Horse riding holiday, Saskatchewan, Canada
| country: | Canada |
| location: | Saskatchewan |
| departures: | This trip can be arranged at any time to suit you, and adapted to your requirements as necessary. |
| price: | From £1100 (9 days) excluding flights and some meals |
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the amazing things you'll be doing
Quench your thirst for freedom by experiencing the eerie sensations generated by the sight of endless horizons. Discover how on this land of the grasses two civilizations have met and are still struggling to achieve harmonious relations. In the horse, First Nations and ranchers have found an ally – a kind of common ground where different worldviews can be reconciled.You will experience first hand the ways in which -- for both societies -- the horse assumed a crucial role in their respective survival strategies.
As you ride with Hugh Lerat, a Cree Indian of the Cowessess First Nation, you will discover one of the most spectacular landscapes in North America: the Qu'Appelle Valley. As you ride and explore this pristine environment, you will learn about the uses of native plants; about the depth of relationships in a land loaded with riches.
When you move west to Saskatchewan's capital, Regina, you will gain a greater understanding of western settlement on the Plains. Landseekers had to adapt to a hash new environment, where vulnerability to the elements inflicted epic struggles and solitude on the newcomers forced to build rudimentary houses of sod, mud and stones. Throughout this, the horse again became an ally, as a draught animal and as the most adaptable of modes of transportation.
Further west yet, in the Cypress Hills, you will meet Scott and Theresa Reesor and their children, a family of ranchers who have opened their heart to inquisitive visitors. At the Historic Reesor ranch, you will learn how modern day cowboys and cowgirls have managed to keep alive a precious lifestyle that is threatened elsewhere, by the wave of industrial agriculture that is overtaking the rest of the western world. Welcome to Saskatchewan!
As you ride with Hugh Lerat, a Cree Indian of the Cowessess First Nation, you will discover one of the most spectacular landscapes in North America: the Qu'Appelle Valley. As you ride and explore this pristine environment, you will learn about the uses of native plants; about the depth of relationships in a land loaded with riches.
When you move west to Saskatchewan's capital, Regina, you will gain a greater understanding of western settlement on the Plains. Landseekers had to adapt to a hash new environment, where vulnerability to the elements inflicted epic struggles and solitude on the newcomers forced to build rudimentary houses of sod, mud and stones. Throughout this, the horse again became an ally, as a draught animal and as the most adaptable of modes of transportation.
Further west yet, in the Cypress Hills, you will meet Scott and Theresa Reesor and their children, a family of ranchers who have opened their heart to inquisitive visitors. At the Historic Reesor ranch, you will learn how modern day cowboys and cowgirls have managed to keep alive a precious lifestyle that is threatened elsewhere, by the wave of industrial agriculture that is overtaking the rest of the western world. Welcome to Saskatchewan!
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Arrival at Regina airport and orientation, including briefing on protocol and offerings to our hosts. You will stay at a local bed & breakfast | |
| Day 2: | We head out to the Qu’Appelle Valley and meet our hosts Hugh and Barbara Lerat. Orientation includes what food will be consumed, what the lay of the land is, and how the Plains Cree came to settle in the area. Hugh will then take you horseback riding onto the land he has in his care. You will learn about the ongoing challenges of sedentary life for a nomadic society. Throughout this, Hugh will interpret the local natural history as well as the worldview of his people. You will learn about the botanical knowledge he has inherited from his grandmother. Upon our return, you will be introduced to the tepee – your shelter – and its significance. You will also learn how to tend the fire within it, for the night. | |
| Day 3: | While riding, Hugh if asked will share more of his knowledge about medicinal and sacred uses of plants, the pipe ceremony, songs, powwows and legends, the relationship between the elements of earth, water, fire and the sky. | |
| Day 4: | As you head toward Regina, you will imagine more easily how the Plains Cree, the Assiniboines, the Lakotas and Dakotas were infinitely better equipped to envision -- in the absence trees, mountains and oceans -- a land with a wealth of resources greater than European settlers could ever imagine. We will visit the Mounted Police academy and Museum along with the beautiful Royal Saskatchewan Museum. | |
| Day 5: | Departing from Regina toward the Cypress Hills, it will become clear that this land of opportunity was ill-suited for the agricultural practices of the old world. You will understand why ranching as a livelihood became so appealing to early European settlers like the Reesor homesteaders. | |
| Day 6: | The Reesor ranch is located in a unique area in Canada where the lower grasslands give way to a forest of lodge pole pines perched on the highest land between the Rocky Mountains and the Labrador (1492 meters above sea level). The Cypress hills became an island refuge to women and men. Much of its history will be relived on a horse, interspersed with some of Scott’s cowboy poetry. | |
| Day 7: | The Reesors have planned for you two three hours sessions of riding in the Hills per day. Each excursion will reveal the complexities of an environment. You might encounter, whitetail and mule deer, coyotes, and many of the mountain bird species that find here their easternmost habitat. During the evenings, you will be able to gaze at the stars through a sky unpolluted by artificial light. You might even see northern lights or the Milky Way in all its splendour. | |
| Day 8: | Between rides, beyond the ranch, you might wish to visit Fort Walsh National Historic site and its reconstructed palisades. There, you will get a glimpse of life during the fur trade era, and of the dangers of living in an isolated setting during the late 19th century. | |
| Day 9: | If you haven’t promised all your worldly possessions to stay longer, you will have to start heading back to Regina. But not without stopping at Chaplin Lake, an important staging and breeding area for hundreds of thousands of migratory birds. You will also visit the Tunnels of Moose Jaw where you can experience a recreation of life underground during the Prohibition. Rumour has it Al Capone himself found solace here when things were a little hotter south of the border. We will allow some shopping time and you will spend your last night in Saskatchewan at a local bed & breakfast. |
travellers' tales
Overall my holiday exceeded all of my expectations and I did expect it to be amazing. Travel, accommodation, riding requirements were organised to perfection, no detail was overlooked. (more)
Read an article about this trip Read traveller's notes about their experiences from the very beginning to the end of this horse riding trip in Canada. More…
how this holiday makes a difference
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We have been involved and has financed archaeological research projects aiming to protect local heritage resources and to generate new economic initiatives in communities facing special challenges.
At the Cowessess First Nation, we are currently conducting research aiming to understand new facets of the traditional use of the travois as a mode of transportation well adapted to the Plains. On behalf of our hosts, we are exploring the potential of developing a cottage industry of Cree travois-makers to diversify local income sources. In the Regina area, we have just completed the archaeological recording or rare type of dwelling built by homesteaders and made of mud. The report has been made available to heritage protection agencies and to the landowners. We are currently assessing the potential economic benefits to the community of protecting and possibly restoring this unique example of vernacular architecture. At the historic Reesor Ranch, we are conducting an archaeological evaluation that will compliment the current historical record of human settlement in the Cypress Hills. We are also leading a profit sharing initiative financed by us that aims at marketing spring water bottled at the Ranch to other Saskatchewan communities. This will contribute to ensuring the long-term sustainability of the Historic Reesor Ranch. |
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