Who is Lynn Fenton, you ask? He is one of the finest horse trainers and teamsters around. His friends and neighbours call him a “magician with horses” and appreciate all he has done for the horse community in the Cochrane area. His accomplishments speak for themselves.
Lynn is a kind, gentle man — an attribute which horses sense immediately. He professes not to be a ‘horse whisperer’, but attributes his equine training success to tone of voice, never raising his voice and always treating these animals gently. The equine species will then reciprocate with trust, obedience and respect. Lynn is a soft-spoken man and as horses have acute hearing skills, they hear all and aim to please him.
He celebrated his 87th birthday June 7 with family and friends, who threw him a birthday party with 50 people in attendance. It is time to tell his story to those who may not have had the opportunity to meet him yet. His parents, Slim and Mabel (Ferguson) Fenton lived on a farm near Wessex, east of Carstairs when Lynn was born in 1926. He was raised with brother, Roy and sisters Frances and Joy. In 1932 they started farming at the corner of Highway 22 and Highway 567, where the Shell service station is located today. Slim Fenton was a chuckwagon driver and known as a good teamster, racing his well-trained thoroughbreds. Lynn learned his father’s skills, however developed his own technique along the way. His first job outside the home was at the age of 12, working for the Perrenoud family as a farm hand.
Lynn met Dorothy Perkins at a function at the Horse Creek School. “We just lived a few miles apart and I would always go to the Box Socials to buy her boxes” remembers Lynn fondly. They were married in 1953.
In 1956 they returned to the family farm with their children, Dan and Wendy. Lynn’s father, Slim had purchased this property in 1943 on Horse Creek Road, just north of Cochrane. It was called the Twin Willows Ranch, because it only had two willow trees on the property at the time.
Dan trained as a mechanic and has since followed his dream to return to ranching full time.
He is following in his father`s footsteps, training horses and raising purebred red Angus cattle at the Running Bar Ranch with his wife, Diana, where they still live today. They have two boys, Tyler and Cody. Both did very well with their roping horses and competing in local rodeos, winning belt buckles and saddles.
Wendy, who is living in Hinton now, used to teach playschool at Weedon Hall, Beaupre Hall and the Horse Creek Community Centre. When she visits the Cochrane area, many of her former students still greet her as “Miss Wendy”. Wendy has two daughters; Erin is a psychologist and happens to be the Alberta Beef poster girl. Alyssa is a veterinarian and has been credited for saving a neighboring horse’s life together with her father, after an attack by a grizzly.
Dorothy passed away in 1986 at the age of 52. Lynn continued to work with heavy horse breeds such as Belgian, Fjord and Percheron, also light horses and even trained some Shetland ponies, donkeys and mules.
At one time he owned 20 Fjord, Percheron and Belgian horses. In the 1980s, his ranch became the home of the Horse Creek Driving Club, which he started with the late Walter Lewis. His shop became the meeting place for pot luck dinners and his trails and corrals were used to teach members to drive horses and learn the safety procedures required.
Lynn does not have as many horses as he used to, but still enjoys participating in local parades driving his chuckwagon with his well-groomed team; Bob, the black Percheron and Duke, the sand coloured Fjord. In 2012, some 200 friends and neighbors gathered together in order to honour him with a special
Lynn may be a quiet, humble man, however his reputation in the community echoes with a loud roar of praise.
