Page 63 - DreamScapes Magazine | Spring/Summer 2023

The Lodge at Panther River is located near this horse-dense region. Perched above the Panther River, the wilderness resort has a main lodge for meals and coffee. Guests stay in log cabins, log cabin suites or glamp in canvas-wall outfitter tents with wood- burning stoves and private decks. Rarest of all amenities in the backcountry, the lodge also has Wi-Fi!
SPRING RENEWAL
I’d signed up for Garside’s wild horse photography workshop to see newly born foals and stallions fighting for mares. Up before dawn, I checked camera settings, eager to see wildies, as some call the horses. We loaded into an SUV and soon found horses grazing nearby, wary of humans but allowing us to approach quietly.
We snapped a few pics and carried on, spending hours criss- crossing Crown lands in search of descendants of the horses that worked in forestry, mining and farming before turning feral. We found bachelor stallions, and others with herds, mares grazing hun- grily on spring grass while their young tumbled across the field to chase other foals, all of them basking in warm sunshine.
BATTLE FOR DOMINANCE
Late in the day, I stood watching a herd with Garside, our position a respectable distance away. Until it wasn’t. A horse burst from the bush, her nostrils flared, a new foal pressed close. Up a steep ditch they raced, her foal from last year following, and behind, a stallion chasing his new herd away from the valley.
Garside said it seemed the mare and her offspring had been stolen by a stallion known locally as Tango. The original patriarch, a stallion called Donder, was a distraught, russet-coloured bundle of muscle. He raced across the meadow, snorting and whinnying. He reared at another stallion, seemingly angry at the world.
We left knowing Donder, a strong stud, wouldn’t give up. When we returned the next morning, he was grazing peacefully with his herd.
BEATING THE ODDS
I wasn’t sure how long that fight had gone on but life for these crea- tures is often harsh. There’s little food in winter. The males fight for mares. Humans drive noisy off-road vehicles across the land- scape. Logging companies fell trees and oil and gas companies drill wells. Sometimes the horses are hunted when resource managers deem their populations too high. Fortunately, the wildies have advocates (see “A Polarizing Topic”).
As my visit drew to an end, we paused at a gravel pit to observe Tia and Joplin. Garside explained a nearby outfitter had let the pair into a fenced pasture to graze safely and increase their odds of sur- vival. I hadn’t known these critters days earlier but now I cheered for my favourites like fans cheer on Grey Cup contenders. I hoped Tia and Joplin and the other wildies dotting the eastern slopes were victorious in their mountain home. DS
Carol Patterson is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and an award-winning journalist seeking out North America’s best wildlife viewing experiences.
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TRAVEL PLANNER
Best routes for finding wild horses
sundre.com/t/tourism/wild-horses
The Lodge at Panther River pantherriver.com
Wild horse photography workshops debragarside.com/alberta-wild-horse-photography-workshops
SPRING/SUMMER 2023 DREAMSCAPES 63