Horse People Interviews: Lindsay Craig

Introducing: Lindsay Craig
Creator & Publisher of Cowboy Coffee Magazine

There are people who love horses.

And then there are people who have carried them in their bones since childhood.

Our first Horse Person of the year is Lindsay Craig — creator and publisher of Cowboy Coffee Magazine — and someone whose life has been shaped, challenged, softened, and sharpened by horses in equal measure.

We asked Lindsay our five questions. Here’s what she shared:

1. What is your first horse memory?

“Someone once asked me what was one thing that you have always carried from childhood… and it didn’t take me longer than a second to say, horses.”

Raised in the middle of the city, Lindsay always dreamed of being surrounded by animals — but especially of sharing wild, untamed adventures with a horse of her own. She would stay up until 3 a.m. building imaginary ranches in her bedroom, piecing together a loyal herd from whatever figurines she could find, crafting creeks from crumpled paper and blue ink, and turning the four walls into a mystical forest made just for her and her horse.

The yearning for a real horse eventually led her to horse camp in Maple Ridge at six years old. It wasn’t the fairy-tale start she’d imagined. Her first solo ride felt endless and out of control — a mud-soaked track edged with blackberry bushes, thorns waiting at every turn. The moment she was mounted, she remembers flying through the mud, convinced she’d end up tangled in the bushes.

She was retrieved in tears and sat heartbroken in her cabin for the rest of the day. But by morning, she did what horse girls do: she got back in the saddle — and this time, she stayed.

“Horses to me never came easy,” she says. “I always looked at it as a challenge to learn to read them better… to build the partnership I had dreamt about.”

2. How does being involved in the horse community inspire you in your day-to-day life?

For Lindsay, the magic isn’t just in the horse, it’s in having your crew, “a team of people looking for the same great escape and the same challenge”.

In most rooms, you have to filter yourself but in a room full of horse people? You can let it fly. Breeds, training methods, tack, psychology, traditions — all of it on the table. There’s something about surrounding yourself with people who fully understand your obsession. For Lindsay, having a crew to head out on sunny Sunday afternoons for a group ride through the forest is priceless. A herd moving together, keeping each other safe. Witnessing each other’s growth — not just as riders, but as partners.

Horse people know that stewarding horses isn’t easy. They mirror your insecurities. They expose your impatience. They reflect your emotional state back to you with uncomfortable accuracy. Your community is what pulls you up when you fall. It’s who drags you to the barn when life feels heavy. It’s who swaps tack, shares advice, and reminds you that you’re not alone in the struggle.

“Having community is essential in the horse world, like horses we feed off each other and are wired for connection.”

Lindsay’s was always determined to make a career with horses and find a way to be in the barn every single day. This led her to become a Equine Facilitated Learning professional who quickly confronted life as a new mom living through emotional trauma, and mental health struggles, all while dealing with a horse that was too lame to ride.

At a such a complex and difficult time of her life, the EFL community supported her and the horses became the teachers and mentors who would guide her and help her ultimately find confidence in her horsemanship and in her identity. This led her to her next calling: running a large boarding barn in Pemberton. What began as a romantic vision of caring for 20 horses became a vibrant hub for the local horse community. Clinics, retreats, competitions. Many hands worked together to bring this operation to life, and a community formed around it.

It was proof of what’s possible when people gather around a shared love.

And in an effort to reach beyond her immediate circle, she started a magazine.

Cowboy Coffee Magazine grew from photoshoots with friends, conversations with trainers, and stories collected across the Pacific Northwest. It became a creative extension of the same thing she had always been building — community and a sense of belonging. A place where art, fashion, design, horsemanship, and photography could coexist. A western world appreciated in full.

3. How do you make time for horses alongside a busy life or career?

“Horses are a lifestyle choice,” she says plainly.

For her, it was never casual. It required stubbornness. Sacrifice. Hustle.

Managing expenses meant becoming resourceful — learning to trim hooves, train horses, trade skills, and create opportunity rather than wait for it. If the choice was money or time, and money wasn’t available, time became the negotiator. Education became currency.

There were big decisions along the way. Moving towns. Ending relationships. Taking and leaving jobs. Starting businesses solely to fuel a horse-obsessed dream. As a young single mom in Vancouver, living just above minimum wage, not everyone understood. But horses sharpened her work ethic and redirected destructive patterns into purpose.

Eventually, she left the city behind and moved two hours north to the mountains with her son, chasing space for the life she envisioned.

But chasing a dream can tip into imbalance.

At one point, living alone on 65 acres, caring for seven horses and a 10-year-old son, she found herself overwhelmed. Winter hit hard. Depression crept in. A kind neighbour dropping off hay each week became a lifeline. She realized she had buried herself in responsibility and was nearing burnout.

She learned that sustainability matters and the value of community in proper horse care. That without balance, passion can sour into resentment.

“I have to now keep myself in check and remember that you are also a member of the herd that needs to be taken care of.”

4. What would your ultimate horse-inspired holiday look like?

“Backcountry.”

As a young teen, roaming the Chilcotin Mountains near Lillooet, B.C. set the bar high — long table dinners, old cowboy stories, alpine ridges, summer wildflower meadows. Since then, she’s longed for that feeling of total wilderness.

One memory stands out: a first date at Yaha Tinda Ranch in the Alberta Rockies.

Four days without cell service. Matching palomino mares. Storm clouds rolling in. Saddles creaking. Wet horse hair and leather softening in the rain. A valley revealed untouched by power lines. Chocolate, cigarettes, whiskey pulled from a pack and shared among wildflowers. Waiting out the thunder, huddled together beneath a tree. Wild and romantic.

For Lindsay, the ultimate holiday isn’t luxury. It’s wilderness. Horses steady beneath you. Weather rolling in. Silence thick enough to hear yourself think.

Read more about the Yaha Tinda Ranch in VOL 4. of Cowboy Coffee Magazine.

5. What’s the one essential you always keep in your ring bag or barn bag?

She’s a minimalist and likes to keep it simple. But she never leaves the property without a proper knife.

Horses can spook. Ropes tangle. Situations escalate quickly. A knife can set a horse free — and, she adds practically, make a sandwich on a long ride.

And then there’s her romantic answer: “Chocolate, cigarettes, and whiskey.”

Be still, this cowgirl’s heart.

Lindsay’s story isn’t one of ease. It’s one of persistence. Of a yearning carried from childhood into adulthood. Of mud and thorns and getting back in the saddle. Of community built intentionally. Of learning when to hold on — and when to let go.

From imaginary creeks made of crumpled paper to the creation of Cowboy Coffee Magazine, she has spent her life building the world she once dreamed of as a child.

And she’s still building it.

We here at The Horse People Co. are honoured to share Lindsay’s story and to begin this series with someone who so fully embodies what it means to build a life around horses.

Horse People Interviews was created to spotlight the individuals behind the barns, brands, and backcountry rides — the ones whose lives have been shaped by mud, mentorship, community, and an unwavering love for the horse.