Most riders don’t want a horse that bucks. But for bareback and saddle bronc riders competing at rodeos across North America, that’s exactly what they want — horses that buck and buck well for eight seconds.
Grate Expectations - There is a deafening silence when a living legend becomes a legend. The roar of fandom becomes an echo and the anticipation of a show that only they can deliver will never again radiate through the crowd.
"You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed."-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - When Dorothy Brooke, the wife of a British army major general, arrived in Egypt in 1930, she became aware of the fate of thousands of former war horses that had faithfully served the British army during World War I. Born in the United Kingdom, these horses were shipped overseas to serve in the war and had not returned home. Those that survived were now living a life of crippling hardship as working horses on the streets of Cairo and elsewhere in Egypt. She decided to do whatever was necessary to ease their suffering.
How the Horse Changed the West - When horses galloped across the U.S. border onto Alberta’s rolling prairies in the 1720s, it was a bit of an overdue homecoming. It had been roughly 10,000 years since the province’s expansive grasslands shuddered under hard equestrian hooves. Fossils indicate that North America is the original home of the horse, where it first appeared millions of years ago.
1930. The Great Depression. Money wasn’t flush anywhere. But savvy and successful businessman Conn Smythe had become the newly minted owner of the Toronto St. Patrick Hockey Club, or Toronto St. Pats. This hockey club was no slouch. It had won the Stanley Cup in 1922.
When Canada becomes a winter wonderland shrouded with snow, many riders hang up their boots or disappear into indoor arenas. For teamsters in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Quebec, winter means hitching their horses to wagons, cutters, and bobsleighs to drive the trails at fundraising rallies.
A brother and sister had made their usual hurried, obligatory pre-Christmas visit to the little farm, where dwelt their elderly parents with a small herd of horses. The farm was where they had grown up. It had been named Lone Pine Farm because of the huge pine, which topped the hill behind the farmhouse.
In March 2024, Skijor Canada will once again hold Skijordue — a skijoring event billed as “a blistering blend of snow, speed, style, and cheese with gritty cowboys, gnarly free-riders, fur, fringe, and fashionista.”
Helping others live their horse-filled dreams - “I do everything I can to make sure that anybody that has a dream or a wish to be around horses gets that opportunity,” — Brian Tropea.
The sacrifice of the ten million men who lost their lives during the conflict, which endured from 1914 to 1918, is well known. Less well known is the price paid by the estimated eight million horses that perished in the Great War, a fact lamented by Private James Robert Johnston, a horse transport driver who served with the 14th Canadian Machine Gun Company, in his memoir, Riding into War: “Very little has been said about the horses and mules that were used and what they suffered is beyond all description.”