Wow, was it ever great to get out of the indoor arena! Even with the addition of the new footing during spring break, the four walls have felt a little all consuming lately. We combined two of the lesson groups Wednesday evening and made our way down to the local arena to practice riding outside of our normal environment. The girls and their horses handled it well and we had a great time! The horses were definitely feeling the Spring air and had lots of energy and animation in their gaits... yes, even Bart! The weather was perfect, company was even better and can't wait to do it again! Here's some photos from our evening! Enjoy!

Hi!  We are Jordan and Kaija, two 14-year-old, grade nine, Nellie McClung students.  Our passion is horses.  Jordan has a nine-year-old mare named Cleo, and Kaija’s ten-year-old gelding is named Idol.  As part of the Nellie McClung Program, we have participated in our school's Science Fair for the past two years.  Last year, we had one of the top projects in grade eight, so we were invited to go to the Edmonton Regional Science Fair!   What an honour!  We were ecstatic when we placed third in our division (Life Sciences).  We are super excited to get this year’s science fair on the road!

As part of this year’s Science Fair, we were fortunate enough to borrow an Electrocardiogram (ECG) from the Millcreek Animal Hospital.  The ECG measures heart rate variability (HRV), and we are going to see if horse body language affects their HRV.   Horses use body language to communicate with others in their herd.  There are three types of body language energies they use:  pushing, drawing and blocking.  In general, pushing is considered a more aggressive form of body language in the horse world because they are telling another horse to move away from them.  Drawing is a passive energy, allowing other horses to come to them.   Blocking, which is neither passive or aggressive, is simply telling the other horse not to come any further into their personal space.  

We hypothesize that when we use pushing energy with a horse, their heart rate will speed up and their HRV will become more irregular because of the adrenaline that is released from the aggressive behaviour.  We believe that drawing will have the opposite effect of pushing.  It will make the horse feel safe and calm, lowering their heart rate and making their HRV more regular.

  During each trial of our experiment, we hooked up 10 horses (5 mares and 5 geldings), one at a time, to the ECG.  Kaija would draw each horse to her for a couple steps, then hold up her hand to block the horse from coming any closer to her.  She would then energetically push the horse by pointing to the middle of the horse's chest to make them back up.  She did all of this body language without touching the horse, using verbal cues or pulling on the lead rope.  While Kaija communicated with the horses using each of these three body language techniques, Jordan kept detailed records, monitored the ECG machine and video camera, and made sure that everything was running smoothly.

We want to thank Caitlin and all the horsey owners and their horses who helped support us and let us use their awesome horses!  If anyone is interested in seeing the results of our project, we invite you to attend the Nellie McClung Science Fair at Avonmore School, on January 24th, 2013, between 10:30 AM and 2:00 PM.  Thank you for your interest!  We hope to see you there!

Christmas came early for Clara this year!
Clara has been riding at Cadence Creek Equine for a couple of years. She started in our Kinder Kids program and has progressed up to a level 2.

There has been talk of a horse for a first horse for Clara for a year or so, but between myself and her family, we wanted to wait until she was a little bit more independent with all of her horsemanship & riding skills. It was apparent this fall that she was ready, so we began the search to find her a match made in heaven!

We ended up interviewing a couple of different horses, but none of them had the wow factor or held Clara's interest beyond the meet & greet. I always ask my students to go home and sleep on their thoughts before making a decision, after all, its not one you can take lightly!

                                                                   And then we found Wyatt!

Wyatt has been shown quite extensively in the Arabian show circuit, but has slowed down a little as he was finding the full show circuit a little strenuous for his tastes! Clara & her mom Trisia were in love! Trisia decided this is the one, but kept it a surprise from Clara for a couple of weeks!

On Dec. 18, we told Clara we had another horse at the barn we wanted her to interview after lessons were done that evening. Trisia came early to welcome Wyatt off the trailer ride from Okotoks. We got him settled in his beautifully decorated stall and waited for Clara to arrive! (see photo below)

She didn't believe it was Wyatt to start and then when she did, didn't believe he was hers! It was so awesome to see this wonderful family find such an amazing horse. Can't wait to see how the relationship grows and all you get to experience together!

Halloween is my favorite time of year! And we sure know how to have a good time around here in October!
On Sunday October 28th, 2012 our students joined together to participate in a fun Halloween themed horse show! We of course had our regular pleasure and equitation classes, but there were some theme classes, too! One of them was Spooky Dressage where riders had to create their own interpretive pattern of: a witches hate, cauldron, bat, broom and pumpkin! And who can have a Halloween show without costume classes? Our lesson horses were good sports being dressed up in their .... interesting.... attire! Have a look below to see the fun!

Cadence Creek Equine also played host again this year for the Aurora Youth Horse Associations Halloween Penny Carnival Fundraiser. While the turnout wasn't as great this year, the Youth still managed to raise some money for the club and have a really good time! We had a bouncy castle/slide combo this year that I don't think anyone wanted to stop playing on!

Can't wait 'til next year!