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A nationally renowned Arabian stallion will make its first visit to the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair next week from its home in the Hamiota, Man. area.

Empres, a 24-year-old, Polish-born and bred horse, has retired as a halter and performance horse, but his prestige hasn’t left him. Last year, the 2012 Canadian National Champion Sport Horse Stallion was featured as a model for a collectible toy manufactured by Breyer Horses.

Since then, owner Prue Critchley has been exhibiting Empres – known by the Arabian Horse Association as “Empres++++//” to mark his prestige – at equestrian shows throughout North America. He will also be travelling to Kentucky, Wisconsin and other events throughout the Canadian Prairies in 2019.

“I really enjoy being with him and for people to get to see what a lovely horse he is,” Critchley said from her farm near Hamiota. “It’s nice for people to see (an Arabian stallion) hands on and be able to touch one. It also promotes the breed to people interested in getting a horse and don’t know what sort they would really like. Here’s an opportunity to meet an Arabian. I like promoting him. He’s so worth it. He’s very beautiful and very, very special.”

Critchley moved to Manitoba from the United Kingdom in 1982. She used to compete in endurance races, but by the time she purchased Empres in 2011, he was too old for that activity. Nevertheless, Critchley decided to show him at competitions in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. By the time he was retired from the show ring in 2016, Empres was widely known across Canada and the United States, and had earned the highest recognition from the Arabian Horse Association as a Legion of Masters and Excellence.

He also has more than 60 regional and national crowns in stallion breeding, western dressage, dressage, western and English trail, native costume, sport horse under saddle and ladies side saddle events.

Empres was born in 1995 at one of Poland’s two largest, state-run Arabian farms. He was sent to the United States in 2007 after racing as a three-year-old, performing stud duties and attending European equestrian shows.

“I owned a very close relative of his before that had died and I wasn’t going to get another one,” Critchley said. “But I saw a picture of Empres and he was advertised for sale. I talked to the person who had him for sale and after a lot of negotiations over several months, bought him. He’s just so gorgeous. He was exactly what I wanted in a Polish Arabian and I had to have him.”

Critchley said Polish bred stallions have a distinctive appearance. They are athletic, have a pleasant disposition and have more substance to them than other Arabian breeds.

“Arabian stallions have been bred in Poland for several hundred years, but because they breed them on stud farms that are government run, there’s a specific horse they like,” Critchley said. “That type of style is bred into them. They are dealing with more than a hundred foals a year and are able to choose the best representatives from them.”

Critchley will be exhibiting Empres at the RMWF’s TD Ag Action Stage in the Royal Farm Yard throughout the weeklong fair.

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