‘Crazy cowboy’ returns following eight-year journey
CALGARY — An eight-year journey that led cowboy Filipe Masetti Leite across the Americas on horseback ended on Friday as he rode into Calgary’s Stampede Park in tears.
The Brazilian-born long rider, who moved to Calgary as a child, is the third person in history to achieve this feat. He saddled up during the centennial Stampede celebration eight years ago as an “unknown cowboy” and has returned as this year’s honorary parade marshal.
“I’m just a cowboy who’s not willing to give up,” Masetti Leite said, flooded with emotions.
“This is the biggest moment of my life.”
His arrival, on the same day the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth was supposed to kick off, marked a milestone moment in the 33-year-old’s life — a dream come true.
Masetti Leite travelled more than 25,000 kilometres from Canada to Brazil, through South America to Ushuaia in Argentina before setting off from Alaska last year with the goal of returning to Calgary by the start of Stampede. The final 800-kilometre leg was completed Friday and celebrated by an intimate — and socially distanced — group on the Stampede grounds.
He hopes his journey inspires others to “cowboy up” and achieve their dreams.
“Fear is a monster that lives in our mind and if we put it aside, we can do great things,” said Masetti Leite. “Cowboy up — it means you’re scared to death but you climb on that bull anyways; you saddle your horse.”
He said there were moments in his journey where he was scared or thought about quitting. He “witnessed a guy try to kill his wife with five gunshots,” stayed in the house of powerful drug lords, climbed mountains he wasn’t sure he would get over, was followed by a bear and worried for his animals.
“Of course I was scared but that’s what is so awesome about this culture we live in. The first lesson we learn is that quitting is not an option,” said the cowboy.
Many said his journey speaks to something bigger, especially as people across the globe are losing their lives to COVID-19 and thousands of others are suffering.
“You have super high moments and you have super low moments but what I can tell you is that the high moments helped me keep going, but the lessons came from the low moments,” Masetti Leite. “Better days are coming. We’re going to ride again.”