Sitting in his wheelchair, and looking over the Comox Valley from the front bay windows of Glacier View Lodge, Jack Rankin, 90, can still recall the name of his horse: Bandit.
He smiles slightly after Betty, his wife of 64 years, rubs his knee and repeats the name.
“I’ve got wonderful memories … seeing the ride brings back a lot of memories, a lot of nice things, a lot of friends. It makes you very proud,” she notes and points to a large colour photo on the front of Jack’s door at the lodge.
The photo – taken in the late ’70s – is of Jack on his horse, sitting stoically in Red Serge looking ahead over the ears of Bandit.
Nearly 70 years after Rankin joined the RCMP and rode in the Musical Ride, many residents at Glacier View Lodge will have the opportunity to see the iconic performance through an organized outing, as the troop of 32 riders and their horses are set to perform at the Comox Valley Exhibition Aug. 24 to 26.
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Betty says shortly after Jack enrolled as a member, he took equestrian training, and was asked almost immediately to join the Musical Ride.
She met her future husband in April of 1950 at the age of 17; Jack was 22.
“It was a very different time. When I think back … it was romantic – everything about the ride.”
The couple married in 1954 and Jack was posted to various areas in the country.
While the Musical Ride was only a part of his career, Betty says his equestrian training came in handy not long afterward.
Jack was posted in Calgary in 1951 when then-Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip visited the Calgary Stampede. He served as a guard on horseback for the princess.
“She and Philip are in the carriage and Jack is guiding the princess,” Betty adds with a smile.
Jack went on to serve detachment time across the country. He and Betty went to Ottawa in order for him to complete his university degree at Carlton University and he eventually worked in the RCMP laboratory.
Betty recalls watching the ride countless times, at indoor areas as well as outdoor exhibitions.
“The horses are so well trained some (riders) would fall off and the horses would keep doing the whole routine,” she said, adding that the connection between the Musical Ride of her husband’s era and that of the present is still strong.
“The connection keeps on going.”
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A few doors down the hall in the lodge from Rankin is fellow member Ed Michkyluk.
Hailing from the Prairies, Michkyluk joined the RCMP and immediately went to training in Regina. While he didn’t serve in the Musical Ride, his wife Gloria explains he did receive formal equestrian training.
For her husband, the training didn’t differ that much from his rural lifestyle.
“A lot of young men then came from farms. Ed had the equestrian training and he said, ‘I left the farm and I’m back there cleaning stables again.’ “
She recalls Ed telling her stories of training, particularly of new members who had grown up in the city and had never cleaned a stable.
“There were so many interesting stories from his troop. There were some who were not experienced with horses, and they were trying to hang onto their hats and the horses were taking off,” she explains with a laugh.
With their husbands by their side, both Gloria and Betty agree RCMP equestrian training instilled not only a sense of pride, but discipline and an “esprit de corps.”
“It was an interesting time – you made good friends,” adds Gloria.
Even at the lodge, Gloria says there’s a connection between retired members, and notes she is grateful for the opportunities the lodge offers to its residents, such as a chance to see the ride.
“It’s a wonderful place – the level of care and what goes on. They love their residents here; they’re family.”
The RCMP Musial Ride performances are set for 6:30 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday, and 4:30 p.m. on Sunday. Admission to the performance is included in the daily gate admission to the Comox Valley Exhibition.
FMI: cvex.ca/tickets.
