Jessica George
FORT FRANCES—With just over a year since the Times last caught up with Snow-Shoemaker’s Running Horse Ranch, Rhonda and Kim Shoemaker were pleased to announce much has happened over that span with regards to the rare Lac La Croix ponies, of which they have the largest herd in the world.
Due to her having suffered an injury and the ranch seeing monetary setbacks, some of what the couple had hoped to accomplish over the past year went unfinished. But their main objectives—that the population count be up and awareness raised—have seen much improvement.
Gerald Graham, with CBC Radio One in Thunder Bay, recently heard about these ponies in an off-the-cuff conversation with a lady he had met. After Googling the term “Ojibwe horse,” Graham was directed to srhr.net, which belonged to the Shoemakers’ ranch.
“He said he just couldn’t believe that there really was such thing as an Ojibwe horse. He’d never heard of it,” Rhonda Shoemaker recalled of her conversation with the radio host.
“He also couldn’t believe that they were so rare.
“So he decided that it would be something that he’d like to have on the radio so he could learn more about it and let people know in the area [to help raise awareness],” she added.
After the interview was done and she had the chance to listen to herself on the radio, Shoemaker was happy she got the main point out to CBC listeners: the ponies are back.
She stressed to Graham, and continues to emphasize, that these ponies are a major part of this area, and to have them back where they always have been—and where they most definitely belong—is an achievement in itself.
“The Ojibwe people said the ponies were always here, as far back as memory and oral tradition tell the story,” Shoemaker noted.
She has found accounts from numerous historians that describe the Lac La Croix ponies and their important role in the heritage of this area.
There even are accounts from pre-Confederation explorers of these ponies being used for hauling ice, aiding in the logging industry, and with the fur trade—pulling pound for pound with a work horse.
“They used them for 60 miles a day, weeks in a row, without blinkers or reins, heavy in tow,” enthused Shoemaker, quoting a poem she wrote about the “special” Lac La Croix ponies.
After saving these ponies from near extinction and spreading the word of their tolerant, curious, and hard-working temperaments, these ponies really have begun to stir up a lot of interest.
Over the past year, the Shoemakers have had filmmakers express interest in putting together documentaries, have received much positive feedback on their work with the horses, and have dropped jaws all over upon demonstrating the ponies’ uncanny ability to keep up with larger horses—and even out-perform in some cases—with little or no training.
Just this month, they entered two of their ponies in the annual Atikokan Poker Derby, where people with horses bring in their animals to ride an arduous journey over rough terrain—obtaining markers or flags at checkpoints along the way.
At the end, each rider is given a card for every checkpoint achieved. The person with the best poker hand is awarded a cash prize.
While the Shoemakers did not get a very good hand dealt to them, “Makwa” performed astoundingly.
Shoemaker had used this annual event as a chance to do her version of a mustang challenge—or more appropriately, the “Lac La Croix challenge.”
Generally, a mustang challenge entails a professional trainer working with an untrained horse for three hours a day for three days (a total of nine hours) and then attempting to ride it.
Shoemaker, instead, only worked on “Makwa” for a total of two-and-a-half hours before entering her in the ride.
“Makwa” ended up completing the ride, keeping up with the other horses, and walking away with plenty of “spunk” and life to spare.
With less than a third of the training time and still accomplishing the challenge, Shoemaker said this was a testament to the ponies and their very nature.
The Shoemakers are adamant that the ponies be remembered and recognized for their abilities, as well as their cultural significance. Rhonda, for one, believes many of the old stories have been forgotten and so, in turn, have the ponies.
Sadly, this may be true.
Joe George, a resident of Fort Frances, still remembers an Indian pony, “Patty,” his father had purchased when he was only two years old. However, he admitted most of what he knows is information he gleaned from his parents’ generation before they passed on.
“They were a special kind of a horse,” George said. “My dad told me that you could recognize them because [they] had a mark down the spine and where a saddle would sit there would be another mark across there.
“I think there was another mark across the rump if I remember right—and they had a different nose. The nose folded. He [my dad] told me it was so they could run when it was cold.
“And you didn’t even have to put hay out for them. They just ate brush, just like a moose,” George recalled.
“I talked to my mother about them after and she was telling me her dad had them and used to use them for commercial fishing, and they would hook them up like a dog team, one ahead of the other, and they would pull a big toboggan with boxes and boxes of fish on them. Three ponies in a row,” he continued.
“I remember my grandfather’s [pony], too, but I didn’t realize there was such a thing as an ‘Indian’ pony at the time,” George admitted. “It was just a horse to me when I was a kid. It wasn’t until after that I found out all the things about them.”
George noted when he was younger, he was a bit different from the other kids because he liked to sit with his parents’ generation and listen and learn about what they were talking about.
He remembered there were not many kids who enjoyed doing like he did and because of that, no one really knew about the importance of the ponies. The information just was never passed on.
“These are some special ponies,” George stressed, lamenting not many people realize that anymore. “People don’t know much about them [the ponies] but they are a big part of Indian heritage.”
Rhonda Shoemaker is looking to compile the few stories that are left in hopes of ensuring their history stays alive. But because many who knew of the ponies are now gone, this is proving especially difficult.
With the Shoemakers’ herd numbering 21, and a few more soon to be born, getting the word out is even more crucial as it appears like the ponies will see a healthy comeback.
Shoemaker admitted while they are not out of the woods with the pony population just yet, they can breathe a little bit easier due to their progress.
Anyone who has any stories or memories of these ponies are encouraged to call the Shoemakers at 274-9216 and leave a message, or to contact them via their website at srhr.net
(Fort Frances Times)
