Heather Latter
For Rhonda Snow, Saturday evening was meant to be an event to raise awareness and funds for her Ojibway Spirit Horses.
But it became so much more than that when, as a complete surprise to her, she was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award from Rare Breeds Canada, as well as a lifetime membership to the organization.
“I’m so surprised—just blown away,” Snow said just moments after being handed the award by her “spirit sisters,” Cheryle Wolff and Barb Busch, on behalf of Rare Breeds Canada.
“I really feel a part of the organization now,” she added.
“They always said they would support me.”
Rare Breeds Canada—a national not-for-profit, charitable organization—encourages the preservation (and increase the numbers of) domestic and farm livestock that once were valued in Canada but now are in danger of extinction.
In a speech prepared by Rare Breeds Canada and read by Wolff, it explained the organization periodically recognizes individuals who have made an extraordinary contribution to furthering that aim.
“Known as Lifetime Achievement Awards, they are the highest honour the organization can confer, awarded to working farmers, by working farmers, who themselves understand the special challenges of raising heritage livestock,” Wolff read.
She continued by noting 10 years ago, inspired by the stories she had heard as a child, by a love of horses, and by a great sense of urgency that time was running out for their survival, Snow began her journey to save the Ojibway Spirit Horses—sometimes referred to as the “Lac La Croix pony”—that have lived in the forests of northern Minnesota and Northwestern Ontario for centuries.
“Known as brave, thoughtful, and careful mounts on the trail, they are bold and curious, big-hearted, and soft of eye,” Wolff said.
“They are strong, tough, and hardy but thrifty keepers.
“They are social and fond of people—it’s not hard to develop a special connection with them,” she read while adding it’s difficult to understand and forgive the deliberate decimation of the herd in the 1950s, from which the numbers have never recovered.
“Considered as both ‘wild’ and ‘Indian,’ the little bush ponies were almost exterminated,” Wolff noted.
While the exact number of Ojibway Spirit Horses living in the wild is not known, it’s thought there are less than 100-150.
At Snow’s “RR Spirit Horse Ranch” that she operates with her partner, Randy Stewart, there are 31 Ojibway Spirit Horses, with six pregnant mares bringing the couple new foals in the spring.
Their herd initially was established with eight animals, where they were headed for auction and an unknown future.
About a year later, Snow and her team of volunteers rescued nine horses in the wild in northern Minnesota, where they faced certain death from wolf packs during a particularly snowy winter.
Stewart noted that initial group of endangered horses has grown to what they now protect through a very careful breeding program to ensure the bloodline remains intact and healthy.
“The horses we care for are in a sense still wild, in that they haven’t been ‘broken’ and they roam free on the pastures safe and secure,” he explained.
“In conservation terms, a small breed population presents special challenges,” Wolff read from Rare Breeds Canada, noting Snow is geographically isolated and has no network to rely on.
“She has somehow, with incredibly limited resources and enormous determination, managed to develop the herd and the Spirit Horse Ranch,” Wolff noted.
“She [Snow] has done it all—from the crazy pony rescues in ice storms and dead of night to managing the bloodlines; the breeding and foaling; the handling and training,” Wolff added.
“She is the farrier and the groom, the equine nutritionist and the care-giver.
“She has been the fence-builder, the barn repairer, and hauler of water and hay in all weathers.
“Somehow, she kept these ponies going through that last awful winter, helped out by some very good and very generous people,” Wolff read.
Rare Breeds Canada indicated the Ojibway pony not only is historically important, but also culturally significant.
“These ponies are connected spiritually and emotionally to the aboriginal peoples of Ontario, and they are connected to a place—this is their home, their land, and this is where they thrive,” Wolff read, noting Snow is the best promoter these ponies have ever had.
“[She] simply will not give up on them,” Wolff stressed. “She is their hope for the future.”
Members of the community gathered at the Sunset Country Métis Hall on Saturday to raise funds for the RR Spirit Horse Ranch.
The meal, prepared by Stewart, featured locally-raised delicacies, such as farmed elk from Rainy River Elk Company, fresh fish from the area, and a side dish from Lowey Farms.
There also were hand-made appetizers and an array of silent auction items.
“It’s a lot of work and it costs a lot of money,” noted Norma Jean Calder, who helped organize the fundraiser.
“The little bits or lot that you have been able to give just by being here is truly appreciated,” she said prior to dinner being served.
Stewart noted there are many plans for the ranch, including some improvements such as constructing three shelters for the horses and building water catchment systems to collect rainwater for the animals.
They also plan to convert the electric fencing, well pumps, and barn lighting to solar/wind generators.
“That brings us to our big goal—to create a business here that will eventually make the ranch self-sustaining,” Stewart said.
That includes many things, such as horse sales, a gift/information shop, horse boarding, equine assisted learning programs, training, rider instruction, and trail riding opportunities.
And they already are well on their way to this goal.
The couple even plans to open the ranch up to the community once a week for individual, group, and family visits as soon as the weather improves.
“Support is growing and growing,” Snow said, thanking everyone for attending the event and acknowledging all those who helped her.
“And I think it’s just going to get better.”
Wolff, meanwhile, noted that the Rare Breeds Canada board of directors also recognizes the support of all those who have helped Snow on this journey in building towards the long-term sustainability of the herd and the Spirit Horse Ranch.
“We join with you in celebrating Rhonda’s work in the conservation of the Ojibway pony,” Wolff read.
“In making this award, and the accompanying lifetime membership to Rare Breeds Canada, we recognize a very special person and her love of, and dedication to, a very special pony.”
“We here at RRSHR are grateful for this opportunity to shelter and feed such an incredibly diverse and special animal,” said Stewart.
“It is one of our main goals here on the ranch to not only protect the Ojibway Spirit Horse breed, but to ensure its place on the Earth for generations to come.”
Those interested in the couple’s endeavour can visit the Spirit Horse Ranch’s Facebook page, or website at rrshranch.simpl.com, for updates and announcements.
