History & Heritage

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When Tracey Klettl is on the back of a horse on a beautiful woodland trail, her mind is always clearer and she feels so much more at peace. “I always hope that people feel that same peace that I do,” says Klettl, co-owner of Painted Warriors Ranch, located in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies about an hour-and-a-half northwest of Calgary, Alberta. Painted Warriors creates authentic outdoor experiences from an Indigenous perspective, based on Klettl’s Cree and Mohawk heritage and on the Ojibway heritage of Klettl’s partner and business co-owner Tim Mearns. Guests learn a variety of skills, from riding to natural navigation, medicinal plant identification, and backcountry basics.

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Iceland is a small island nation located at the juncture of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, between Greenland and Norway. It has a population of around 364,000 people, many of whom live in the capital city of Reykjavik in southwest Iceland. The country has a unique geography, characterized by volcanic mountains, glaciers, plains, waterfalls, geysers, hot springs, and black sand beaches. It is also home to a diverse array of wildlife. Yet, one of the most notable features of Iceland is its horses.

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Sergeant Reckless was a small Mongolian mare who held official rank in the United States military. She was estimated to be three or four years old when purchased by the United States Marine Corps for $250 in October 1952. She was trained to be a pack horse and used to carry ammunition and supplies for the Recoilless Rifle Platoon of the 5th Marine Regiment.

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It’s hard to believe that the Government of Canada would own a spectacular horse ranch adjacent to the Rocky Mountains, where trail riders are welcome to camp and ride. But it exists. Ya Ha Tinda Ranch — owned by Parks Canada and the only federally operated working horse ranch in the country — turned 100 years old in 2017.

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"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.

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Queen Elizabeth II passed away on September 8, 2022 having been the longest serving monarch in British history. In the short time since, much has changed. Her son, Prince Charles, has become King Charles III. Canada’s Royal Anthem is now God Save the King. Eventually, the King may replace the Queen’s visage on Canadian coins. But for the horse world, the Queen’s unceasing passion for horses will remain a lasting legacy.

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In the late 1800s, a German high school mathematics instructor and amateur horse trainer, Wilhelm von Osten, had a horse that he claimed was able to perform arithmetic and other intellectual tasks. Clever Hans, an Orlov Trotter, was said to have been taught to add, subtract, multiply, divide, work with fractions, tell time, spell, read, and understand German. Questions were asked orally and in writing, and the horse answered by tapping his foot.

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It used to be thought that using tools was one of the things that set us apart from the animal kingdom. However, it is now known that some species use tools. Reports include chimps using sticks to reach food, sea otters using stones to break open shellfish, and even elephants deactivating an electric fence by dropping rocks on it.

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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.”

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In the National Army Museum in London, U.K., a special exhibit features a curious box. The walls on the inside of the box are mirrors, each one reflecting another. Placed inside the box are dozens of cut-out horses. They are all white, unnamed, undefined. But as they reflect back and forth on the mirrors, the little cut-out horses are multiplied into infinity. The image, so simple, is a profound reminder that over eight million horses on all enemy sides died in the horrors of the First World War.

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