Content
Skip to Main ContentAccessibility Help
Calgary

Alberta's Bar U Ranch names new Percherons 'Poca' and 'Terra'

Alberta's historic Bar U Ranch has named a new team of Percheron horses after an Italian immigrant who set up one of the country's first dude ranches.

Parks Canada received more than 1,000 entries

The Canadian Press ·
Poca (right) and Terra were named after George Pocaterra who was an Italian immigrant who started one of Canada's first dude ranches in 1905 in the Highwood Valley near the Bar U Ranch. (Bar U Ranch National Historic Site)

George Pocaterra has made quite a name for himself in Alberta's southern Kananaskis area.

There's a Pocaterra Creek, a Pocaterra Ridge and a Mount Pocaterra — all features named after the pioneering Italian immigrant, who came to Canada in 1903 and set up one of the country's first dude ranches two years later in Highwood Valley. He died in Calgary in 1972.

The Bar U Ranch has named a new team of Percheron horses Poca (right) and Terra. Jim Barbaro, pictured with his wife Lois, chose the names. (Bar U Ranch Historical Site)

Now he's received a new equine honour: two Percherons acquired by the Bar U Ranch National Historic Site will henceforth be known as Poca and Terra.

Parks Canada says it received more than 1,000 entries in a contest to name the black male horses. The winning suggestions came from Jim Barbaro, 71, a retired Calgary firefighter in Sundre, Alta.

Poca and Terra will shuttle visitors by wagon into the centre of the ranch when it opens for the 2016 season on May 16.

CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices|About CBC News
Corrections and clarifications|Submit a news tip|