The 2022 World Percheron Congress is underway in Brandon and the show has attracted breeders from both Canada and the United States.

“World Percheron Congress is an event which typically alternates between the U.S. and Canada,” explains event co-chair, and President of the Canadian Percheron Association, Donna Swanson. “There have been a couple of Congresses held overseas; one in England and one if France, and I believe they will be hosting one overseas in the near future.”

Scott Ferguson of Ferguson Ranch Horse Training has seven horses at the Congress and he’s pleased to be attending and competing. “We’re in the horse training business and we kind of promote that through showing and visiting with people and creating some contacts.”

“We do mostly driving horses whether they’re light or heavy horses. A lot of the guys here mostly show and we have horses that are for pleasure for things like hay and sleigh rides and things like that.” We like to start training the horses when they’re around two years old.”

The Percheron is a breed of draft horse that originated in western France. The breed takes its name from the area in France that it hailed from, the former Perche province. This majestic animal is usually gray or black in color. They are well muscled, and known for their intelligence and willingness to work.

“We’ve been busy as Covid seemed to help our business out quite a bit because a lot of people were spending more time at home and wanting to do stuff with horses and it created a lot of interest in the business.”

Ferguson says they’re in pretty deep water when it comes to the level of competition at the World Percheron Congress.

“There’s a lot of nice horses here but if we get in and out of the ring and have some nice drives and our horses perform good we’ll be happy with that.” said Scott Ferguson.

The World Percheron Congress at the Keystone Centre started Monday and runs through to July 23rd.