10/ MAY 2020 THE RIDER Riding Out the Pandemic Rodeo
By Karen Dallimore Rosemarie Huxted, a 2003
graduate of Olds College in Al- berta, moved back to Ontario in 2005 to start her own business of coaching, training, and boarding horses. Her 200-acre farm is called RLH Equestrian, located
near Dalkeith, in the Ottawa re- gion.
Business has been good.
There wasn’t much she didn’t offer in lessons, from extreme cowboy, jumper and dressage, western pleasure, to reining and barrel racing, all with a huge focus on horsemanship. She also
offered training, from colt back- ing to fine tuning, both western and English. There were clinics, indoor and outdoor boarding, breeding, and sales. Then, on May 3, 2019,
Rosemarie Huxted lost her barn, several horses and 17 head of cattle in a barn fire. “It was a
complete loss of over $50K in tack and gear, as well as six of the barn’s key lesson/competitive horses including our up and com- ing breeding stallion, Bullseye.” It was a devastating blow
but she was determined to re- build.
As Rosemarie described,
“Months’ worth of sweat, tears, hard work, and huge community support has seen this project head down the back stretch to now be reaching the finish line, less than one year later!” They’re just fin- ishing staining the boards on 20 new box stalls in a new barn along with tack lockers, a wash stall and grooming stalls. Then, the COVID-19 pan-
demic struck. “Before COVID-19 hit we
I’ve been really missing
in-person, eye-contact coaching riders! The next best thing?
Let's watch a video of you and your horse performing as a team. I’ll target small trouble spots and suggest some doable fixes. And a homework plan for your next ride!
Or...
Let’s review last year’s horse show pattern, course or test, stride-by-stride, from a judge’s perspective.
Sharing the science of horse behaviour and learning.
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www.lindsaygriceridingcoach.com Secretary: Kit Bartle Kelly Lehman
Melanie Gray Shari Irwin
(519) 440-5941 (519) 807-2660 (519) 732-0263
were running full capacity; every time we would add a stall it would fill and a request for an- other would pop up,” said Rose- marie. There were fourteen boarders, four horses in for train- ing, and lessons on evenings and weekends. Five clinics were in the works; nine of her students were eying up qualifying for the Extreme Cowboy World Champi- onships in Texas in November 2020.
Suddenly, all of that has
changed. Since COVID-1919 hit they have lost five boarders. Some people lost their jobs over night, some moved their horses home to pasture, and the show horses that were on training? As Rosemarie says, “that has come to a slow steady “jog” as the western pleasure world would say!”
Lessons aren’t happening.
“They’re not allowed,” said Rosemarie, “and I’m glad to ac- tually have amazing clients who respect and understand that it’s for our own safety to help stop the spread of this virus.” Training has remained as
busy as ever though, with 5 horses in the barn for client train- ing. “We have found ways to adapt,” through the use of social media, videos, and photos to keep clients updated. The plans for Texas and the
dreams of their team going to the Extreme Cowboy World Champi- onships will have to wait, with the patient coach pointing to, “a
2020 Judges Committee (519) 372-2527
year to train, a year to grow, a year to develop before we will see that ride.” Since the COVID-19 re-
strictions, reliable essential serv- ice from farriers and vets has remained obtainable, so that also helps to keep the business run- ning. They also have a stockpile of supplies; they make our own hay so having a good inventory reduces that stress. Their biggest concern was
email:
melaniegraylifecoach@gmail.com email:
shari_irwin@hotmail.com email:
maddavery@gmail.com email:
drumbolady@hotmail.ca
2020 Sr. Judges
Cally Jo Fritz 21 Taylor Blvd., Elliot Lake, ON P5A 3H5 H: (226) 289-8563, C: (519) 280-8169 Email:
callygene@gmail.com
Melanie Gray 202011 Hwy 21, Owen Sound, ON N4K 5N7 (519) 372-2527,
melaniegraylifecoach@gmail.com
Shari Irwin 166 Gleasons Corner Road, Castleton, ON K0K 1M0. (905) 349-1092, Cell (905) 440-5941
shari_irwin@hotmail.com
Michelle Jones 537 Pothier Road, St. Charles, ON P0M 2W0 Home: (705) 867-1707 Cell: (705) 507-0124
Jamie Kuhl 899 10th St. W., Owen Sound, ON N4K 3S3. H: (226) 909-1447. C: (647) 290-6093 jamie@archlines .ca
Kelly Lehman 895893 Oxford Rd. 3,, Drumbo, ON N0J 1G0 C: (519) 807-2660. E:
maddavery@gmail.com
Website:
www.whao.org Celebrating 67 Years! Jr. Judges
Anne Marinacci 65 Swayze Court, Smithville, ON L0R 2A0 905-957-5619
Janet McClure 14156 Ten Mile Road R.R. #3, Ilderton, ON N0M 2A0 (519) 666-2482
janetmcclure1@gmail.com
janetmcclure1@gmail.com
Tom Saul 574 Valentina St., Petrolia, ON N0N 1R0 (519) 882-0958
tbsaul@outlook.com
Megan Sheppard 38 Rye Road, South River, ON P0A 1X0 (705) 492-2565, Cell (705) 492-2565
megandallaire@gmail.com
Kris Simpson 711 Middletown Rd., RR #2, Waterdown, ON L8B 1P7 (519) 831-7922
richlandshowhorses@gmail.com
Don Stauffer 9626 Wellington Rd. 14, P.O. Box 16, Conn, ON N0G 1N0 (226) 258-9206, Cell (519) 604-8864
thestauffers48@gmail.com
Robyn Storey 6-120 Dudhope Ave., Cambridge, ON N1R 4T7 (519) 620-9015, Cell: (519) 841-3934,
gatorrocks@hotmail.com
Brenda Thompson 284 Whitmore Dr., Waterloo, ON N2K 2N5 (519) 884-4050, Cell (519) 577-7320
bmctearnen@yahoo.ca
Mike Tucker 1581 Maple St. N., R.R. #4, Fenwick, ON L0S 1C0 (905) 892-5610, Cell (905) 984-1581
m.tucker@hotmail.ca
Dave Black 94 Concession 4 Road, Fisherville, ON N0A 1G0 C: 905 921 0359 Email:
diamondbquarterhorses@gmail.com
Lorie Duff 7651 County Rd. 10, Vankleek Hill, ON K0B 1R0 H; 613 867-0776, C: 613 867 0776 Email:
dufflorie@yahoo.com
Erin Fawcett 9 Strong Court, Brantford, ON N3R 7Y4 C: (519) 754-3526, H: (519) 753-0757 Email:
efawcett78@hotmail.com
Erin O’Drowsky 253 James St. N., St. Mary’s, ON N4X 1A5 H: (519) 284-0684, C: (226) 377-0244 Email:
eodrowsk@gmail.com
Inactive Judges John Ward
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obtaining bedding. It seemed that overnight there were no shavings left in sight and what one could find had jumped up to $8 a bag. She grabbed a semi-load like some would grab toilet paper, only to be faced with six police stops under strict travel restric- tions on what would usually be a simple run into Quebec. “We had to have our paperwork in order,” said Rosemarie. “Thank God for having our own transport to go get the load as well, as shipping fees were double the cost, as truckers don’t want to be on the roads, no places to eat, no places to even pull over and rest any- more for them.” She figures this might be just the beginning
for supply and demand struggles to come. “I feel as though the horse
industry is going to be hit hard, and we are going to realize that our sport is a luxury to most and will have to adapt to survive,” she predicts. The horses will un- doubtedly see more pasture time, allowing them to live a more ‘natural’ life for a while. She plans to remain closed to lessons for a while, even after restrictions have lifted, to remain healthy so she can focus on running her business. Once she can start to re- schedule, her offerings for clinics will be revised to one day events, keeping it simple and easy on the pocketbook. She has several months of training booked right now and offers stalls for lay-ups. In her experience, having the fa- cilities to offer these varied serv- ices is going to be key to remaining in business for long term.
Once again, like after the
fire, she will rebuild, making de- cisions one month at a time, doing what is best for the animals and the people to help ride out what she calls the, “pandemic rodeo.”
©2020 Words For Hire
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