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Second Annual Health, Harmony and Horses Conference a Success!

April 27, 2005

Edmonton, Alberta --- Exclusive to Alberta Equine ...On-Line --- (Due to the limited space in this news story, a special gallery of photos is available through the link at the end of the article.) - The second annual "Health, Harmony and Horses" conference was held March 12th and 13th at Esprix Stables in Stony Plain, near Edmonton, Alberta. The event was a great success, with over two hundred people in attendance over the weekend, nearly double last year's numbers. Those in attendance, in addition to local registrants, travelled from Fort MacMurray, Calgary, Saskatchewan and as far away as Fort Nelson, BC. Event organizer Sonja Christopher conceived of the event as a charity fundraiser. Last year proceeds went to the Make-A-Wish Foundation; this year's recipient charity was the Mitchell Centre for Equine Rescue and Education.

The event is a great way for horseowners to get practical, detailed, and even hands-on access to a wide range of information from various professionals in the field. Sessions were run concurrently in the arena and in the lecture area, so participants had a choice of topics to listen to at any given time. This reporter had more than one dilemma as many of the sessions were not to be missed!

A broad range of topics was covered and the overall quality of presentations was very high. Horse health was a popular and always relevant topic. Presentations on cutting-edge veterinary practices included "The Horse's Back" by Dr. Sean Archibald, who brought in part of a demonstration skeleton and talked about new methods of detecting and healing back pain; "Nutrition 101" by Dr. Susan Novak, Provincial Horse Specialist with Alberta Agriculture; a talk on suspensory injuries by Dr. Gareth Fitch; and information on thermography and shock wave therapy by Dr. Herb Herbers. Complementary therapies were covered in talks on herbal remedies and traditional chinese medicine for horses by Arno Leblic; and Marilyn Buan's presentation on "Specialized Kinesiology”. Basic hoof care and therapeutic shoeing rounded out the health sessions with farrier Tom Kindjerski, manager of the Canadian Farriers Team.

Several presentations focused on the human side of the relationship. Equine Wise's duo, psychologist Terry Wilton and equine specialist Angie Jensen started the arena presentations Saturday with a demonstration of a group exercise. Using horses as facilitators, they teach groups and families about communication. April Clay, noted sports psychologist, gave riders tips on improving their mental strategies for competition and everyday training. Candace Cox gave participants a stunning introduction to the Alexander Technique, a unique system of body-awareness therapy that can help both riders and non-riders overcome habitual and even harmful body postures. Cox later paired up with Marv Amlin and four volunteer riders in the arena to show how this technique can improve position in the saddle.

There was also a good bit of traditional horsemanship advice. Cherrie Pavao-Merrill shared her experience as a judge during her presentation on getting ready for your first show; this included show ring appearance and etiquette. She also tabled a discussion on training and problem-solving techniques. Bert Wort from Tudor Tack gave an update on new saddle-fit technologies and showed how to take an accurate measure of your horse's back to take to the store when buying a new saddle. Rounding out Sunday with a bit of lighter fare, equine photographer Johane Janelle gave tips on the basics of good horse photography.

This year's proceeds totalled $2022.65 and went to benefit the Mitchell Center for Equine Rescue and Education. The Mitchell Centre's mission is to "rescue reuseable and young horses from needless slaughter, and return them to the equestrian public." The Mitchell Centre stresses that most horses fated to go to slaughter are not old, crippled, or wild. Many end up there as a result of human error. In three years of operation, the centre has had 294 horses rescued, 265 horses placed in homes, 3 horses humanely euthanized, and 2 donated to a charity fundraiser. As a larger part of their future mandate, the Centre also focuses on education for horse owners and the broader public in hopes of preventing some of the problems they are trying to solve. The Centre plans to do this in part with "The Centre Club," mounting challenged children on rescued horses for gymkhana competition in open shows throughout Alberta. To learn more about the Mitchell Centre, go to www.themitchellcentre.ab.ca

Overall, this year's Health, Harmony, Horses event was a great success and Ms. Christopher should be commended for putting together such a valuable, informative, and charitable event. We can't wait to see the speaker's lineup for next year. Sonja is open to speaker/presentation suggestions for the 2006 Conference; you can contact her at (780)922-0752.

Thank you to our sponsors:
Masterfeeds
Mopsy Tucks
A Scrapper's Delight
Unifeed
Maria McDowell Massage Therapy
UFA
The Tudor Tack Shoppe Ltd.
W4 Health and Equine Therapy Centre - Sandy Wittynek
Ascendant Books Ltd.
Spruce Grove Feeds

For a gallery of images relating to this story follow this link!

To view coverage of the 2004 conference see this story.

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