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South Cooking Lake Trail Days

August 20, 2005

South Cooking Lake, AB --- Last Saturday, August 20, 2005 saw the entire community of South Cooking Lake celebrating their fourth annual South Cooking Lake Trail Days. This event was a family fun day, with lots of free activities for both kids and adults. Volunteers are key for this event, taking care of face painting, playing in the band, supervising the playground, getting folks together to tour gardens in wagons, and making sure that all enjoy the musical ride and pony rides. The Trail Days started as a replacement for the old South Cooking Lake Rodeo. Deb and Keith Cameron, owners of the Cameron Store, thought it would be great to bring back a family oriented event to replace the rodeo. Their efforts over the past several years have been recognized this year as they were awarded the Pride of Strathcona Award for helping to make the county a great place to live and work.

Diana Balbar is no stranger to volunteering, having been honoured as a Pride of Strathcona Award for Community recipient in 2003. She continues to work hard volunteering for Strathcona County, and has been involved in the South Cooking Lake Trail Days musical ride for the past three years. “I’ve been in charge of the arena entertainment for the past four years”, she says as we interviewed her on her Strathcona County bookmobile route, “and the first year, three other clubs sent the riders for the musical ride. It’s hard to find people in the summer, though, with lots of people on holidays, so I took over the musical ride as well.”

This hard-working volunteer rides with her group – her students and some of their mothers - every Friday night from May to October. The eight horses and riders really gear up in the six weeks before the event. “The group are so committed, gung ho - we go all out,” Balbar laughs, “We like to have a different ride each year, different music, and even different riders. This year we had four new riders – with a good level of riding skills. Performing the musical ride can be intimidating for both the riders and the horses. If the horses are not stable mates, passing each other in close contact can be a problem for them, so it helps if we know what we’re doing, and that’s where the skills come in handy!

Balbar adds that the ride really helps to build riding skills, especially in the central and outer positions. The group performs moves such as pinwheels and the swinging gate, a real challenge for both horse and rider. Junior instructor Tisa created the choreography for the ride, which was performed by Amberly on “Navajo”, Andrea on “Merit”, Alex on “Sugar”, Sara on “Fancy”, Haley on “Azurada”, Doug on “Mardi”, Sylvia on “Sky” and Sierra on “Andy”.

The riders worked hard from 1 pm to 4 pm, alternating the musical ride with pony rides for the children. “It was very rewarding to take part as a volunteer”, says Balbar, “It’s a really fun activity!”

Balbar does not hesitate to offer to help others who may be interested in starting a similar musical ride event. You may call her if you need information or advice. Her phone number is 780 922-3757.

Sue Borland for Alberta Equine…On-Line.

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