Pincher Creek, Alberta – August 5th to 7th

After a couple of days camping with some friends at Lake Koocanusa near the town of Eureka, Montana (more on that later!), we headed up to the farm of some of the friends we met there, Robin & Kim, near Pincher Creek, Alberta. The plan was to go horse riding (for my very first time, and not too many more times than that for Lawrie) the next day.

Windmills in the story sky around Pincher Creek

So there’s a first time for everything, right? This day was my first time on a horse (pretty sure a pony ride at a school fete being led around on a rope doesn’t count!); it was also my first (and second…) time falling off a horse…

We got to Robin & Kim’s pretty late on Monday night after driving from the lake in Montana, and met their son Boyd, is wife Brittany & their adorable little daughter Beau, as well as Wes & Lianna again.

Brittany & Beau

Trent & Dena 

Getting up early in the morning was a little harder than we anticipated after a late night, but totally worth it – we had a fantastic cooked breakfast and then headed off to get the horses ready – so we drove to where Robin & Kim’s cattle graze during the warmer months and got there only about half an hour late to meet Randy, who rides to check on their cattle regularly. Most photos of riding are courtesy of Wes & Lianna (thanks!!) :)

After getting a couple of things in order (how do I get on? How do I turn, and stop? Etc) we set off, and were soon bush bashing our way through the forest with no trail for some parts (a little different to most people’s first ride surely? That’s my excuse anyway!) So it was within the first 5 minutes that I decided to make a spectacular (if a little painful!) rodeo style exit from my horse when he decided to head under a thick tree branch that my legs possibly fit under, but certainly no other part of my body! Being in the first few minutes, and not having the whole stopping or turning thing under control (but very good at panicking, it seems!), my feet were also very firmly in the stirrups, so I may have flapped around on the back of the horse for a while before finally coming to an abrupt rest on the ground! So perhaps a less than ideal start… I was given one of the most calm and sturdy horses, but having a nervous rider didn’t help…

Thankfully there was some form of trail soon after that, and things got better quick (although I was strangely a little nervous after that..?!) – so we spent a few hours finding some of their cattle and herding them up towards higher ground, and making sure there were no obvious injuries, as well as checking out some fence lines to make sure they were all still up and running. As the day went on, our legs (apart from Robin & Kim’s, who are much more used to riding than the rest of us were!) wore out bit by bit, and trotting got a little more painful! We had an awesome day though, apart from getting a little freaked out by some steep and muddy/rocky hills with narrow bits of trail (one area of which I was taken out by another very low hanging branch which I couldn’t get to move out of the way in time, but that was a little less impressive dismount, as I managed to hang onto the branch as my horse disappeared from beneath me! No one else seemed to have this problem, however, so I decided maybe it was a good idea for all involved for me to finish up a little early and head back to the truck, rather than slowing everyone up for the rest of the day!

Kim harnessing her horse before riding

Hoping the cattle continue on ahead and not turn back my way! - Photo courtesy of Wes & Lianna

Through some of the open sections - Wes & Lianna's photo

Some of the crew - Wes & Lianna's photo

Chilling out at lunchtime - Lianna, Nicole, Kim, Lawrie - Wes & Lianna's photo

Wes at lunchtime - Wes & Lianna's photo

Lawrie on Pete - Wes & Lianna's photo

Me on Wes's horse Tony, and Kim behind - Wes & Lianna's photo

Kim - Wes & Lianna's photo

Lawrie was a lovely husband and stayed with me near the truck with our horses for the next couple of hours until the others came back, and we headed back for a lovely shower and dinner cooked by Brittany – we also met Robin & Kim’s other son, Trent and his wife Dena, who were married just a month before!

Me with big 'bombproof' Pete, the horse Lawrie rode

Pete & Cash with the horse trailer

Lawrie in his cowboy boots for riding :)

Nicole & Lianna after riding - Wes & Lianna's photo

The next morning we felt a little battered and bruised (fairly spectacularly so, in my case! A little embarrassing for swimming over the next few days, as they were quite colourful!), while Robin & Kim were completely fine – and we had a really lazy day catching up on emails etc and appreciating the beautiful weather and scenery around their farm.

The horses, with one of the awesome barns in the background

Backyard view at Robin & Kim's farm

As time wore on pretty quickly, we decided against heading back down to the lake in Montana, and stayed the night with Boyd and Brittany instead, heading to their meeting at a beautiful ranch at the base of the nearby mountains instead, where we met up with Nicole and little Acadia from Vancouver, as well as most of her family (meeting was at their house).

So that was a great introduction to Pincher Creek and surrounds, and we definitely hope to be back there!