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Owned by Lord Vivian of England
and Managed by Walter Scott.
By Walter Archibald “Baldy” Scott
When Glen Campbell sold or mortgaged the Merchiston Ranch to raise money to go to the Gold Rush in the Yukon, Lord Vivian of England became owner. The name of the ranch was changed from Merchiston to Riding Mountain Ranch. Lord Vivian got Walter Scott to manage the ranch for him as Walter had been with the ranch since Robert Campbell started it.
Vivian and Scott decided they would go strictly for horses as the country was being settled there was a great demand for horses of all kinds - drivers, work horses, saddle. Scott had a friend in Alberta, Mr. Day, who had a big horse ranch, who would ship car loads of horses to Riding Mountain Ranch. Some were kept as brood mares, some were broken to harness and sold in the fall. By 1906, the Ranch was quite a big operation. A big modern barn was built with a huge hay loft and track and sling so hay and bales could be hoisted into the loft.
Three Purebred and Thoroughbred stallions were bought - a Clydesdale for heavy farm work, a Hackney for drivers and a Thoroughbred Racehorse for saddle horses. Getting the horses for sale required a lot of work. The horses that were shipped in from High River, Alberta were mostly Range horses, some pretty wild. This required three or four men. Mostly the Flett boys and Walter Burns, nephews of Mrs Scott. They were very good horsemen and loved this work.
Lake Audy Plain and Kennis’s Meadow were excellent for wintering livestock. William Billy Bone, Joe Mentuck would put hay at Kennis’s Meadows, then in late fall horses were herded in from the Ranch to winter there. Billy Bone and Joe Mentuck would care for these horses during the winter. When the horses were rounded up and taken back to the Ranch, there would be the odd one missed. Two of these, a horse and mare, became very wild. Wilder than Elk or Moose. These horses were finally caught and brought back to the Ranch. Jimsey the horse was easily tamed and became a splendid driver. The beautiful Black mare was never tamed, she remained wild and mean and could run very fast. She'd take off into the heavy timber northwest of the Ranch. It was in this timber she crashed into a sharp burnt stump and big splinter went up between her shoulder and body, so she had to be destroyed.
Jimsey became quite a hero during the 1918 Flu epidemic. Jimsey, an old Pinto made great trips taking Dr. Collins to his patients. He ended up with stiff front quarters but people didn’t want him destroyed. He lived out his life owned by Billy Wilson of Strathclair.
