SHELLBROOK, Sask. – The Folden family has made a lot of city people cry. That’s how they know they’re doing a good job.
The Foldens farm about 20 kilometres south of Prince Albert National Park, just below the tree line. They raise cattle and horses and have 10 quarters of hayland and pasture.
But over the last few years they’ve gotten into a sideline that involves the entire family, gives them a money-making job that doubles as a holiday, and gives urbanites the chance to get onto the back of a horse and see nature in a way they can’t from a car.
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“You get away, see deer, you might jump out a bear or a moose or an elk,” says Warren Folden about why his family’s horseback outfitting business seems to be working with people who have never been in the true wilderness.
The Foldens take people, including school groups, by horseback into the back woods of P.A. National Park to a camp at Rabbit Lake. They also lead people on horseback tours to see a herd of wild bison just west of the park.
From the farm itself the dark green line of the northern forests is visible as a distant promise, a promise of wilderness and escape unattainable in the prairie that stretches thousands of kilometres south.
Warren, his father Allan and mother Elaine all work on the farm near Shellbrook. Daughter Lana works at the federal jail in Prince Albert, but comes home to help with the outfitting, which can sometimes get in the way of day-to-day farming.
“We’ve got to really watch when to cut the hay,” said Allan. “I like to have the hay drying when I head out to the bush camp. Then I get back and bale it up.”
The outfitting, which is taking up more and more of the family’s time, started because of an old family hobby, and for deeper economic reasons. The Foldens had raised chuckwagon ponies, but weren’t involved in the races any more. They wanted to keep the horse herd, so they tried to think of something to do with them.
Grain takes dive
At the same time grain prices had fallen and they hoped to find another source of income that would match their livestock operations. The family has a 125-head cow herd.
“Farming was on a down trend for a while,” said Allan. “We thought this might pay.”
It wasn’t as if the Foldens didn’t have other means of income. Elaine has worked at a meat market in Shellbrook for 28 years and Warren does most of the field work on his grandfather’s nearby grain farm.
Allan said farming is still the family’s basic work, but that doesn’t mean they’re falling over each other to do it.
“Nobody wants to stay on the farm and go baling when they can go out there and sit on a horse,” he said with a chuckle. “It’s like a holiday for us. I guess it’s work in a way, but it’s a little different than baling.”
Allan said one of the groups he has most enjoyed taking into the woods were some inner city kids who had rough lives.
He said they were a tough bunch, but once in the woods the kids became happy and relaxed. And a few days later, when they were heading back to the city, a number started crying and said they’d never been as happy as on the trip.
Allan said he has to worry more about some of the supposedly seasoned riders.
“Most people overrate their riding skills,” he said. “They’ll tell you ‘I’ve rode and rode and rode.’ “
Then they’ll fall off their horse.
“It’s kind of hard sometimes,” said Warren. “People don’t want to listen” to advice on how to ride.
Provides stability
Allan said the outfitting adds some stability to grain and cattle income. He said he has sold calves for as much as $700 and has seen grain prices leap recently, but he’d be happier to know he could get $500 for a calf and $5/bu. for wheat year after year, instead of having to ride the cycles.
“You could plan ahead and plan your future,” he said. “The way it is now, you can’t plan anything.”
But Allan says he does plan to keep outfitting.
“I’m trying to build it up so (Warren) can take over the farm, or one of the kids can take over the place, and I can go up there and retire on it,” he said.
