The Teepee Heart Ranch, Km 84 – Imagine a small, secret and wild valley, hidden in the heart of the Chilcotin Mountains in the West of Canada. It’s Native American country. Now, imagine that you are going along the 84 kilometers of track which lead, across barren hills, canyons and pine forests to this valley. Along the way, you may well see some bald eagles, black bears and wild mustangs. You have arrived! The wooden gates to the ranch are opening in front of you. Wood, light and magic are the raw materials here.

The ranch holds the secret to the marriage of tradition and innovation. The old barn reminds us of the historic heritage of this ranch straight out of the Far West, dried pin-wood logs crackling in the stoves, the spirit of the Last Frontier is still here. As for the new barn, it bears testimony to the vitality of this lifestyle with its solar panels and the satellite aerial which give us a welcome. Nevertheless, we believe that a renewed approach to the rancher’s life true modernity which implies understanding of the indigenous vision, cohabiting with the local wildlife and, of course, cooperating with the horses.

If you have read the stories of J. O. Curwood and Jack London, your heart beating as you visit the wild, tough and spectacular landscapes with unfathomable forests where wolves and grizzlies dwell, feeling the cold air sting your nostrils and hearing the fresh snow squeaking under your boots, then you will find the same thing when you look into the eyes of a Saarloos Wolfdog.

This breed was the result of cross-breeding a German Shepherd Dog with a female Siberian Wolf. The breeder was Leendert Saarloos a great nature lover who felt that dogs had become too humanized.

Since 2012, we have been breeding quality quarter-horses and paint-horses, previously living in a renovated sheepfold in the south of France in the heart of the garrigue. In summer, the Provençal sun exalted the scent of pines and broom in bloom; the foals were napping in the shade of the trees, lulled by the song of crickets and springs.

A few years later, spurred on by our vision, in search of the soul of the american horse and its land, carried also by the intuition that there existed somewhere, a secret, isolated, wild valley where to raise our magician-horses and live happily, we leave. After two years of travelling and wandering, we fly to western Canada and finally open the gate of the Teepee Heart Ranch.

For breeding now in line with our dreams.

Looking forward to welcoming you on the ranch,

Yoann and Titania