Horses have played a crucial role in shaping human history, from their use in agriculture and transportation to their significance in warfare, sport, and culture. Across the world, museums dedicated to these majestic animals showcase not only their historical importance but also the people who have worked alongside them, fostering deep and enduring bonds.

In October 1873, after Canada’s Prime Minister John A. Macdonald approved the formation of a North West Mounted Police (NWMP) force, adverts like this one in the Halifax Chronicle appeared in newspapers across what is now Eastern Canada. They encouraged recruits to sign on to what Tony Rees writes would become “one of the greatest chapters in Canada’s national mythology; as rich in absurdity as glory, every bit as foolhardy and reckless as it was colourful and proud.”

Historical records show that horseback riders first used cloth saddles in approximately 700 – 400 BC. It wasn’t until about 200 BC, that rigid saddle trees were invented. Since then, saddles continued to evolve as riders used their horses for new activities.

Determined to showcase six of their Clydesdales at the 1983 Yorkton Harvest Show, just a day away, Delvin Szumutku’s father was facing serious health issues and urgently needing heart surgery. Doctors had instructed him not to lift anything, not even a suitcase—a difficult restriction for a lifelong farmer of the Saskatchewan family farm, where they had been growing grain and breeding Clydesdale horses since the 1960s. Feeling the weight of responsibility, Delvin knew this would be an impossible task for his father.