Filipe Masetti Leite, 33, who grew up in Canada and wants to become a Canadian citizen, is to finish his 3,400-kilometre journey by horse from Alaska to Calgary on Friday.
Felipe Masetti, a Brazilian cowboy who has been riding from Alaska to Calgary and who has also been chosen as the parade marshal for the Calgary Stampede, rides his pony Smokey as pack pony Mack follows along near Waiparous Village, Alta. WAIPAROUS VILLAGE -- Filipe Masetti Leite stops for a break from another long day in the saddle on his year-long trek encountering bugs, bears, buffalo and bad weather.
Despite the cancellation, Masetti Leite was named the event's official parade marshal. He is to be greeted by an escort of Stampede officials and Mounties on horseback, who will then ride with him to a small ceremony at the city's Stampede grounds. It's not his first journey as a long rider, a term used for an equestrian who has gone more than 1,600 continuous kilometres in a single journey.
Masetti Leite, who moved with his family to Calgary when he was nine, later grew up in Toronto. He says he was inspired to become a long rider by Aime Tschiffely, a Swiss school teacher who rode 16,000 kilometres alone from Buenos Aires to New York City in 1925 and wrote about his experiences.
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