Woman riding 3,000 miles through the west with her horses and dog

HEBER — At three miles an hour, the world slows down. Trees seem taller. Mountains feel grander. The horizon stretches a little farther. And for Patricia Petrina, that’s the whole point.

“You’re moving through a country which is this gorgeous, gorgeous place,” said Petrina, gently stroking the muzzle of one of her horses. “You just have a lot of time to appreciate everything.”

This isn’t just a scenic ride, though.

Petrina is currently riding from the Mexican border to the Canadian border on horseback.

It’s a nearly 3,000-mile journey she’s been dreaming about and planning for the past four years.

She left Arizona in early March and hopes to reach Montana by September, near Glacier National Park.

With her are her four horses and her loyal dog, Piglet.

“We’re an oddity. We’re a bit of a circus,” she said with a smile while taking a break near Strawberry Reservoir during the Utah portion of her trip. “You just don’t see four horses and a dog running through town very often.”

It’s not a race, though.

Instead, it is a test of grit, determination and a little bit of soul searching.

Even though she’s by herself most of the time, Petrina has support.

Her family and friends track her using a GPS device and send supplies to post offices along her route.

Her family and friends can even see her journey as she updates her Instagram page.

She’s also prepared for whatever she might encounter. That includes carrying protection for her own safety, and if ever needed, to care for her animals in the most humane way possible if one of them gets hurt in the backcountry.

The ride hasn’t been easy. However, she’s doing it.

“Yeah, uhh… I would say it’s like 80-20 whether I enjoy this trip or not. It’s a lot of work,” she said with a laugh.

Even though there are plenty of difficult days, it’s the overall trip that is bringing her satisfaction.

As a kid, she remembers watching a documentary about a couple who hiked the Pacific Coast Trail.

Growing up in Northern Idaho, and loving horses, she decided she wanted to do something big one day like what those hikers were doing.

“Spending all that time with your horses, it’s very like an old-western,” she said. “You get to live how the cowboys lived and that’s pretty cool, too.”

So why do it? It’s the questions people ask her the most when they meet. So far, she hasn’t been able to answer that question as well as she would like. For her, it’s more of a feeling.

“It’s doing hard things and knowing that you can and pushing through hard stuff,” she said. “I mean, why watch and read about it when you can go do it yourself.”

It’s an adventure she will remember the rest of her life. Even if it’s one she said she’ll never do again.

“Absolutely. I don’t know if I’ll ever need to repeat it,” she said with another laugh.

Petrina recently graduated from nursing school and figured before starting her career, she could take some time to do a journey like this.

It gives her plenty of time to find her “why?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I’m hoping I’ll find out why I did it maybe at the end or somewhere along the way. But so far, it’s just the experience, I guess.”