Some local residents were able to see Estevan from a somewhat different perspective during the Christmas break.
Graham Collie offered a few horse and carriage rides, guided by a couple of Clydesdales, through much of the city. The carriage was decorated with bright Christmas lights. A couple of rides occurred before Christmas, including one in which he went through a Tim Hortons drive-thru for coffee. Another trip was for family members, and then he took out some people on New Year’s Eve. Then he took some of the people he knows through the equestrian community for a ride around the Estevan Exhibition grounds.
“Most people really love them. They really enjoy getting out and going for the ride with the horses. Lots of people have never had a sleigh ride or a wagon ride in the wintertime, and they are quite amazed what the horses can do,” Collie told Lifestyles.
In the case of the New Year’s Eve ride, they started at the Exhibition grounds and ventured down to Fourth Street, and then took Fourth to Tim Hortons. Then they went down Perkins Street and Fourth Avenue South to Jubilee Place so that they could see all of the brightly-decorated homes on that road.
After riding through the Hillcrest area, they went back to Fourth Street and returned to the fairgrounds.
It helped that the temperatures were pretty nice during the holiday season, and that the roads were clear of snow.
“I had them here two years ago, but it was 40 below out, and nobody wanted to go out when I had them here. I hadn’t done it for eight years.”
Each year that he is in the Estevan area for Christmas, he usually has the Clydesdales, and he’ll take family members out for a ride to look at Christmas lights.
“Nobody gets in a hurry, and it’s relaxing. I like it because … a person doesn’t hurry with the horses. The horses have their speed, and you get to look at the lights and you get to enjoy the view and enjoy the people that you’re with and visit.”
If the roads are icy, then he has to be pretty careful with the horses on the roads, because he doesn’t want to see the horses slip and fall.
“But they’re no different than you and me. We could go walking down the street or the sidewalk and slip on a piece of ice, just as easy as they can.”
The two horses that he had out for the walks weigh about 1,800-1,900 pounds, and are about 18 hands high, but they’re known as being called “gentle giants.”
“Everybody’s love is different. Some people love ski-dooing and some people love boating and skiing, and I love horses and people, and just having fun. At Christmas time, when I had everything all decorated up, I love that time of year, Christmas and the holidays and family and friends, and that kind of stuff.”
His children and grandchildren love to go out for a ride, too, and his daughter drove the horses for about half of the ride one night. She’s been guiding them since she was about nine years old.
He was also part of a few horse and wagon rides in Regina, as his uncle offered rides with the same horses that were in Estevan. His uncle keeps the horses in the Grenfell area, and shows the horses in the summer.
Collie would like to offer the rides more often during the Christmas break, and he has been receiving more requests for rides from people he knows.
