Hello! We are the Lares Family, owners of the Flying L Ranch. Nestled in the pristine Coast Mountains of Nemiah Valley we operate a fully functioning horse and hay ranch. Since moving in 2011; Michael, Nicole, Lara, and Dylan, have handled the highs and lows of living off-grid and built a legacy of determination in the Canadian wilderness.

Before making the big move to Canada, we lived a very different lifestyle in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, USA. After developing our North Carolina property from the ground up for over a decade, we needed to make a big change for the sake of Nicole’s health.

In 2005 just after the birth of our son, Dylan, Nicole suffered a life changing accident while in the hospital. After years of confronting medical challenges as a result of the accident, we needed to find a place more suitable for Nicole’s healing process. We initially ruled Canada out in its entirety. However, after our extensive search left us with one option, Nemiah Valley, we knew we needed to seize this opportunity.

In 2011, we were ready to leave behind all semblance of our comforts and move to the beautiful but rugged wilderness of British Columbia. We slowly made the ranch our home and began the grueling process of homesteading off-grid.

In 2019, we were able to share a snippet of our experience with the world in the Canadian docu-series The Wild Ones, also known as Breaking Wild outside of Canada. It is available for streaming on Horse.tv and regularly airs on APTN.

After years of learning curves and constant evolution, we have grown into a sanctuary for the wild Qayus horses in need. We saw the calling to assist the local indigenous population with the care of their horses and stepped in when necessary, but now with the help of our supporters via Instagram we can go above and beyond to aid in the care of these majestic wild horses.

Despite starting off with little to no knowledge of ranching or the horse world, living on a hay ranch opened the door. We learned how to hay our fields with old farm equipment left by previous owners, and were gifted our first horses by the local indigenous community, the Xeni Gwet’in. As the years went by, we learned many difficult lessons about the minds of horses and what they truly need to survive.

Check out our Instagram, Youtube, and Patreon to join the team and learn more about our journey with the wild horses!