What is the chance of a bear or cougar attack while riding your horse? What is the chance of being injured or killed in an attack? And are there preventative measures that make sense?

As we made our way up a searing gully of black boulders, I focused on pushing past the dryness in my throat and the sweat soaking my back. It was a late afternoon in February 2020, and I was leading Farouk, a spirited 18-year-old 14.1HH chestnut Arabian stallion, who was more inclined to gallop across the open desert than navigate the rocky ravines we now faced.

Our group of 17 horses and riders had taken shelter from the brutal midday sun beneath a massive overhang created thousands of years ago when water roared through the valley, and our chosen lunch spot was also home to several rattlesnakes.

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.