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John and Merna Shields in conversation with Carrie TroutJune 30, 2005, Hanna, Alberta
John Shields: "Four hundred and eighty some odd head of horses. They rounded up...it was in the forties, I think, about [19]47 or [19]48. And that's probably the last…is it '48?"
Merna Shields: "Yup."
John: "That was probably the last big roundup of horses…the movement of horses across the country. We started them at Chinook [Alberta] and brought there about a 150 or 200 head of horses down to Oyen [Alberta]. And then they left…they stayed overnight there and they left there with 480 and some odd head of horses.
And I was one of the riders. And I rode from Oyen to Alsask [border of ALberta and SASKatchewan] is where we left them that night. And then I didn't go the rest of the way, …to Swift Current [Saskatchewan]. They were on their way to Swift Current to the meat packing plant.
And these were horses that were gathered up from farmers all over the country that….didn't need them anymore, 'cause they'd sold their horses off. And they'd all bought tractors and plows and tractor outfits and so…that's why the horses…were so many of them.
And so, they chased them all the way to Swift Current and I think there was 550 or 560 horses by the time they got down to Swift Current with them. They picked a bunch up in Alsask and trailed them down there. I was a quadriplegic when I was fourteen years old and I was just…all I could do was ride and I just loved horses and I loved riding them so Dad didn't…wouldn't let me go on the rest of the trip. I chased them to Alsask from Oyen, but that's as far as I went with them."
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1. On the RANCH (finished) |
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