Discover Stanley Park
in a Horse-Drawn Tram
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
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GERRY O'NEIL, owner of the Stanley Park Horse-Drawn Tours with his team of shire horses imported from England. When Gerry arrived in Vancouver from Quebec City he saw the potential for a new tourist attraction.
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FORMER BRITISH COLUMBIA Lieutenant Governor Iona Campanola, admiring Gerry O`Neil's beautiful shire horses.
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VANCOUVER - Gerry O'Neil is president of AAA Horse & Carriage, the company that reintroduced horse-drawn carriages to Stanley Park after a hiatus of 30 years, and now operate the Stanley Park Horse-Drawn Tours.
Through the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies, transportation around Stanley Park was limited to cars and buses. When Gerry and his wife Kathryn moved to Vancouver from Quebec City in 1979, they saw the need for an alternative.
In historic Quebec City, horse-drawn carriages (known as a calèches) are a big draw among both tourists and locals. Not only do they add to the charm of the city, they are also a very romantic way to see the sights.
After years of negotiations with the City of Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, Gerry finally got approval in 1985 to fulfill his lifelong dream of providing an educational, entertaining, and relaxing way to visit Stanley Park.
Discovering Stanley Park by horse-drawn tram - which is an open carriage, easily accessible from both sides, with rows of seats facing forward - is a unique and memorable experience.
Sitting in the open air, visitors are protected from rain by the tram's forest-green canopy, and from the cold by red plaid, woollen blankets. They can sit back and relax and listen to the clip clop of the gentle giant's hooves, and inhale the fresh scent of cedar and the sea, while learning about the historical and natural features of the area.
Some of those gentle giants stand over 2.4 metres tall (over seven feet), have feet the size of frying pans, and eat 27 kilograms of food and drink 132 litres of water a day.
They are also fed a specially formulated mash and are groomed and bathed daily after work. These horses are certainly aware of the care lavished upon them daily and of the enthusiasm of the thousands of visitors they introduce to the park each year.
The shire horses were imported from England, stabled comfortably in the top cargo deck of a Boeing 747 combination passenger/cargo Air Canada aircraft. During the flight over, O'Neil was able to visit the horses to see how they were faring.
They were calm which was not a surprise to Gerry and he describes horses as good travellers. In fact he used to send horses up on the gondola at Grouse Mountain to be used for winter sleigh riding.
The shire, tallest of the major breeds, is the official British draft horse. It was used to carry knights into battle and when Richard III cried out "My kingdom for a horse!", he was probably calling for a shire.
Gerry described the trams of today as still being classic in design but with the comfort of the horse in mind. The free-standing tongue carries its own weight and the horse doesn't have to support it.
The carriage frame is aluminum and for the comfort and safety of passengers and horses, signal lights and hydraulic brakes were added. Lights are set in teak, and seats on the tram are of mahogany slats.
The unique crushed walnut shell floor has been laid in the shape of maple leaves with decorating green branches. The leaves have been airbrushed into the different colours of the season.
Each year at the St. Patrick's Parade in Vancouver, AAA Horse & Carriage is at the head of the procession, ferrying all the local dignitaries. This year Mayor Gregor Robertson was one of those dignitaries, along with Patrick Reid the former Commissioner General for Expo 86, and John Cheevers the Honorary Consul of Ireland for British Columbia.
The more things change, the more they stay the same, and after more than a century, it's still the horse and carriage - run on hay and oats - that provides an environmentally friendly way to see Stanley Park.
For more information about Stanley Park Horse-Drawn Tours, see: www.stanleypark.com or call (604) 681-5115.
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