Many youth dream of becoming horse industry professionals — training horses, coaching riders, managing a stable or riding professionally at top level. Significant barriers stymie those attempting to pursue success, regardless of their talent and enthusiasm. There’s no streamlined path to follow that develops the needed horsemanship, business knowledge, training, and coaching skills required of professional riders, barn managers, and coaches ..read more

I learned the fundamentals of equitation to the repetitive tune of Heads up! Heels down! while trotting around and around the riding school arena. I acquired the hows of riding in those early years, but my whys were typically answered with tradition: That’s just the way it’s done. Thinking back, if I’d grasped the reasoning behind the technical skills of riding, I’d have been more motivated to persevere in those drills without stirrups ..read more

The Equestrian Canada (EC) Coach Status program is part of a collective commitment to safety for human and equine athletes and excellence in instruction and coaching. Standards for earning and maintaining coaching designations help protect athletes, coaches, and our industry ..read more

When it comes to cantering, riders seem to divide in two camps. In one camp are those who favour it above all else, while the other camp includes those who find it scary or unpleasant. I would like to add a third camp: riders who understand the unparalleled physiological benefits of cantering their horses. Beyond the obvious cardiovascular conditioning, cantering can improve muscle tone, symmetry, and flexibility more than other gaits. Let me explain this further, in addition to offering some tips and guidelines ..read more

Fall fairs, circuit championships, and club awards banquets signal the end of another horse show season. So how did it go? Did your shows, rodeos, or competitive trail rides meet your expectations? For the majority of horse owners, the answer to this question will likely be no. Stuff happens. And so we look toward the next year. But with chilly fall and winter weather looming, we all need some goals to motivate us to get off the couch and out to the arena on those cold nights ..read more

Keys to an effective horse training session. I’ve trained a lot of horses. After nailing up my sign as a “professional horse trainer” several decades ago, I learned quickly that overhead is high in the horse business so you’d better make some hay if you’re going to pay your bills. Consequently, I rode many horses each day, breaking young ones and tuning up show horses ..read more

“Show jumping is a sport of millimetres. You can’t wing it.” — Tiffany Foster ..read more

There are many reasons, or rather, excuses for not wearing riding helmets. Yet research shows that a properly fitted, safety-approved riding helmet can drastically reduce the risk of head injury. When a rider falls, the head is usually the first thing to impact the ground. The human skull can be shattered on impacts of 7 to 10 kilometers per hour, and horses gallop at over 60 kph. According to the Brain Injury Alliance of Kentucky, three out of every five equestrian accident deaths are caused by brain injuries, and there is four times the risk of mortality for non-helmeted riders who become in ..read more

Head injuries are the most common reason for admission to hospital or death among riders. Sobering statistics reveal the high percentage of equine-related accidents resulting in traumatic brain injury, and helmets have been associated with reducing the risk of traumatic brain injury by as much as 50 percent. Yet many riders still do not wear a helmet ..read more

The Fraser Valley Hunt Club has been organizing “drag scent” hunts in British Columbia every fall and winter for almost 50 years. A local horse and hunt enthusiast hosts the opening hunt for the club each fall from his farm on the upper slopes of Mount Elphinstone on the Sunshine Coast. This story begins in early November when the core group of dedicated hunters arrive from the Fraser Valley by ferry with several trailers of horses and one of hounds ..read more