Horsing Around

I want to share with you something that caught my attention.  As I  was digging around in the vault, I came across pictures of horses being driven down Main Street in Albion.  Why?  Upon investigation, it was Harry M. Nesbitt's doing.

Harry Maurice Nesbitt (1885-1948).   He would start a horse trading business, about 1901.  He built and owned a farm on Peter Smith Road, better known to us as Kendall John Stables (taken over by his grandson John Nesbitt Smith in 1964.) or as its called today, Kendall Ridge Stables.  Harry was a farmer but was also in the business of buying and selling horses and livestock.  Belgian and Percheron were his first choices.  He also dealt with saddle horses, mules, and ponies.  Horses of all breeds would come from Chicago, Illinois, Ohio or Iowa.  In a point in his horse career, he bought two carloads of wild mustangs from Pennsylvania.  They were loaded on the trains and shipped to Albion.  In the 1935 photo above, a wrangler drives the herd of horses down Main Street, Albion.......IN THE SNOW!  Can you imagine seeing that on Main Street?

After WWII the demand for work horses was dwindling because of more modern day farm equipment, tractors.  Most horses he now had were for riding. But after the war,  Harry and two other men from Ohio got a contract through the government to buy horses.   The above photo shows horses that are ready for export to Europe.  This was to replenish the horse population lost in the war.  It was also about the time when Harry started a tractor dealership.

This is NOT the photo, but did you know, Harry drove in 1929 a four horse team, on an old coach in A sesquicentennial?  On that coach sat one of our former Presidents, Franklin D. Roosevelt.  At that time Roosevelt was governor of New York.  Then three years later became our president.

 

Draft Horses for sale

Harry Nesbitt and teams of work horses

The Holley Standard 1928 ad

The average at one time was about 70 horses.  Both draft and saddle horses.  Notice the barn in the background.  Come to find out, the wood used for the barn comes from another barn that was located on the Norway Rd.  The sheds that are behind the barn, the wood was  brought from a church that was in Murray.  The barn, as it is today includes an indoor riding arena attached on the north end. 

Harry Nesbitt was a successful business man.  But, even he couldn't escape the 1929 stock market crash and the Depression Era.  From what I gathered, he persevered.  He worked hard for years.  His business went on for about sixteen more years with successes before he died of a heart attack at home.  He was 63 years old.  After his death, the farm sat vacant until his grandson (mentioned above) and his wife started the Kendall John Stable in 1964.

1885-1948

It's still all about horses at the Kendall Ridge Stables 2015