A worrying future for Alberta's historic Block Horses
TIM KALINOWSKI T
he history of the British Block is the history of its horses, says Arnold McKee, a rancher living near Acadia Valley. McKee has dedicated the latter part of his life, more than 20 years now,
to preserving the memory of that historical injustice, and its aftermath.
He has done it in an odd way: By taking care of and preserving the historical horse pedigree known as the Block Horses, horses descended from the wild horses rounded up and evicted from CFB Suffield near Medicine Hat in 1994.
McKee feels the keen resonance between the historical eviction of local ranchers and farmers in 1940, when the territory which eventually became CFB Suffield was expropriated by the federal government to create the
British Block, and the roundup and dispersal of the range’s wild horses 55 years later.
“That area was settled, and there were towns in it, ranches and farms. In the Depression years, and before them, it was farms. That whole area the government eventually took over was under ranches and farms. They expropriated all the land and evicted all the people. It wasn’t a pretty situation. Growing up I heard from oldtimers of that era, and it struck home,” says McKee.
McKee grows visibly angry when he considers the outrageous stories he has heard about the Block Horses over the years. Even the most common one, that they were left behind when the original farmers were forced to clear out of the British Block, is wrong, says McKee.
“When these people were expropriated and evicted out of there, they didn’t leave anything behind. They only had 30 days to get out so they pushed all the livestock out of there. They were certainly not going to leave anything for any government official.
“These people, to the day they died, hated the government. They didn’t vote. They didn’t do nothing. And hated any government involvement in anything... That whole area was cleaned out. They started on the west side and pushed and combed it right through.” McKee has also heard “ludicrous” tales about how the Block Horses were descended from Spanish mustangs, California wild horses, Sundre wild horses or that they were trailed in from Texas in the late 19th century and abandoned.
McKee says the truth is much simpler, and can now be told because most of the oldtimers are long gone. Horse breeders living around the British Block put their breeding stock in after the clearances, and paid officials at the base money to look the other way while they did their roundups. This happened from 1940 to about 1960. Even a then teenaged McKee knew about the deal; as did everyone in the local ranching community. McKee says that is why Block Horses are of such good quality. They weren’t scrubs left behind and descended from abandoned farm animals; they were quality stock to begin with.
“When the horses we know as the Suffield Block Horses of today evolved, you can get a lot of different stories. But basically, the horse breeders in all the area around the British Block; each breeder put a stallion in there with mares. There was obviously an agreement under the table with the (Block’s) range managers. Every two years those breeders would go in and they would gather those horses, and sort them and take the colts out. They always kept their breeding stock in there. Remember, this was a restricted area. Money was exchanging hands and people were looking the other way to keep this going; that’s basically what it was.”
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41241853 • 03/28/2017
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