The Lac La Croix Indigenous pony, named after the Lac La Croix First Nation, now the Gakijiwanong Anishinaabe Nation, primarily existed in northwestern Ontario and across the United States border into Minnesota.
This unique pony breed, considered to be developed by the Indigenous Peoples, was used for winter transportation, running trap lines, hauling logs and ice, and pulling sleighs. As forest dwellers, the breed boasts strong hooves to endure the rocky terrain of the Canadian Shield; fuzzy ears to protect them from insects; and often a dorsal stripe down its back and zebra stripes on its legs.
The breed was well on its way to extinction in 1977 before a “pony heist” changed its destiny. Now with no more than 200 horses in Canada, found in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia, as well as Wisconsin and Minnesota in the US, the breed is considered critically endangered but making a comeback. The Ojibwe Horse Society maintains the breed registry of the horse, which is now officially registered as the Ojibwe Horse but commonly referred to as the Spirit Horse in honour of their connection to the spiritual past and ability to heal intergenerational trauma. Although small in size, the Ojibwe Horse’s history is full.
In the 1940s, a large herd of the Lac La Croix ponies on a reservation in Bois Forte in northern Minnesota was destroyed at the request of missionaries, who considered it inappropriate for the residential children in the area to witness horses breeding in nature. This resulted in the full extinction of the breed in the US, leaving only a small herd north of Lake Superior in the Lac La Croix First Nation region. The remaining herd in Canada was used in the winter for trapping and pulling; their work was rewarded with food, shelter, and protection from wolves and other predators. Just before the ice melted, the ponies would be herded back to an island known as Pony Island to breed, foal out, and forage on their own.
