Other animals at the barn

There were always cats around. There were a large number of white ones that were close relatives.


There were dogs - Saint Bernards and a poodle (Foo-Foo) which led to some Saint Boodles!



Laddie, Susie, Bernie and Harold were Saint Bernards.



There was also Rex and Kelly and Buzzy and Bear and Trixie (Lois the granddaughter's dog).



Later on Pop had Newfoundlands.



There were goats - in particular a very smelly male one.

Horse breeds

Pop focused on different breeds.


Hackneys came first. His stallion - Swanky Performer - had lots of offspring. Now you can search his name in a database online and find their names and the names of his dad and mom - Broom Park Premier and Earl's Doll.


He had Thoroughbreds for a while.


Then he raised Canadiens. His memory also lives on in the Canadian horses that are listed in the Canadian Horse Association registry - 50 or 60 with the Wal Ken name in front of the horse’s name. As someone posted on the Yahoo Canadian Horse group - "We have several horses that are decendants of aWal Ken stallion. These horses have great dispositions."




We joked with him when he was meeting with the other Canadian horse breeders from la Belle Province - Pop did not speak too many words of French.

Horse shows: Lachute Spring Fair and others

There were horse shows at home.


The Lachute Spring Fair was the big event every June.


We rode the horses there along the back streets.


There was one year we were not allowed to show because of a new rule about not showing school horses. Pop was not impressed and he took all his horses home.

The arena

What year did it go up?


It was very narrow because of the neighbour not wanting to sell a bit of land.



It was an experience riding in it with piles of hay in the middle that the horses liked to stop and eat.

The barn

How where the stalls configured at various times?



Where were the standing stalls and where were the box stalls?



Where did the stallion live?