About Us

Ro Veinotte, patriarch of the Veinotte family, was brought up with horses on the family farm near Humboldt, Saskatchewan. His father worked the land with heavy horses and also trained a number of them and each fall, shipped them east by train to the maritime province of Nova Scotia.

In 1925, like many prairie people before and after them, Ro, along with his mother, father and three sisters left the harsh Saskatchewan climate and moved to Canada's west coast. They began their new life in Maple Ridge, on the north side of the Fraser River,about 30 miles east of Vancouver, British Columbia.

Leaving the farm did not however wean Ro of his interest in horses. He talked his father into buying him a pony which he used to make spending money delivering goods for the Fuller Watson Grocery store in the nearby town of Haney. He "rode the hide off that pony" - taking him everywhere.

Ro went to war in 1941 and returned three years later to marry his only love, Eveline. The Veinottes started a family and have three children; Sharon, Sue and Tom.

Along with raising the kids and working at the Fuller Watson Store in Haney, in which he owned a share, he still made time for the ponies. He showed at Vancouver's Pacific National Exhibition with a six pony hitch. This was in the 1960s when the PNE had huge classes. "Those show Shetlands," he recalls "could really step up!"

The kids were starting to get too big for ponies and Ro started looking for something larger. He wanted a horse with style, and with grandchildren on the way, one that would also make a great family horse. They settled on a part Morgan mare. Then they acquired King, a purebred gelding, who was a driving dream and was easy going but still had spirit.

That was the start of the Morgans in the Veinotte family's life. As most Morgan people know, you can't have just one. Many more have followed.

 Kay Veinotte

Kay Marlowe was born and raised in Richmond, BC. She was the youngest of a very large, mixed family. She would do anything just to be able to touch a horse. When she was ten, she began looking after a few horses owned by a neighbor. She describes longing a yearling Morgan filly as being her "first wow!"

She learned to ride on a 2 year old Saddlebred stallion, using only a halter and a lead shank. "I got a really sore but solid seat," she says. "I look back on it as a great way to start with horses."

Kay got her first horse when she was 15. A Half Morgan. "He took advantage of me in every way," she remembers. "I grew up very fast with that horse and I often wish I still had him."

Kay's parents, meanwhile, expected her to grow out of "those horses" any day now. That day still hasn't arrived and probably never will.

Kay Veinotte and BMU Alliance (Harry)
Canadian National's Carriage Champion and first horse to hold the BMU prefix

Tom Veinotte

Tom started with ponies with Ro, his father. As he is of "football player" stature, he needed a big horse. "That's how we met," says Kay. "It was the summer of 1987 and I was showing my first horse to hold the BMU Prefix, BMU Alliance. He was big and Tom showed some interest but was hoping for something older. A few years later, with BMU Alliance now a whopping 16.1 HH and 1350 lbs when fit, Tom got the horse - by marrying Kay. Tom jokes that it would have been a lot cheaper to have bought the horse as a yearling!

Tom drives and rides in the shows when he can. He is a great Amateur back up person for some of the classic horses under saddle and in driving.

The Veinotte Morgan Farm Today

Nestled in the Vancouver suburb of Maple Ridge with a magnificent view of the mountains in nearby Golden Ears Provincial Park, The Veinotte Morgan farm is situated on 11 scenic acres. They have an 11 stall barn with 2 foaling stalls, 2 loafing sheds with free runs, a round pen, an outdoor arena and a driving dressage field.

Kay Veinotte is very proud of her achievments to date. Her husband, Tom, son, Charlie, along with Tom's mother and father, Ro and Ev, all play a major role in their horse farm and related activities. Breeding, training and selling horses, creating fine carts, wagons and buggies, giving lessons for riding and driving and above all, being involved with what she considers to be the greatest breed ever developed in the USA, the Morgan Horse!