Along Came Joey, Cassiar’s October Miracle

Being ready for anything is not only a personal mantra when we are out in the mountains, but a necessity. Especially when something out of the ordinary makes for an extraordinary morning days before trail out.

 Imagine yourself as a wrangler. One minute you are bringing in the last of the horses and beginning to catch and grain them, and the very next you find yourself looking down on a mare who is in the initial stages of foaling. And she’s doing so, right in camp… in the middle of October. What would you do? What can you do? If you haven’t checked out last nights YouTube Video, Joey: A Colt is Born, you might want to head on over and have a watch. Imagine for one second, and put yourself in the shoes of everyone on the Josephine Crew that cold morning.

 There’s a plethora of questions that start racing through anyones mind if they were dealing with a scenario like the guys did at the end of last season. With a surprises like this, we are so glad that we are dealing with a group of folks that are committed to the very end to make sure everyone, and every critter gets home safely. This is not a situation any one of the crew would ideally have anticipated. But, they buckled down and figured out what was going to be the best option for the crews’ newest member that made an appearance one frosty October morning.

 A bulk of the Cassiar horse herd spend their lives in southern British Columbia during the off season. While the area is growing, there is a need to supplement our horse operation in the Cassiar, we do so by adding to our string through leasing from outside resources. Many times the horses that we intend to use meet us at the trail-head and are quite plump from a summer of relaxation and sporting full grass bellies. One such mare, Princess, looked the part of a ‘well-wintered’ horse that was ready and willing to go to work. Little did everyone know that she was packing a little extra weight and a four-legged surprise.

 In the old days when a pack train of horses would head out on an expedition, if a mare had a spring colt at her side, it too would make the trek into the mountains. In many of the old stories of the first outfitters, expeditors, or adventure capitalists, it wouldn’t be an uncommon sight to see a pack string of thirty head leaving the corrals with a frisky colt or two prancing alongside their dam. Many young horses by the age of four are able to tag along to ‘learn the ropes’ of coming to the mountains. They aren’t asked to share much of the workload as they are still quite young, but it is a great opportunity for the younger stock to learn to forage with the mountain string, and begin to familiarize themselves with the routine of life on the trail.

 As the last late season hunt was wrapping up, and with just three days from when Dustin Roe, Dan Watson, Owen Blackmore and photographer David Frame were set to trail out of the mountains, they had a shocking surprise. One morning Princess laid down and started going into labour after coming into camp. With a small audience gathered around cheering her on, Princess and the crew welcomed a handsome palomino stud colt to the crew.

 With the problem of not only making sure that this new life got the nutrition and colostrum from his dam, the team now had the problem of getting not only themselves back to the highway, but a very fresh and wobbly colt. Trail outs are long and arduous for even a mature horse, let alone a newborn. With the weather consistently getting colder, and the lack of options, the guys set to work preparing a plan to get everyone home safe and sound. There was a whole host of logistics and options that were talked about and considered last fall as a final decision was made. Many of us waited from nearby camps as we were hanging on the updates of this young horse that was born in a frigid mountain camp. We hope you will stay tuned for the second half of this epic journey of a young colt and his mountain debut this coming Sunday. It’s a story that doesn’t happen often, and will be one we talk about for years to come.

 We are very thankful for the talents of David Frame and his documentation of this unexpected and heart warming story of a trail out that won’t be forgotten.

-The Team at Backcountry BC and Beyond