Patrick Venne and Dominique Lebel Côté are on a journey of a lifetime.
Beginning April 29, 2022 from their home in St. Veronique, Quebec, the couple, their four horses named Kaya, Angel, Octane and Maple, three Paints and a Morgan and dog Bucky are on their way to the Yukon.
The first year they got as far as Lodgepole, Alberta. Which is where they spent their winter boarding and working on a ranch until spring.
April 1 , 2023 they started back on the road again to their destination.
They travel 20 kilometres a day and say they’ve lost track of how many horse shoes they’ve had to replace. The handy part of this journey is Patrick is also a farrier so he is able to keep their horse’s feet in mint condition.
Early on, the couple had to replace one of their one packhorse because it was just not suitable for the trip.
Dog Bucky, a husky, has walked the whole way, despite a awkward leg from when he was young.
The trip is a childhood dream of Patrick’s. He is a father of four and has one grandchild, the couple says that being away from their families is the hard part but they do a lot of Face timing to stay in touch.
So far, the couple says they have been keeping a wary eye out for bears but the trip has been a great experience.
Using GPS as they travel, they look along the way for water. This is the most important for their horses and if they come upon a farm, they stop in to see if they might be able to stay the night perhaps in a barn or a field. The couple has mainly tented on their trip but they have had very kind people give them a nice bed to sleep in once and a while.
Once they arrive in the Yukon, they will not be riding home but instead they will transport their horses back.
With no time line to get to their destination the couple stops and stays when it feels right. Last week their stay in Burns Lake was to be a two day rest for their horses but turned into four days as they wanted to stay and experience Indigenous Day.
They will have travelled approximately 6000 kilometers by the time they arrive in the Yukon.
Once the journey is done they will take their photos and their journals and combined their thoughts into writing a book.