Man's best friend, indeed
Laura Butterbrodt
Multimedia Journalist
Into the canyon
Veblen's Canyon Ranch will no longer have horses for rent
The Watertown Public Opinion
September 30, 2019
VEBLEN — Nestled in Knight’s Canyon south of Veblen and north of Sica Hollow, a destination for people from near and far is scaling back on its operation.
The Canyon Ranch Trail Rides, founded by the late Art Borgen in 1981, will no longer have horse rentals for tours. Visitors can still bring their own horses and the campground on the Borgen property will still be open.
After 38 years, the Borgen family can no longer keep up with demands of renting horses for the trail rides. Art’s wife Karen Borgen is about to welcome her 14th great-grandchild. Their daughter Cathy, who helped run the business, died in March. No one in the family can break a new horse, and finding one that can be trusted with inexperienced riders is too difficult.
“I’ve been here long enough to have taken kids on their very first ride at 5 or 6 years old, and now they’re through college, married and having kids of their own,” says Dawn Gaukler, who leads the trail rides.
Despite their final season of horse rentals coming to a close, the Borgen family seems to be in good spirits, reminiscing on visitors they’ve met over the years and memorable rides they’ve taken along the creeks and through the rolling, wooded hills of the canyon.
Canyon Ranch Trail Rides have taken hundreds of visitors each year through Knight’s Canyon since 1981. The roughly two-hour, five-mile ride has had up to 90 riders on it at once, although a typical ride has eight to 12 people on horseback.
“You meet a lot of interesting people,” Karen says. “We don’t get very many nasty people. They’re mostly nice people just wanting to get away and see something different and experience nature.”
The walls of the Borgen house are covered from floor to ceiling in Christmas cards, thank you letters and school photos of riders from over the years. The entry to the house serves as a museum for the fossils and artifacts found on the land, which sits at the edge of the Coteau des Prairies.
Geologic evidence from the glacier movement and archaeological evidence of Native American burial mounds, the pioneers and French fur traders can be discovered across the canyon. Shells and fish fossils are found in their yard from what was once the coast of Lake Agassiz. Arrowheads, pottery fragments, a petrified squid and shark teeth are just a few of the artifacts that stand on display in the home museum.
While the history of the Borgens owning the property doesn’t go quite that far back, the family still has plenty of history of their own tied to the land. Art moved to the property as a child in the 1930s and grew up to run a dairy farm and raise stock cows with Karen. His daughter Diane Kinney recalls running through the creek every April on her birthday and spending countless hours exploring the woods. An abandoned bus along the trail served as a place to store tapped maple syrup, and continues to house the legend of an ugly old woman with no legs that misbehaving children should fear a visit from.
“It’s a real interesting place to live,” Karen says. “Never get bored.”
A standard trip through the canyon, which is estimated by Gaukler to be about five miles, immerses the rider in nature. One will see wildflowers, prairie grasses, insects and even bald eagles, if you’re lucky. Three bald eagles sit in a tree on a Sept. 28 ride, and Kinney says they represent the three Borgens that have passed away: Art, Cathy and her brother Wayne. Art and Karen’s five children all partook in the trail rides.
“Everybody rides except me. I’ve never been a rider,” laughed Karen. “I just stand on the porch and wave to people and smile and try to be pleasant.”
Pieces of history are scattered across the Canyon Ranch property. Pieces of pottery from Native American mound builders, fossils of fish from Lake Agassiz and pipes left by French fur traders have been found and are now kept in the Borgen house.
Knight’s Canyon is very similar to Sica Hollow and has been used by Native Americans for sundances, sweat lodges and vision quests. They used the undeveloped campground on the property, as have Girl Scout troops, church groups and family vacationers.
Gaukler says hundreds of people come to Canyon Ranch each year from all over the world. It’s a popular spot to bring foreign exchange students to get a feel for South Dakota and a stop on some people’s quests to visit every U.S. state. She estimates that 90% or more of the visitors have never ridden a horse before, or the only experience they’ve had was at Canyon Ranch.
Nearly all of their horses have already found new homes.
“We could’ve sold these horses many times over because you don’t find horses like that all the time,” Gaukler says. “People are amazed at how good of shape these horses are in because they’ve gone to other trail rides in other states and the horses are very thin and didn’t look that great, but these guys are fat, and sometimes sassy, too.”
They plan to see how the next year goes by offering a guided ride a few times over the summer for people who bring their horses. Karen says she never thought the trail rides would continue for very long after her husband died in 2003, but Gaukler has continued to guide the trails for 16 years.
A shrine the Borgens put together on the deck of their home includes memorabilia from Canyon Ranch and photos of their late father Art, who started the business, and his children Wayne and Cathy, who have also died.
Gaukler says hundreds of people come to Canyon Ranch each year from all over the world. It’s a popular spot to bring foreign exchange students to get a feel for South Dakota and a stop on some people’s quests to visit every U.S. state. She estimates that 90% or more of the visitors have never ridden a horse before, or the only experience they’ve had was at Canyon Ranch.
Nearly all of their horses have already found new homes.
“We could’ve sold these horses many times over because you don’t find horses like that all the time,” Gaukler says. “People are amazed at how good of shape these horses are in because they’ve gone to other trail rides in other states and the horses are very thin and didn’t look that great, but these guys are fat, and sometimes sassy, too.”
They plan to see how the next year goes by offering a guided ride a few times over the summer for people who bring their horses. Karen says she never thought the trail rides would continue for very long after her husband died in 2003, but Gaukler has continued to guide the trails for 16 years.
“Who would’ve ever thought that out in the middle of nowhere, a business like this would last for so many years,” Karen says.
The banker told Art he was crazy to start the trail ride business when he proposed it. Later, the banker came back with his grandchildren to go for a ride at Canyon Ranch.
“That was his dream a lot longer than it when started,” says their son Michael Borgen. “He probably saw it in his life, but wanted it to happen a lot sooner than it did.”
Diane says her red-headed father is remembered by most for his sense of humor.
“Art was one of those men you met one time and never forgot,” Gaukler says. “A legend.”
After a two-hour ride through the canyon, Gaukler stops her horse and looks from the top of the coteau out to the colorful mass of trees that span the horizon.
“This is my office,” she says. “I never get tired of this view. It’s the best view in the world.”
Diane Kinney takes a photo of Dawn Gaukler at the top of the Coteau des Prairies during a ride Saturday. Gaukler said although leading trail rides at Canyon Ranch isn’t always easy, she loves her job and never tires of the view.