He’s been in the St. Patrick’s Day and Santa Claus parades but this past Sunday’s Chinese New Year Parade was Clyde’s first in honour of his species.
The black Clydesdale-Percheron mix horse with the white stripe down his forehead joined three of his Vancouver Police Department coworkers for the Year of the Horse celebration. The four made their way from their stables in Stanley Park to Chinatown, seemingly unruffled by the racket of tinny music blaring from speakers atop of float cars and the near-paparazzi levels of photographs taken.
The horses worked with their Vancouver Police Department equestrians and equestriennes for a month leading up to the Spring Festival — training that included firecrackers, cymbals, banners and the VPD’s lion dance team.
“We’ve done our due diligence and they’ve done great. Now this is the real deal,” Const. Rich Horner said from Clyde’s saddle, which seemed about two storeys up.
The VPD horses, all geldings, are a mix of breeds that include Percheron-Morgan, Percheron-Quarter horse and Clydesdale-Appaloosa crosses — all known to be calm, or cold-blooded, breeds.
The VPD’s Mounted Unit, which has history that goes back to 1908, is made up of 10 horses, all of which have passed nuisance training which includes stimulation similar to what the Chinese New Year parade presents.
Even so, organizers of the Chinese New Year Parade made sure participants lighting firecrackers were located far enough away from the horses.
Jun Ing, vice-president of the Chinese Benevolent Association that has been hosting the parade since 1979 when it took over from the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Vancouver, said that having more than 70 entries made that job easier.
“This year we have horses and this has been 12 years in the making,” he said. “We couldn’t have done that 12 years ago and, 12 years later, we found a way.”
The parade started in 1974 and Ing, who spent most of the parades during the 1980s as a lion dancer, remembers its humble beginnings.
“It was not as inclusive as it is today,” he said. “If you look at today’s parade, we have many different cultures and it’s evolved to be relevant to many more people in the city.”
While Ing was excited about having horses as part of this year’s parade, he has an answer ready when asked about his one favourite thing about it.
“I tell people that the best thing about the parade is the end of it,” he said. “It’s a feeling of ‘We’ve done it!’”
