The urban horse

 

Soon to be extinct?

Walking past the truncated row houses and aluminium-clad hangars of Griffin town in Montreal, you might catch a surprising smell in the air.  If you follow your nose, you will discover a pastoral scene at the foot of the downtown skyline: the Griffin town Horse Palace.  A flower-bordered path leads to a large back lot where two stables are home for eight working horses. Hundred-year-old poplars sway in the breeze; the air smells of hay and horse. The buildings don’t seem to have changed much since the 1860s, when they offered lodging for travellers and their horses.  ‘If it was too late to go back to the South shore, you left the horses and slept in the inn’ says owner Leo Leonard, pointing to a small brick building backing onto the wooden stables.

When I moved to Pointe-St-Charles neighbourhood three years ago, I discovered half a dozen stables tucked away within trotting distance of Old Montreal. They offer a rare opportunity to experience history without stepping into a museum, and socialize with another species-- the horse.  Unknown to most Montrealers, the stables are cherished by neighbours and local schools, who bring their children for a visit.  
The multi-media company mPaevum and I initiated and carried through an exhibition on the stables at the Centre d’Histoire de Montreal, fittingly housed in a former fire station and stable on Place d’Youville.  We filmed the stables over a one-year period to make a 12-minute portrait showing a day in the life of the horse and people that work in the trade: blacksmiths, grooms, carriage-drivers etc. Free of their harnesses, horses gallop, play together, frolick in the snow with the city skyline in the background.  The multimedia portrait is complemented by a series of black-and-white photographs (see photos), guided carriage tours of the neighbourhood, and demonstrations on horse care on the square in front of the Centre d’histoire.
Our intention was to spark a debate on the future of the city. If nothing interrupts business as usual, the probable future will be the disappearance of the stables, to make way for condominium projects. Leo is about to retire, at eighty.  Others at the stable would like to take over the stables when he retires, but a developer has already offered him a million dollars for his property…
In the past, municipal policy sought to attract wealth to their area by promoting large development projects.  But studies of cities that have done well in the past few decades show that it is their quality of life that has attracted investment: cultural and social diversity, and a high ratio of parks and green spaces. This has prompted politicians and municipalities to invest in green infrastructure and advocate diversity as a motor of urban prosperity.  In this light, preserving rural space in the city, as part of its rich cultural landscape, is not at odds with generating wealth, but actually favours it.
The exhibition asks whether the horse’s continued presence in Montreal can contribute to preserving rural space in the city, and advocate a diversity of experience in the city.
It has also motivated carriage drivers to create an association to negotiate better working conditions from the city of Montreal.  Another positive impact has been the Centre d’histoire’s promise to train carriage drivers in delivering informative guided tours.  It  remains to be seen whether stakeholders will grasp the exceptional nature of the stables, and take action to retain them.

 

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