Riding Away

“Giddy-Up big fellow” I say, and with a flick of the lines, I coax my dapple-grey Percheron carriage horse into a trot. I have visited many dude ranches – where you essentially rent a saddle horse for a trail ride. I’ve been on pack-trips, cattle drives, and to working ranches- many splendid places that allow you to follow your passion and ride away. Mackinac Island is the only place I know where you can actually hire your own self-drive horse and buggy. So, I tap into some

“Discovering unexpected landscapes and rare wildlife in Grasslands National Park” By Jamie Ross “Who said Saskatchewan was flat?” I whisper to my horse Gus as he gamely hauls my butt up another steep incline. The question was meant to be rhetorical, but with a sharp expulsion of air, from both ends of his body, the horse gives me his answer. My palomino and I pick our way through silver sagebrush, prairie grass, prickly pear cactus, primrose and cottonwood, down through wet c

“A Father and Daughter Reconnect on a Banff Backcountry Horse Trip!” Apparently, time travel is possible. A cowboy sits on a hewn log chair with a guitar cradled in his arms. He strums and sings. His yodelling and sad country ballads are offered out to a starry mountain night. A few guests sitting around the bonfire join in – as do several of the pack mules, hanging their huge heads over the coral rails and braying comically like backup chorus singers. It is a fitting way to

“At Home on the Range has Never Been so Luxurious!” By Jamie Ross It was a trip that was filled with some truly wonderful experiences. There was the mountain lion at Devil’s Thumb Ranch that darted across the road in front of my wife and I as we were returning from dinner, and then just to make sure that we didn’t mistake the magnificent and elusive cat for some ordinary coyote or large dog, the cougar sat on its haunches by the side of the road and watched us, before vault

I hear the distant thunder of galloping horses. What a beautiful sound. George Gaber, owner and operator of La Reata Ranch, had disappeared on his ATV over the steep hill that backdrops the cookhouse, off to round-up the herd of 24 quarter horses that roam freely over the ranch’s 5,000 acres. Guests who had gathered at the corral with their hats, chaps and saddle bags, were chattering excitedly in anticipation of the day’s ride ahead. Then all went silent as we hear the beati