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