The Ranch is owned and managed by Tracey O’Connell, a modern day lady pioneer who immigrated to Canada from the UK in 2007 with big dreams and huge passion.
Tracey was born in Dublin Ireland, and as a teenager moved with her family to a large city in the North of England. Her career with international organisations saw her spend time living and working in some of the world’s busiest cities.
She was born with itchy feet. From getting her first passport at aged 18 she spent the next 20+ years of her life travelling all over the world, some of it for work but a great deal of it for pleasure. It was during one those trips that she sat on a horse for the first time – in Texas and her love affair with horses had begun. She started to take riding lessons at stables close to her home in England and took her first Dude Ranch Vacation in the early 90’s.
Since then, she has travelled to all corners of the world to take horseback riding vacations. She experienced many different countries and cultures, various breeds of horses and riding styles. From galloping with Zebra and Giraffe in Africa to pushing a slow lazy herd of cows though the bush in Wyoming. Always during these trips I would think ‘wouldn’t this be a great way to live...’
In the summer of 2007, Tracey took a career break and came to Canada for a 6 month visit. During this visit she bought Tod Mountain Ranch, an 80-acre former cattle ranch in the Louis Creek Valley, surrounded by thousands of hectares of Crown Land.
She survived forest fires and several amazing winters with temperatures down to minus 40°C and 6ft snow drifts. She’s learned to drive a tractor, mend fences, chop firewood and break ice on the creek. She’s proud to have swopped her kitten heels and silk shirts for gumboots and Carhartts and her beloved 2-seater sports car for an F350 pick-up.
Call her crazy or brave, she’s certainly unique and loves to share this amazing place with visitors from far and wide riding her beautiful horses on old logging roads and cattle trails through the bush and along the creek and then relaxing on the porch as the sun sets, glass of wine in hand, reliving the highlights of the day.