In the 1930s Jack Poynter worked for Arthur Crawford. While there he broke a number of Arthur’s famous Clydesdale horses. Even the stallion was broke to harness.
In the spring of 1938, Jack and I were married at the Nazarene Church in Calgary. With very little money, three saddle horses and lots of ambition we decided to build the Hollowood Store. We were ready for business in June but to make ends meet Jack hayed with Ian McKinnon at Mr.Wright’s Ranch, presently known as the Two Rivers Ranch, and I cooked dinners for twenty-two government men for about a month while looking after the store.
Sometime before, my dad, who was renting the Poynter Ranch, had been hurt while working in Calgary. In October 1938 he decided it would be better for him if he and Mom took over the store and Jack and I managed the Ranch.
By this time Jack owned all the Poynter property, an acreage was surveyed ~rnd the acreage and store were deeded to my folks.
We were both interested in horses and were able to accumulate a number of them by trading and dealing with Joe Allen and Bob McDougall.
The nine hundred acre Spencer Creek Ranch bordered our land and we leased this property for seventeen years. Ace Charters, who came to stay with us, helped Jack break saddle horses.
During World War II, we started a Dude Ranch. Many of our weekend guests were Canadian girls in the Air Force and Airmen from Australia, New Zealand and England who had come to Canada for their training.
On December 27, 1943, Pilot Officers Pete Levy and Slim Somerville from Melbourne, Australia, stayed with us for ten days. It was so cold they only rode one day with Jack when he went to visit our neighbor, Jerr Cotterell. Jim Storey, an English Officer, stayed with us the following Easter.
A year later we received a letter from Jim Storey, who was stationed in Burma, telling us, A group of young Air Force Officers who were spending Christmas in Burma, were in a canteen and he heard someone comparing the hot humid weather with the cold he had experienced last year in Canada at the Hollowood Ranch. He introduced himself to Pete Levy and they enjoyed reminiscing the good times they had in Canada at the Poynters.
These were happy and interesting times but there was a lot of work cooking, and all the washing was done on the scrub board.
For twenty-three years, we supplied the people at the Ghost Dam with milk by milking six to eight cows. We cut ice on the Ghost Dam in winter and used it to keep our milk cool in summer.
Our son, John, v. as born December 28, 1938. When he was five years old he was an active rider. One day when he took a group of riders on a trail ride around Brooks’ Sawmill and the Wildcat Hills, he decided to take a short cut home and became lost in the dark timber. He assured his companions his horse would take them home and it did.
By 1948 Jack worked permanently for Calgary Power, so we sold our cattle and most of our horses. Some of our horses and equipment went to Simpson’s Outfitters at Lake Louise.
On .January 28, 1954, when John was fifteen years old, our daughter, Linda, was born.
In 1958 Johnny married Suzy Richards. Their wedding took place at the McDougall Church on the Morley Indian Reserve. They have three children, Rose Marie, Gary and Jerry. John works at the Petrofina Gas Plant and lives in the Beaupre district.
In 1963 I started raising registered Samoyed dogs for a hobby. We broke some of them to harness and at times used four of them on a sleigh to travel. This was so unusual in this area, they were shown on television ..
The last few years Jack has suffered from painful arthritis in both hips and has had to give up horseback riding. He had both hips replaced in 1972 and both operations were successful.
Linda married David Beddoes in the Cochrane United Church, in 1973, and they live in the Crossfield area.
Jack and I are active in the Beaupre Community Association and The Ghost River Pony Club. I served as Regional School Trustee for Beaupre, was President of the Parent Teacher Association for the Cochrane School and was President for the Cochrane Girl Guides and Brownies. I wrote the Beaupre news for the Rocky View News for eighteen years.
Jack and I were one of the first Appaloosa Breeders in Alberta. In 1942 we bought a grey stallion with black spots on his hindquarters from Chet Ogan of Canmore. This horse changed colour as he matured. We used this stallion to increase our herd when we were operating a Dude Ranch near the Ghost Dam; the result was foals of various colors.
Well-known Calgary horseman, Harry Jacques, identified the stallion as an Appaloosa. The stallion was my saddle horse and I refused to sellhim. Through the efforts of Mr. Jacques, we were able to register the horse as “Sonny Boy” number 261 in the Appaloosa Club at Moscow, Idaho. He was the first Appaloosa registered from Canada.
We purchased some well-bred mares and produced some fine colts, with characteristic appaloosa markings, that included two stallions,
“Speckle Boy” and “Ghost River Son.” Jim Wyatt, an interested Appaloosa breeder from High River, bought these two stallions.
We found that a great deal of travelling, work, time, and money was necessary to establish the breed, so we sold all but three registered Appaloosa mares; one of these was “Ghost River Lady” better known as “Cheyenne” who was a full sister to “Speckle Boy.” She is owned by ourson, John and has won a number of ribbons at horse shows as a top little stake horse. Her daughter, “Ghost River Cheyenne”, is also owned by our son. Cheyenne’s granddaughter, “Ghost River Tiki Bar”, is owned by our daughter, Mrs. Linda Beddoes. Ghost River Cheyenne and Ghost River Tiki Bar are still competing and won the Reserve Champion andGrand Champion ribbons at the 1974 Didsbury Horse Show.
Mr. and Mrs. Jim Wyatt put a great deal of time and effort into promoting the Appaloosa Breed in Canada and it became a Canadian Registered Breed in 1961. Over the years, Wyatts sold a number of horses to Hollywood and the well-known rodeo clown, Slim Pickens, was the first to ride one of these horses in a Western Movie. In 1974 Wyatts sold a stallion to a breeder in New Zealand.
