Horse and buggy lowers gas costs for Kemptville animal sanctuary

Galloping gas prices have prompted an eastern Ontario man to choose a transportation solution that runs on oats, hay and grass.

Andy Parent started using a horse and buggy to haul feed for his animal sanctuary in Kemptville, about 30 kilometres south of Ottawa, more than a month ago when he got fed up with the soaring cost of gas.

"At some point we have to stop and say, 'Enough is enough,' " said Parent, who runs Big Sky Ranch Animal Sanctuary, which cares for 142 formerly abused and neglected animals ranging from cats to emus to donkeys.

Parent decided to skirt high gas prices.

He called Ontario's Ministry of Transportation to ask whether a special permit is needed for horses on the road, and he found out all you need is a reflective, orange triangular sign marking the buggy as a slow-moving vehicle.

Now the car stays home when volunteer Lynn Kent heads to the Kemptville feed and seed, and Parent says clip-clopping down to the store has clipped his costs by $300 to $400 in the past two months.

"He eats slower than your gas tank does," said Parent of Sam, the 22-year-old Canadian horse that pulls his old Mennonite buggy. "This place being run on donations, we value every penny we get."

'Never thought I'd be doing this'

Sam was rescued six years ago and had been so badly abused that he wasn't expected to live, said Kent, who drives the buggy on the five-kilometre, 35-minute journey to the store. The buggy, which has wooden wheels rimmed with rubber bands, can carry up to five bags of feed at once. If larger loads need to be moved, the Big Sky animal sanctuary resorts to a truck.

Kent said he rode a horse to school when he was a boy in Saskatchewan and routinely drove a team of horses on his family's farm.

"I never thought I'd be doing this again," he said. "But it's great volunteering down here."

Parent said he's not sure how the buggy will hold up come winter, but until then he plans to keep relying on his new, old-fashioned one-horsepower vehicle.

In the meantime, Sam has been a hit with other traffic on the road.

"People stare with their mouths hanging open — it's pretty funny," Parent said. "It's neat because you see the smile on their faces."