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Pacific & Prairie Horse Journal Magazine features VTEA
Pacific & Prairie Horse Journal Magazine featured an article on VTEA in its December 2009/January 2010 issue. The article was written by Paula Farr, VTEA Assistant Instructor.
Here are some of the exciting developments at VTEA that Paula described in her article, together with images that were also published:
- VTEA is a very unique therapeutic riding centre. We offer half hour private lessons with our physiotherapist and our CanTRA certified Instructors.
- We are located on 35 acres of rolling countryside with a wonderful 160ft x 40ft indoor riding arena. We are currently working on our new Sensory Integration Trail (Memory Lane Trail) for our riders to enjoy next Spring. This trail goes through the woods, over a bridge and up and down the rolling hills.
- All new riders are assessed by Pippa Hodge prior to entering the program. Pippa is a CanTRA Coach and Examiner and has given workshops all across Canada, the US and Europe. She is a founding member of the American Hippotherapy Association. Pippa is also President of Hippotherapy Canada and one of the founding members of VTEA.
- Julie Matijiw is our Head Instructor, Madelynn Nield is a CanTRA Assistant Instructor and Paula Farr, Gillian Schmitz and Alison Barr are registered with CanTRA and working on their Assistant Instructor certification.
- We have 13 horses and ponies at the moment that act as our equine therapists. Our smallest being "Luke" our Fjord/Arab cross and our largest being "Big Ben" (our resident gentle giant), he is a 16.1hh Percheron.
- We have increased our ridership over the past year from 45 to 75 riders. We offer three riding sessions per year - Fall, Winter and Spring. During July we offer rider camps and volunteers camps. Starting January 2010 we will also be offering semi private lessons.
- We currently have 75 volunteers assisting with lessons each week. We have recently implemented a Therapeutic Riding Assistant training program. This is an 8 week course offered free of charge to our volunteers on Wednesday evenings and taught by our three Assistant Instructors in training.
- We held our Summer Horse Show this past June and our riders were able to participate in various hack classes and dressage tests.
- VTEA participated in the Lower Mainland Quarter Horse Bazaar in March, the Cloverdale Rodeo in May, the RCMP Musical Ride at Thunderbird Park in July and the Langley Good Times Cruise-In during September.
- The Annual Pub Night/Silent Auction was held on Saturday, November 21st at Jimy Mac's Pub in Langley. There were some amazing items that had been donated from all over BC for this event, including river rafting excursions, whale watching adventures, an all inclusive ranch weekend for two, a 4 night cruise for two, golf packages, etc. (Update: It was a great success and raised over $4,500.)
All in all it has been a great year and 2010 looks to be even better.
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