This area has some of the best horse camping in the world.
Correspondingly, it also has one of the best horse campers in the world. Stan Walchuk is the author of Common Man, Uncommon Life about his years of adventure in the saddle. He is also the central figure in the horse adventure documentary Cordillera about his epic ride through North American's rugged terrain. On an everyday basis, he is the proprietor of Blue Creek Outfitting down the highway at McBride.
Walchuk is leading a clinic in Prince George on the basics and the trade tricks of camping with horses. He is the special guest of the Prince George Omineca branch of Back Country Horsemen of BC.
So, is this a workshop for the camping enthusiast who might wish to take up horsemanship, or is it for the equestrian who might want to mosey into the local backcountry? Branch president Austin Roberts said the former would be welcome, but the latter was the main target.
"A lot of people have horses, they attend the gymkanas and different horse events, but going out into the wilderness and enjoy the backcountry is one more thing they can do together and a different way of enjoying the ride," Roberts said. "You can cover a lot of distance on a horse. I've done 18 kilometres of hiking on foot and we were just wiped after eight hours, but a day on a well-equipped horse can take you 50 kilometres into the backcountry. You get to some amazing places that aren't possible any other way."
Walchuk confirms that, having ridden in mountains and valleys all over the continent, this region has splendid riding compared to anywhere. It's impressive on anyone's scale, and if he can help motivate new backcountry horse trips in our own backyard, he is thrilled.
"What's happening is - especially in the larger centres like Kelowna, Kamloops, Vancouver, places in Alberta - people are getting really interested in trail riding. More than 60 per cent of horse owners do trail riding, regardless of the style of horsemanship they typically do," said Walchuk. "They have made these big investments in trailers, pickups, barns, the horses and feed, and they want to get the most out of that. They are equipped. So horse camping is just taking trail riding to a little higher level. It's the next step. There is a wave of frontcountry riding, and a growing percentage of them want to go backcountry."
Roberts said the local group is an example of that hunger. Only a year old, the branch has already gathered in close to 60 members. He expects even more interest after this, their first clinic on the topic.
Roberts encouraged participants to bring their horses to the clinic if they were mild mannered animals. There will be people and other horses milling about, so calm horses with high tolerance for hubbub would be best. However, the general format would have two to four people per horse for the sake of the lessons being taught, so having your own ride was not at all required, he added.
Roberts said Prince George was blessed with a ready-made facility for horse camping beginners. Tabor Mountain was a multi-use outdoor adventure facility only a few minutes from downtown, and its mixed use format provided hundreds of kilometres of equestrian camping opportunity. Their group had a representative on the board of the Tabor Mountain Recreation Society to help foster this unique urban wilderness.
However, drive 30 minutes in any direction, he said, and there was another splendid horse camping option, and another 30 minutes, and another 30 minutes, and so on.
For Walchuk, it's zen territory.
"You cell phone won't work, your daily grind is cut loose, I think everyone should give this a try," he said. "You want to get out there where all your stresses melt away, and it really does. It's back to who we are supposed to be as people, but we've gotten away from that. It's not hard to connect to that again, horse camping is really easy. I want to help people connect to that power of the horse and the power of the landscape and the power of the earth. It really works wonders on you. It's there inside all of us."
For more information on this Saturday-Sunday workshop, or to register contact Roberts by email at [email protected] or phone him at 250-963-9722 or 250-640-0094.
The clinic's cost is $175 members, $225 non-members, or $25 to audit. Neither horses nor experience are required.
The location is Willowcale Equestrian Centre.
