Print“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” – Ursula K. LeGuin
Approximately 119 years and 363 days before I was born, Capt. Roger Ashwell Pocock was born in Cookham, Berkshire, England, on Nov. 9, 1865. I’m sure he never imagined that 70 years after his death, a girl who shares his passions would be writing about him, let alone writing a blog on the Internet for a magazine completely dedicated to horses and sport (though the Chronicle was 4 years old in 1941 when he died).
Pocock never mastered classical dressage. He didn’t win any medals or represent any country in the Olympic Games. But in 1899 and 1900 he rode from Fort MacLeod, Alta., Canada, to Mexico City, Mexico, along the infamous Outlaw Trail. This adventurer rode 3,600 miles, and wrote about his experiences—the only recorded equestrian journey of its kind along the entire length of the Outlaw Trail, a loosely defined escape route used by various turn-of-the-century outlaws.
At 17, Pocock moved to Brookville, Ont., and enrolled at Guelph Agricultural College. However, he left school in 1883 in order to become a survey hand for the Canadian Pacific Railway. Even when he was young, he had a desire to travel and explore the unknown.
After his stint with the railroad, he joined the North West Mounted Police at Fort Osborne, Winnipeg. He fought in the North-West Rebellion (aka the Second Riel Rebellion) in 1885 and sustained such terrible frostbite on his feet that he had multiple toes amputated. This allowed him a medical discharge, and he settled in Kamloops, B.C., where he established a trading post.
But he didn’t linger long in Kamloops. He set sail aboard the Adele to the Bering Sea. In 1888, he added prospector to his résumé, as he traveled south to California and remained there until 1897, panning for gold and writing novels.
Following his California adventures, a return to Canada was in order, and in 1897 he re-joined the North West Mounted Police, riding patrol routes, range riding for cattle ranchers in Alberta, and continuing to try to strike it rich with gold in British Columbia. In 1898, he ran a train of packhorses, and Sir Arthur Curtis hired him as a guide for an expedition. However, Curtis ended up lost and eventually died, which led to rumors of Pocock’s involvement in his death.
The Incredible Journey
It was Pocock’s next journey that established him in equestrian history.
In June of 1889, Pocock saddled up and struck off from Fort McLeod in Alberta to head south to Mexico City.
His route took him through the western United States when settlements were far and few between. There were few accurate maps, so all he had to guide him was the sun and the stars as well as the trail. But he kept rigorous diaries about his adventures, which he would later incorporate into his autobiographical account Following The Frontier.
In northern Montana he encountered many wild horse herds. While he didn’t write his famous book about equine behavior, Horses, until 1923, many of his observations came from his experiences with the wild horses of the plains.
