FEBRUARY 2022 THE RIDER /13


2022 Ontario Trail Riders Association Board of Directors


President Sonja Wyss 705-434-7947 info@barefoot-saddlecanada.ca


Secretary/ Promotions/Advertisement Tina Kerst 416-907-6051 tiamiadart@gmail.coma


Treasurer/Membership Elaine Wiesner 519-940-1710 elaine.a.wiesner@gmail.com


Area Representative Elaine Wiesner 519-940-1710 elaine.a.wiesner@gmail.com


Directors at Large Cathy Togeretz, 519-465-1758, cathytogeretz@sympatico.ca Yvonne Taylor, yvonnet@live.ca Sandy Salazar Lynn Robershaw


9045 20 Sideroad, Tosorontio, Lisle, ON L0M 1M0 • www.ontariotrailriders.ca


OTRA and its members represent the equestrian trail user with Ontario Equestrian and Equestrian Canada. We welcome your membership to help support the voice of OTRA on your behalf. Visit our Facebook Page


OTRA News February 2022 2022 OTRA MEMBERSHIP CALL - In


light of the changes in health regulations earlier this year our current Board of Directors has EX- TENDED the deadline for our ‘EARLY BIRD’ Registration to February 28th!


The draw for the prize (valued at $200!) will


still take place at the Annual General Meeting, April 17th, 2022. Registration information and forms can be found on our website, with the option of also reg- istering electronically. At this point, I would like to extend a warm welcome to ALL the current members who have


signed up so far this year! We look forward to seeing the many former as well as the great number of NEW faces at the rides. Keep checking for regular updates of our scheduled 2022 rides on our website www.ontariotrailriders.com, as well as on our Face- book public and member’s pages! We have also added some new faces to our


Board of Directors, and I would like to welcome Yvonne, Lynn, and Sandy as Directors-at-Large. Their experience and knowledge will be an asset to our club and we are looking forward to their contri- butions and new ideas and continue moving forward as an Association.


The Ontario Trail Riders Association Inc, estab- lished in 1970, is an equestrian organization which promotes recreational trail riding and the creation, development, preservation and safe use of trails.


Requirements: If a non-mem- ber, please see ride organizer and pay day fee: all participants must sign a waiver and show proof of liability insurance.


Equine Guelph declares


February Colic Prevention Education Month


Guelph ON, February 1, 2022 – Equine Guelph has announced that the month of February, Canada’s coldest month, will be Colic Prevention Education Month. The next four weeks will be dedicated to in- creasing awareness of ways for caregivers to decrease the risk of colic in their horses. Although horses can be afflicted with gut pain in any season, the cold weather months are a challenging time – especially with impaction-related colic. Here are three simple rules for pre-


venting winter colic in your horse: 1. in- crease forage in diet, 2. keep your horse hydrated and 3. maximize turnout and ex- ercise.


With these easy tips in mind for the


cold weather months, check out Equine Guelph’s highly popular online healthcare tool, the Colic Risk Rater (http://www.the- horseportal.ca/ColicTool), an interactive experience customized to your situation. Answer a simple questionnaire about your horse’s current management and watch the interactive dial move depending on your answer. Then, try redoing by changing your answers, using the three simple rules for preventing winter colic. You will be sur- prised to witness the rater’s dial move away from high colic risk as well as noticing the difference in your before and after scores! Now that you have seen firsthand


what these changes mean in reducing the risk of winter colic, the following explains why these three rules are so important.


Rule #1 – Increase Forage in Diet Forage is critical for hind gut fer-


menters. An 1,100 pound horse should con- sume 2.0% to 2.5 % of their body weight per day in forage (22 to 28 lbs). Horses only produce saliva when they chew, there- fore feeding forage ad-lib will increase the production of saliva – one of the best buffers for the horses’ digestive system and the most effective way to reduce the chance of ulcers and impaction colic.


Rule #2 – Keep your Horse Hydrated While on the topic of impaction, 24/7


access to clean water is always imperative to keep all that forage moving. Remember, horses tend to drink less in the winter and impactions usually form with dry feed. February is typically Canada’s coldest month – with water in buckets freezing within 6-12 hours of filling – so be sure your horse doesn’t become dehydrated due to a frozen water bucket situation.


Rule #3 – Maximize Turnout and Exer- cise


Keep moving! Horses are not hu-


Send in all your news for the next issue of The Rider!


mans; they are trickle feeders designed to graze up to 18 hours a day while travelling 16 kilometres or more a day, while satisfy- ing their need to feed. The bottom line is that a horse who is in a stall for most of the day is more prone to colic than one who is turned out. Many stable designers are thinking outside the box and developing track systems that encourage horses to move around in order to access resources.


Improved motility of the digestive tract is just one of the health benefits. Horses in consistent exercise routines


such as school horses have been shown to be at a lower risk of colic. A change in ac- tivity level (frequency, duration or inten- sity) can increase the risk of colic. It is no coincidence that changes in diet and sta- bling often occur at the same time as changes in activity, which can also affect your horse’s colic risk. The Colic Risk Rater (www.The-


HorsePortal.ca/ColicTool) is available on Equine Guelph’s education platform, The- HorsePortal.ca. Kindly sponsored by CapriCMW Insurance Services Ltd, the in- valuable tool takes 10 minutes to complete, not only calculating your horse’s risk for colic, but provides a downloadable print out of prevention tips. “I’d like to encourage everyone to


visit or revisit the Colic Risk Rater tool on The Horse Portal,” says Mike King, na- tional


lead of equine programs at


CapriCMW Insurance Services Ltd. “We can think of no better risk management tool to prevent colic than education. This free tool and the Gut Health & Colic Prevention course offered by Equine Guelph are well worth the investment.” The next Gut Health & Colic Preven-


tion online short course scheduled will be a special offering exclusive to the racing in- dustry and FREE for the first 150 Standard- bred Canada members that register. For future offerings of the general course, stay tuned to TheHorsePortal.ca. Students of Equine Guelph’s Gut


Health and Colic Prevention course are often surprised at the difference in their score on the Colic Risk Rater from Unit one (where they first participate) and the end of the course when they retake the in- teractive questionnaire. Until the next course, get started


today with the totally free Colic Risk Rater (www.TheHorsePortal.ca/ColicTool). This ounce of prevention could save horse own- ers thousands of dollars in cure and help them avoid the number one killer of horses, Colic!


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