What do you do when you decide you no longer want to be responsible for anyone but yourself? When faced with that moment, Donna Kane leaves her twenty-five-year marriage for life with a conservationist and wilderness guide who is so certain of the path he is on that she thinks she’s just along for the ride. A few days before Kane’s new husband leaves for a three-month horse-pack expedition, a gelding is seriously injured, and she agrees to stay behind to tend the horse’s wound. In the quiet moments spent with the horse each day, she reflects on her transition into the new relationship, the wilderness of the unknown, and her struggles with personal autonomy and independence. A deft writer, Kane takes readers on her inaugural trail ride into the stunning Muskwa-Kechika protected area, known as the “Serengeti of the North.” She rides with a pack string of horses over mountain passes, into boreal forests, along swamps and sand flats, crossing creeks and fast-flowing rivers. A novice horsewoman traversing new terrain, she is startled out of her familiar routines and must examine her assumptions of the wild, within and without, to find her place in the world. With honesty and humility, Kane reveals the folly, surprise and knowledge—of the world and of the self—that can come from setting foot in the headstrong currents of the unknown. Including striking photos of the Muskwa-Kechika and the pack string horses, the book touches on universal issues of ecological protection and individual identity. Summer of the Horse is sure to captivate readers interested in equine pursuits as well as those concerned with the ecological issues facing BC’s far north.
