RCMP horses must be black, elegant, uniform in size, substance and temperament, stand sixteen to seventeen hands tall, weigh between one-thousand two-hundred pounds and one-thousand four-hundred pounds, have good solid leg bone, and conformation that lends itself to health and longevity. They must possess supple and balanced movement at the walk, trot and canter, and display desirable dressage and jumping attributes. They must also be comfortable under saddle or in harness. They must possess a temperament which will help them to adapt to the rigorous life with the Musical Ride. They must be people friendly, be able to travel up to sixty thousand kilometers per year, depending on the tour, and adapt to changing food, water, climate and stabling.
The RCMP Breeding program, one of the largest producers of sport horse types in Canada, has been enriched over the past few years with the acquisition of Thoroughbred/Hanoverian sport horses imported from Europe. The program seeks to produce elegant, athletic, black mounts which possess even temperament and enough substance and stamina to withstand the rigor and strain of the extensive national and international tours of the Musical Ride. Surplus horses selected for the auction includes a mixture of foals, broodmares, a stallion and former Musical Ride horses.
The brood mares and stallions are a combination Thoroughbred, Hanoverian, Trakehner and Anglo-Arab bloodlines. These horses are genetically characterized to reproduce desirable traits for our distinct purposes.
The Thoroughbred / Hanoverian cross has been the most dominant in the breeding program in recent years. The breeding farm in Pakenham has between twenty-one and twenty-four brood mares and usually one stallion. Artificial insemination, using fresh cooled or frozen semen, is also used to enhance and broaden the gene pool. As a rule thirteen to twenty-one foals are born each year. In their first year the off-coloured horses (if there are any) are identified for culling. The second year notes are made on those that are not likely to make the final selection because of size, conformation or temperament.
RCMP horses are officially identified by a Regimental Number, and are given a name. Each year children across Canada are invited to suggest names for four to six of the foals in a "Name the Foal" contest. Over the past years, several thousand names have been suggested and submitted for the contest. The remaining foals are named by the Pakenham Farm Manager, who attempts to match names to the distinct characteristics and personalities of each horse. The names of all foals born in the same year begin with the same letter, and every year this letter changes. This method makes it easier for the breeders to keep records on the RCMP horses. This process of naming foals is unique to the RCMP.
In past years, horses which did not meet the RCMP requirements for colour, size, conformation and temperament were sold as Crown assets with no financial return to the RCMP. Since 1995, horses identified for culling in their first two years as well as remounts which do not complete the Musical Ride training program and unsuitable brood mares are turned over to the Mounted Police Foundation for sale at public auction. This innovative revenue generating initiative ensures that proceeds from the sale of surplus RCMP horses are reinvested directly in the RCMP's breeding program to help sustain the program into the future. The horse auction is well publicized in advance and usually takes place every second year at the RCMP stables in Ottawa.
The Musical Ride
The Musical Ride was developed from a desire by early members of the North-West Mounted Police to display their riding ability and entertain both themselves and the local community. Considering that the original Mounted Police members had a British military background, it was inevitable that the series of figures they performed were traditional cavalry drill movements. These movements formed the basis of the Musical Ride. Although legend has it that the first Musical Ride was performed as early as 1876, the first officially recorded Musical Ride was performed in Regina under Inspector William George Matthews in 1887. The Musical Ride, consisting of twenty men, was put on public display for the first time in 1901. Over the years the popularity of the Ride has grown and it has become a familiar sight throughout most of the world.
Members of the Musical Ride are first and foremost police officers who, after at least two years of active police work, volunteer for duty with the Musical Ride. Most members are non-riders prior to their equestrian training with the RCMP; however, once they complete the courses of instruction, they not only become riders but ambassadors of goodwill. Working through a unique medium, they promote the RCMP's image throughout Canada and the world. RCMP members only remain with the Musical Ride for three years which ensures an annual rotation of approximately one third (33%) of the riders.
Today, in keeping with tradition, the Musical Ride is performed by a full troop of thirty-two riders and horses, plus the member in charge. The Musical Ride consists of the execution of a variety of intricate figures and cavalry drill choreographed to music. Demanding utmost control, timing and coordination, these movements are formed by individual horses and riders, in two's, four's and eight's at the trot and at the canter. Months of training, practice and many kilometres/miles around the riding school make horse and rider one. The horses must not only appear in the Musical Ride, but on Parliament Hill, in parades, special events and have the ability to travel and adapt to different environments, not to mention, hours of petting and photo-taking that the horses must patiently endure.
One of the more familiar Musical Ride formations is the "Dome," once featured on the back of the Canadian fifty-dollar bill. The highlight of the Musical Ride is, without a doubt, the CHARGE when lances, with their red and white pennons, are lowered and the riders and their mounts launch into the gallop. The conclusion of the performance is the March Past performed to the strains of the RCMP's Regimental March where the Musical Ride traditionally salutes the guest of honour.
The RCMP Musical Ride tours throughout Canada, as well as international venues, performing at approximately forty to fifty locations a year between the months of May and October. Thirty-six riders, thirty-six horses, a farrier, a technical production manager and three NCOs travel with the Musical Ride.
A local organizing committee is formed in each community where the Musical Ride travels to act as hosts and to coordinate the enormous task of on-site logistics. The Musical Ride Tour Planner will meet once with the hosts to explain what infrastructure must be in place prior to the arrival of the 4 tractor trailers containing 36 horses, several tonnes of equipment and the 40 members of the RCMP. The horses require 1000 pounds of hay and 500 pounds of oats per day as well as suitable stabling with proper bedding. The hosts may also be required to pay a nominal performance fee and may sell tickets to the event to recover their costs. The profits are usually donated to a local charity or given to a community service organization to fund a local project. Annually, the Musical Ride helps over 40 communities raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for a number of causes.
In 1873, the horses of the North-West Mounted Police had to be rugged and tough, being that they were the primary mode of transportation. Today an RCMP horse must be black, elegant, and athletic with a good nature and enough heart and stamina to carry it through approximately one hundred performances of the Musical Ride. The RCMP produce some of the finest horses in the country.
The RCMP has bred and raised its own horses since 1939. The RCMP horse breeding program began at Depot Division, Regina, Saskatchewan and was subsequently moved to Fort Walsh in 1942, the site of a North-West Mounted Police fort built in 1875 in the beautiful Cypress Hills of south western Saskatchewan. Fort Walsh was home of the breeding program until 1968 when the operation was moved to Pakenham, Ontario about 50 kms west of Ottawa. The RCMP Breeding Farm in Pakenham is built on one hundred and forty hectares of lush Ottawa Valley land where the Remounts spend the first three years of their life, growing, developing and maturing into future Musical Ride horses.
The life-long training program of a Musical Ride horse begins the day it is born. In its first hours a newborn foal is monitored for vital signs and examined for any weaknesses in the eyes, head, neck and limbs. This begins the relationship of trust and mutual respect and the bonding between the horse and human. During its first three years, a young horse, known as a Remount, is handled, groomed, loaded in trailers and taught to lead and longe properly. Longeing is where a horse is worked on a ten to twelve meter circle attached to a longe line held by the trainer. The horse is kept going forward by the use of a longe crop. The horse learns rhythm, basic voice commands, becomes supple, and accepts contact/feel from their bit in their mouth.
The Farm staff are responsible to make sure the spirit of each young horse remains intact while allowing it to develop its own distinct character. Every year nine to eleven Remounts are carefully chosen to begin the two and a half year training program at the RCMP Training Facility and Stables located at the Canadian Police College Campus in Ottawa, Ontario. During this time trainers assess and score Remounts on their temperament, physical ability, training aptitude, athletic potential and overall general suitability for Musical Ride duties. By the end of the Remount training program only five or six elite mounts are selected to begin their tour of duty with the Musical Ride.
In their third year of life the Remounts are moved from the Farm in Pakenham between May and July to the RCMP Musical Ride Training Facility in Ottawa. During the first phase of training, these young, immature horses are acclimatized to their new surroundings and the individual trainers. They then undergo a basic training program which in addition to longeing includes long-reining and work over poles or cavalletti. Long-reigning is when the horse is driven forward controlled with long reins on straight lines and circles with the trainer walking or running behind. This teaches the horse to go forward, accept the lines touching the legs, and become bolder with only the trainer's voice asking it to go forward and to accept contact on its mouth. In fact, the horse can be trained to complete movements and routines that are normally taught by a rider on its back. It can learn these movements without the weight of, or need to balance a rider. Work over poles or cavalletti is a sort of gymnastic exercise which teaches the young horse to be careful where it steps, which makes it look down. By being careful, it learns to pick up its feet, become more supple, and develop muscle in areas behind the saddle, and move with rhythm.
Also at this point the introduction of saddle and rider and working on large circles at the trot and canter begins. They also need to learn other routines and exercises to further develop communication with their trainer. The general term for this is "learning the aids" which cue the Remount to perform transitions from halt to walk to canter, as an example. This phase of its education produces a young horse that will walk, trot, and canter while showing rhythm and suppleness, accept the rider's aids without resistance, jump over small obstacles, and exhibit confidence in its new role. The remount is then given a short break from the training routine.
The second and third phases of training covering the next eighteen months consist of re-conditioning after the rest period and a review of all first year training. Then, more difficult exercises and routines are introduced which result in the horse travelling straight and with impulsion (controlled energy) and collection (the ability to move at a slower tempo without changing rhythm). The horse must be able to work in the Ceremonial Bridle (double bridle). It must develop the ability to cope with troop drill (learning to work within an organized group of horses doing cavalry movements that will prepare it to perform the Musical Ride). The Remount may also be detailed to ceremonial escorts with more experienced horses. Then, if fully successful with its training, the remount is introduced to a member of the Musical Ride who is coached together with their horse, during the Musical Ride training of approximately sixteen weeks.
The Remount is considered fully trained after having completed one successful tour with the Musical Ride. Those horses that are slightly less successful and exhibit an appropriate personality will be utilized by the Equitation Training Unit for developing new riders. Those that have the aptitude and conformation are introduced to work in harness and can be used with the landau carriage performing ceremonial escorts for royalty and other visiting heads of state.
The life cycle of a Musical Ride horse is approximately twenty to twenty-five years. From birth to age three the young horses are at the farm.
From age three to age five they move to the Musical Ride stables where they receive their basic training. From age six to late-teens they are performing on the Musical Ride, and from late-teens to early twenties, they are used to train new riders and perform local ceremonial duties. When the horses become chronically ill or lame, they are humanely destroyed.
Since 1995, horses identified for culling in their first two years as well as remounts which do not complete the Musical Ride training program and unsuitable brood mares are turned over to the Mounted Police Foundation for sale at public auction.
The RCMP Horses Given To The Queen
Once upon a time, in Fort Walsh, Saskatchewan, a pure black filly was born at the RCMP Breeding farm. Pure black horses are priceless to the RCMP, because they use only the blackest horses for their world-famous Musical Ride. They nicknamed the filly Blackie, and she was everyone’s favorite, but people thought she was too small to be in the musical ride. Then one day, to everyone’s surprise, the RCMP decided to give Blackie a chance to train for the Musical Ride!
 When Blackie arrived at the training camp in Regina, she was given a new name to demonstrate her noble birth and her proud position. All the foals and fillies born that year were given names that started with ‘B’, so the Mounties gave Blackie the new name Burmese. Burmese went through training for three years and then she started teaching new Mounties how to ride. One day, RCMP Headquarters announced that the horseback riding would be moved to Ottawa and that only specially chosen Mounties would ride the horses.
Burmese was still a favorite with the Mounties and she did so well in training that Burmese moved to Ottawa with the other horses. Since the Musical Ride already had all the horses they needed, Burmese became a back-up horse and kept training so that she would be ready when her big chance came!
A few years later, some of the old horses retired and Burmese got her chance to be in the Musical Ride. All her training was worth it - she was amazing! Burmese kept working hard and soon she was the best horse on the team and lead all of the other horses in the show. Can you believe that once everyone thought Burmese too small for the Musical Ride?
When the RCMP was planning a trip to England they heard that Queen Elizabeth of England was looking for a new riding horse. The Mounties decided they would give the Queen one of their best horses as a present. Queen Elizabeth said that she would be proud to ride one of the RCMP’s beautiful black horses, even though kings and queens usually rode grey and white horses.
Burmese was about to become even more famous - the Mounties chose her as the horse they would give to the Queen. When the Mounties traveled to England to present Burmese to the Queen, they were surprised to hear that the Queen wanted to see her new horse perform the Musical Ride one last time, before making the royal stables at Windsor Castle her home. The Mounties were worried - this would be the biggest crowd that Burmese had ever performed before and she hadn’t practiced in a while. Could she do it? Would she be too rusty? Of course not! Burmese performed every step like a professional, winning the hearts of the Queen and her people.
Burmese went on to become one of the most famous horses in England. She participated in mounted patrols in the city of London, took the Queen for her weekly rides, and marched in the Queen’s birthday parades. After Burmese retired, she had a home in a pasture next to Windsor Castle, so that the Queen could watch her favorite horse while having tea. After Burmese died, a statue was built in her honour at Windsor Castle, and her relative - a horse named Centenial, came to England to be the Queen’s new riding horse. |
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Links Used:
http://www.mountedpolicefnd.org/
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/history/burmese_e.htm
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