The Cowgirl Project-Lillian Ainley Burchill
Mabel Victoria Ainley Strang next to her beautiful horse.
Wolseley, Saskatchewan, Canada
Lillian breeds registered Icelandic horses. She started importing them from Iceland in 2014. But what really hooked me was her family story. Her people homesteaded around the Big Muddy in southern Saskatchewan starting in the early 1900s. The Ainley brothers—Hank, Fred, and Alex—imported one of the first Arabian stallions into that area and bred him to their mares. They moved horses by horseback and rail to their ranches. Horses weren’t a hobby, they were survival, status, and livelihood.
And that’s where I felt that little jolt of connection.
Because my own family immigrated just outside of Vermilion, Alberta. They also brought with them an Arabian stallion. To my family he was a prized animal, one that mattered. A horse like that wasn’t just beautiful it was foundational. So much of life back then depended on the strength and quality of your herd.
The initial stages of “Here’s To Her”
So when Lillian sent me photos of Mabel Victoria Ainley Strang standing beside this absolutely stunning horse, wearing beautiful decorative tack, I didn’t just see a pretty image. I saw the pride she had in the horse she stood next to. almost, as if to say,, “We built this. We cared for this. This horse carries our story.”
And honestly? I feel like we still feel a pride like that today. We still brush a horse a little longer before a big day. We still admire a strong neck and good feet. We still take quiet pride in what stands in our pasture.
I feel lucky to share this little story and photo and that’s exactly why The Cowgirl Project exists.
It’s about honouring women—past and present—who work, endure, lead, and love this life with their whole heart .And it’s about making sure women like Lillian and Mabel aren’t just background characters in someone else’s western story.
When I paint her, I’m not just painting a woman with horses. I’m painting a line that runs from Iceland to Saskatchewan.
From Vermilion to the Big Muddy. From imported Arabian stallions to Icelandic horses galloping across open land.
I’m painting the through-line of women who helped build the world as we know it today.
And maybe the reason her story hit me the way it did is because it reminded me—again—that this life isn’t something we accidentally stumbled into.
It’s in us.
It’s been in us for generations.
And I think there’s something really beautiful about seeing that on canvas.