Our month in Osoyoos, British Columbia was nothing short of WILD!
While we awaited the line on the COVID-19 infection graph to drop and Canada to reopen, Clara and I rode Mac and Smokey every day to get them into shape, and helped master horseman Aaron Stelkia around the ranch.
Aaron, who lent me Smokey, was training several horses for a sale he is putting on in June with the help of Jessi Wyatt and her sister Thaleta.
“I am hoping to give these wild horses a chance to go to good homes instead of straight to slaughter for meat,” Aaron said while I watched him work with a wild pinto stud in the round pen.
It was an amazing experience to be able to watch Aaron work with those horses. He has been doing this his entire life and his experience is quickly seen. In a few minutes the animals are already facing him and even following the cowboy.
“The first thing you want to teach them is to come to you,” he said.
But we didn’t just work with horses. Aaron and his family also run about 400 head of cattle and we arrived just in time for branding season!
As a cowboy, I love these opportunities to help brand, castrate and vaccinate calves. It’s a tradition that has remained pretty much the same for hundreds of years and after the work is done there is always a feast.
“I made this soup this morning so dig in,” Jane Stelkia, the 90-year-old matriarch of the family said as she opened up a big pot. The smell made me drool.
The work with the cattle took several days, and after we finished Jane invited us to her home to see artifacts she has found in the region. Clara and I watched in awe as she showed us arrow heads, tomahawks and animal bones – now turning to dust – that trace back hundreds of years.
“When I hold these I feel even more connected to this place,” Jane said opening up a big smile on her crinkled face.
She then told us about the importance of the horse for all first nations people in Canada.
“To the Indians the horse was our means of moving camps, hunting, fishing, berry picking, digging roots, traveling, racing, fun and games and the horse was even considered a babysitter for children and babies,” said the oldest living member of the Osoyoos Indian Band.
After traveling back in time in Jane’s living room, her daughter Dora took us on an adventure in the mountains. In her side-by-side vehicle, we crossed streams and climbed steep hills, while she told us about this gorgeous land.
“This is a picture graph from thousands of years back,” Dora said while we looked at the work of art on a rock face. It was a rust-red color and showed a person hunting a deer.
Looking at the painting made me travel back in time. Wonder who painted it… exactly when… It was like visiting Cueva de las Manos in Patagonia during my ride to Ushuaia a few years back.
At one point of our adventure we were atop a hill surrounded by bright yellow wild sunflowers watching a herd of wild horses gallop away while a black bear climbed the ridge behind with two cubs. I felt blessed to be a witness.
Osoyoos, located in the majestic Okanagan desert is one of the most beautiful places I have been to during my travels. The mountains, lakes, wildlife, native culture, flora, people… I have fallen in love with it all!
“I love this place and wouldn’t trade it for anywhere else in the world,” Marie Stelkia, Aaron’s sister said to Clara and I over dinner.
I can’t thank the entire Stelkia family, and Jessy and Thaleta enough for hosting us so well during the past month. I would also like to thank Chief Clarence Louie and all of the Osoyoos Indian Band for taking us in like members of their community.
Smokey and Mac were born in this valley and now, it seems like I am connected to it as well.
