For generations, the Canadien horse played a vital role in the settlement of North America. Today, the breed numbers only twenty-five hundred worldwide, and its threat of extinction is listed as “critical”.
The breed traces its ancestry to the finest horses from the royal stables of Louis XIV, which were sent to French North America in the early seventeenth century. Bred in isolation, and under the harshest conditions, the original stock eventually developed into the hearty Canadian breed. Nicknamed “the Little Iron Horse” for its legendary feats of endurance and strength, the Canadians were the primary means of survival in the frontier of early North America.
Today's Canadien will put her heart in to the task set before her - just as her forefathers did - and require very little in return. Truly a national treasure! The Canadien was named Canada’s National Horse in 2002.
The breed traces its ancestry to the finest horses from the royal stables of Louis XIV, which were sent to French North America in the early seventeenth century. Bred in isolation, and under the harshest conditions, the original stock eventually developed into the hearty Canadian breed. Nicknamed “the Little Iron Horse” for its legendary feats of endurance and strength, the Canadians were the primary means of survival in the frontier of early North America.
Today's Canadien will put her heart in to the task set before her - just as her forefathers did - and require very little in return. Truly a national treasure! The Canadien was named Canada’s National Horse in 2002.