan MacDonald and Harrislea Shylo, Ashley Jones and Pine River Billy,
Natalie Holder and Gormley's Island Ruby, Kendra Harris and Pine River Jorja. Members of the 2014 Team missing from
the photo are Kristina Nason, who rode Westcock Molly, and Captain Leah Grandy, who just had a baby a couple days
before the picture was taken. (Melissa Murphy photo)
by Mary McIntosh
Clydesdales are showy when hitched
as a team because of their impressive
size, power, and clean-stepping stride.
They are energetic and cooperative, and
bring a positive attitude to their work.
That’s what inspired a group of riders to
create an all-Clydesdale, military-style
drill team, patterned after the RCMP
Musical Ride.
Leah Grandy, 35, is the team captain
of the Clydesdale Cavalry. She said the
idea to create a drill team using draft
horses came up when a group of friends
were watching the breed compete two
years ago at the New Brunswick Exhibition
in Fredericton.
“It started off as a joke,” said Grandy.
“We thought it would be great if we
could create an all-Clydesdale drill team
because they’re not normally riding
horses, and we thought it would be fun.”
The imposing breed, originally
developed for hauling heavy loads in
agriculture, is now almost exclusively
used for shows and parades. Budweiser
Brewery owns one of the best-known
hitches and uses them for public relations
and to promote the Budweiser
brand. The Clydesdale Cavalry is the
only one of its kind in the Maritimes,
and one of a handful of draft horse drill
teams in Canada.
Grandy said after the Fredericton
show she contacted Kendra and Lukas
Harris, who own and breed Clydesdales
in Fredericton Junction, New Brunswick,
to see if they would be interested in allowing
their horses to be used as a drill
team, and to get permission for the riders
to start training the horses under saddle.
“The Harrises told us that we should give
it a try, and we started working with
the horses a few weeks after that,” said
Grandy.
For most of the horses, this was the
first time they were ever ridden, and all
of them were introduced to group riding
for the first time that winter. “They were
very good to break. Most of them had
never had a rider on them – ever – and
we were trail riding them within a couple
of weeks. We rode them in the hayfields
all that winter and by November we
were riding patterns with them in the
hayfields. A lot of them were trained to
be hitch horses – so they were used to
being in pairs and riding as a group – so
that definitely helped.”
The team is made up of six young
women and an alternate: Ashley
Jones, 29; Natalie Holder, 29; Siobhan
MacDonald, 32; Jennifer Hawkes, 15;
Kristina Nason, 13; and Kendra Harris,
26. The team rides horses owned by
Pine River Clydesdales and Harrislea
Clydesdales in Fredericton Junction. The
horses are between 16 to 18hh, weigh up
to 2,000 pounds, and range in age from
five to 16 years old.
“I like their personality. They are
very calm, but at the same time they are
very willing, and if you ask them to do
something, their attitude is ‘OK, I’ll do
it,’” said Grandy. “They have a very good
Page 22 | November 2014-January 2015 | ATLANTIC HORSE & PONY