Yellowknife’s equestrian community keeps going – without horses

Since their evacuation last summer, Yellowknife’s horses haven’t returned. In their absence, two of the city’s former riding instructors are working to keep the community going.

Caterina Walsh and Abbey Wilson worked at Yellowknife’s North Country Stables prior to August 2023’s evacuation.

At the stables, 30 kids received weekly riding lessons. Others would come out for trail rides, or “lease rides” for experienced riders. Events included volunteer days, education nights and horse shows.

Wilson described an “awesome, thriving” equestrian community before some 20,000 people – and 21 horses – left the city in the face of an approaching wildfire.

The horses haven’t returned.

Wilson said that has felt like “a grieving process.”

“It was our whole lives,” Wilson said. “As an equestrian, there’s nothing really like it that can replace it. There’s not another sport that fills the gap like that.” 

The loss is being felt by the riding students, as well. “It was a big loss for the community,” Wilson said. “A lot of the kids are just like, ‘What do I do with my afternoons now?’”

The horses that once called Yellowknife home are now at farms across Alberta.

Walsh doesn’t know whether any of those horses will come back – neither Walsh nor Wilson owned any of them, while North Country Stables, where the horses lived, was owned by the late Dr Tom Pisz, who passed away on June 11 – but said options to bring horses back to the city are being explored.

In the meantime, they’re working to provide opportunities for riding students to stay engaged in the horse community.

They have an upcoming trip in mid-July to a horse camp in Barrhead, Alberta, with seven of their students, who will get the chance to ride twice a day and then compete in a local show. Walsh and Wilson are also working closely with Equine Canada, the national governing body for equestrian sport, to start offering the Rider Level program, which evaluates students based on practical horse knowledge as well as riding ability.

The two are also working with parents on the re-establishment of the Aurora Horse Association, a non-profit that worked closely with North Country Stables to facilitate equine events and camps.

“Even if horses aren’t necessarily here in the city right now, we can still plan events to bring people down south or have equine nights here in the city,” Walsh said.

Riding is more than just a sport, Walsh said. “You have to bond and connect with this huge animal … I think anyone that has been on a horse or has that passion knows what we’re speaking about, and we have so many students that have expressed that to us, and I’m really missing that.”

Beyond the connection and communication that you develop with your equine partner, Wilson said riding also teaches fundamental skills you can use in life.

“Time management, discipline, cleaning up after yourself, being a team member – I think it’s really beneficial for people,” Wilson said. “There’s so many benefits to riding than just, you get to go pet a horse for an hour. It’s so much more than that.” 

Despite the setback of having no horses right now, Walsh and Wilson said they’re feeling positive about the future of equestrian sport in the NWT.

There are challenges that come with keeping horses in the territory – such as extreme temperatures, limited pasture space, and getting supplies like feed – but Wilson said that’s “nothing that I know the Yellowknife community can’t handle.”

“That’s one of my favourite parts about living here,” Wilson said. “People band together when there’s a common goal and when there’s something they know can be helpful to the community, and it’s really important to people.”

There are so many people “who are passionate about horses here in the territory,” Walsh said, “and there’s just so much potential for so much more exposure to people who maybe haven’t had the opportunity to be around horses yet.”

Wilson said they’re now looking at places to keep horses, the availability of existing or new infrastructure, how to bring horses up, and how to acquire supplies such as feed and hay.

“We’re still working on this,” Wilson said. “It’s not a lost cause.”

Walsh and Wilson encourage anyone who’s interested in getting involved to contact them via email.

“We’d love to hear from anybody in the community that’s interested in equestrian sport or horses as a hobby, in whatever capacity,” Wilson said.