The Royal Manitoba Winter Fair draws thousands of visitors and competitors into and around the show ring from across Canada and the U.S. The 4-Horse Hitch competition is one of the favourites at Brandon’s winter fair.

The Bourns Family Percherons from Cartwright, Manitoba, are regular competitors, presenting their teams of black beauties in show competitions.

Breanne Bourns says coming to the fair is a great way to connect with friends and fellow horse lovers from all over who attend and compete at these shows.  Breanne’s family have been competing in the 4-Horse Hitch competition with their draft horses since she was a little girl.   

"This is a hobby for us," says Breanne, "I've been doing this since I can remember, it's what we love to do, our whole family. We come here to have fun for the week and we get to see lots of people we show horses with that we don’t get to see a lot during the year, so that’s really nice."

"We basically compete for how our horses look and how they drive and how nice they look together, and that is what's judged, so it's not like a race or anything like that. It's kind of like an actually judged competition on how your horses look."

Breanne says there is a lot that goes into preparing the draft horses to be ready for competition.

"For Brandon, for this fair, we start getting ready just after Christmas and we drive pretty much every day, at least four times a week – all of the horses. So, it's a lot of work to get them ready and in show-shape."

The Bourns family owns nine heavy horses and eight light horses, and have scored high marks in the 4-Horse Hitch competition during the week with their magnificent Percherons.

The Percheron is a breed of draft horse that originates from the province of Perche in western France, from which the breed takes its name from. These gentle giants are known for their strength, intelligence, and their willingness to work. They were originally bred to be used as war horses and were later used for pulling stagecoaches. In time they were used in agriculture to pull heavy loads.

Thousands of Percherons were shipped to the United States from France prior to World War I and were used extensively in Europe during the war.

The following is a gallery of photos from the 2017 Manitoba Winter Fair.