An exciting new coaching certification program is now available for English coaches in Canada. The Competition Coach Specialist is a highly accessible certification program designed for those working with intermediate or more advanced riders in furthering their students’ basic riding, horsemanship and safety skills, as well as advancing competition experience from provincial to national level competitions. “The specialist program is really important because it fills the gap between the Competition Coach and High Performance Coach,” explains Grant Field, chair of the National Coaching Committee and…
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Less than a year after ground was broken at the site of the new Essa Agriplex, the 480-stall horse show facility just outside the city of Barrie has begun welcoming riders. The facility is situated on 100 acres of land in Thornton, near Highway 400 and Highway 27, and features two jumper rings and four hunter rings, each with its own warm-up area. All competition rings feature sand footing on an engineered, tile-drained base and measure 9,000 square feet. The star attraction will be the…
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Ontario has a breeding and racing program that has become one of the most successful and envied in the world, but it’s an industry on the verge of a crisis with the potential to affect every person who calls Ontario home. “It would be a fallacy to consider this an issue relegated solely to the backstretch of Ontario’s racetracks,” says Dianne Graham, the executive director of the Ontario Equestrian Federation. “The OLG Slots at the Racetrack Program has not been a subsidy program – a…
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by Dianne Graham, OEF Executive Director There has been much written regarding the plight of the horse racing industry in Ontario since the Drummond report announcement, including the OEF response “Silence is Not an Option.” Every affected professional group, association and municipality has voiced its concern regarding the far reaching ramifications from the loss of slot machine revenue and its effects on the continued viability for racing in this province. You may be asking, “How does this possibly affect me? I have nothing to do…
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Horse enthusiasts kicked up their heels on Saturday, June 2 at the fourth annual Toronto Horse Day, a free public event designed to educate people of all ages about riding and give them the opportunity to meet horses up close and personal. “Toronto Horse Day was bigger and better than ever this year,” says Allan Ehrlick, the president of the Ontario Equestrian Federation, which hosts the event in partnership with the Riding Academy at the Horse Palace, Toronto Police Service’s Mounted Unit and Greenhawk Harness…
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On May 29, 2012 the OEF was proud to promote the 4th Annual Toronto Horse Day on CP24′s Animal Housecalls.  On hand were Daniel Fathers, host of Canada’s Greatest Know It All who is also the emcee of Horse Day who was joined by Joker, a stunt/western horse, as well as the Mounted Unit’s Constable Michael Mulhall, riding Viscount, and Constable Marten Engle, riding Dundas.  CLICK HERE  to watch the feature in part 4.  

May 20, 2012 by Mary Ormsby, TORONTO STAR Horse jumper Heather Young whispers some encouraging words as she prepares to mount her horse Norman, a former race horse that had to have one of his eyes removed after an infection. Norman’s bloodlines flow from a who’s who of thoroughbred horse-racing royalty. Nearctic, Northern Dancer, Nijinsky. Magnificent champions, magnificent sires. Canadian stallions whose coveted mojo has souped up and controlled the world’s thoroughbred gene pool with speed and daring for 50 years — and counting. So…
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Jump Canada is pleased to announce the young athletes who have been named recipients of the Jump Canada Bursary for 2011. In recognition of the difficulty that young riders face as they strive to continue their education while also competing at high levels of equestrian sport, Jump Canada developed the Bursary program for athletes aged 14-21 in the hunter, jumper and equitation divisions.  Since its inception in 2002, the Jump Canada Bursary Program has been made possible by a leadership donation of $5,000 from the…
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WE NEED YOUR OPINION! Give your opinion about concussion and you could win an Apple iPad. Sports-related brain injury and concussion is a timely and important topic for many Canadians. We encourage you to participate in an independent survey to better understand Canadians’ opinions about concussion. Your participation will help to shape a national program to raise awareness and reduce the incidence of sports-related concussion. It will take no more than 10 minutes of your time to complete the online survey, and you could win…
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Rebecca Howard and Selena O’Hanlon led the Canadian team at the 2012 CCI /CIC Jersey Fresh Three Day Event, held May 10–13, in Allentown, New Jersey, USA by placing first and third in their respective divisions. The competition also featured top ten performances by Hawley Bennett-Awad, Michele Mueller, Jessica Phoenix and Shandiss Wewiora, Fresh off their second place finish at the CIC 3* The Fork,  Norwood NC, at the beginning of April, Howard of Salmon Arm, BC, and her 2010 World Equestrian Games partner Riddle…
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