Filipe Leite training two wild horses at the Indian Grove Riding Stables on April 26. Leite will take Smokey and Mac along on his journey from Alaska to Calgary to complete his ride across the Americas. (Dale Boyd / Osoyoos Times)
By Dale Boyd
Osoyoos Times
Whether it’s avoiding a grizzly bear in Montana, gun violence in Central America or staying at a drug lord’s house in Honduras, Filipe Leite has seen everything on his journey across the Americas — all of it on horseback.
“It’s just like going to war. Some days you don’t have food, some days you’re scared you’re going to die. Some days you’re scared the horse is going to die,” Leite said, while working to tame wild horses at Indian Grove Riding Stables on April 26.
He is training with Smokey and Mac, two wild horses from the South Okanagan, to prepare them for the last leg of his journey across South, Central and North America. He plans to travel 4,000 kilometers from Alaska to Calgary on horseback.
“It takes a huge toll on you physically and mentally, but I have just got to see the end of the Americas,” Leite said.
He first rode from Canada to Brazil in 803 days, travelling 16,000 kilometers through 10 countries. Then Leite travelled from Brazil to Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world, in 15 months covering 7,000 kilometers.
Leite’s inspiration to take on the challenging journey grew from the story of the most famous equestrian journey of the 20th century. Swiss long rider Aime Tschiffely rode from Buenos Aires to New York in 1925. Leite’s father would read the story to him when he was young and the dream stuck.
“I thought why don’t I take this dream and turn it into a reality. So far so good, I’m still alive,” Leite laughed.
Of course, Leite doesn’t make his journey alone. He requires a lot of help, and so do the horses.
“It’s not like travelling by bicycle or motorbike, or car. You literally need the help of people everywhere you go. It gives you the opportunity to eat dinner with people from all the countries you travel,” Leite’s said.
In contrast, there are nights he spends under the stars alone, except for the horses of course.
“It’s a beautiful opportunity to reconnect with nature, learn more about horses and learn about people that inhabit the Americas because you’re travelling so slowly,” Leite said.
Working with wild Okanagan horses was an interesting experience for Leite.
“These horses are very different. That wild instinct that they have, in their eyes and in their soul. It makes it a little harder starting out, but they connect to you on a greater level, I think,” Leite said.
Using a common training technique for animals, food, has a greater impact on wild horses commonly searching for anything they can get in nature.
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“They are thankful for it. They become a one-person horse. They trust you a lot and you become the leader of their pack because their instinct is always survival,” he said.
Leite plans to retire from long rides after this final journey, one he is taking on to show horses are the great equalizer, indifferent to gender, faith or ethnicity.
“We’re all the same because of the horse, it has this ability to connect people. In an age where we have presidents building walls to separate nations, the horse has the ability to break down those barriers and unite people” Leite said.
His love of horses, and those who care for and work with them, has kept him alive during the slow, deliberate and treacherous journeys.
“That’s another reason for doing this last long ride is to celebrate the people that still ride the cowboys, the ranchers, the farmers and show they still have a worth in the 21st Century,” Leite said.
Leitie leaves Alaska on May 17 looking to arrive at the Calgary Stampede in 2020 ending his lifelong quest.
Filipe Leite training two wild horses at the Indian Grove Riding Stables on April 26. Leite will take Smokey and Mac along on his journey from Alaska to Calgary to complete his ride across the Americas. (Dale Boyd / Osoyoos Times)
