Horse Council BC would like to thank everyone who was part of this great weekend! 

Fantastic Speakers at the 2013 HCBC Equine Education Conference!

 Here is what some of our attendees thought:

"The Conference exceeded my expectations! I'm a pretty careful person with how I spend my time and money, but this event was worth every minute and cent - the speakers were excellent, topics relevant, and enthusiasm high. The conference offered a focus on education and knowledge, nicely complimenting other equine events in our Province . The presentation of awards on the Saturday night were an opportunity for our community to celebrate and give recognition. My first time to attend and I am already looking forward to next year." Ybo Plante, President, Back Country Horsemen of BC

“Well-organized array of presentations that could be applied by the backyard horse-keeper or the focussed competitor - each presenter was extremely knowledgeable, and interesting to listen to, as well as open to individual chats! I was able to take their information to my day to day horse care and health, and to my endurance riding. -  Do it again!  And loved the lunch!” June Melhuish, President, Endurance Rider Association of BC

Many horse enthusiasts and industry professionals attended Horse Council BC’s third Equine Education Conference held at the Coast Kamloops Hotel and Convention on January 19th and 20th 2013. The Equine Education Conference gave BC horse owners and riders the opportunity to hear some of the world’s leading experts speak on topics of importance to every equine enthusiast such as deworming, conformation, conditioning, the language of horses and more!

Among the headliners was the internationally renowned Dr. Deb Bennett who spoke on conformation as well as about what makes horses tick. Dr. Bennett was an incredibly passionate and knowledgeable speaker about both her topics and wowed the audience with her direct no-nonsense approach.

Dr. Dennis Sigler from Texas A&M University spoke about conditioning the equine athlete, showing his intense passion for the subject. Conference attendees absorbed his incredible presentation about the importance of nutrition, footing surfaces, and training of an equine athlete. He presented the latest research findings on fitness and conditioning that was perhaps new to many who attended and very well received.

Dr. Sid Gustafson hails from Montana and is one of Equine Guelph’s key lecturer’s for their on- line Equine Science Certificate Program spoke about the “Language of Horses” (download the full PDF presentation! ) and how they communicate with each other, their outside world and their human partners. His presentation was very knowledgeable and a lot of fun to watch as he used lots of video, photos and real world examples to explain and prove his points. Dr. Gustafson also stressed the importance of horses needing “horse friends, forage and locomotion” to be healthy mentally and physically.

Dr. Juan Samper, an incredibly knowledgeable and talented reproduction vet from BC presented an excellent seminar related to why mares don’t become pregnant and treatment options to ensure successful breeding. Juan is well published author on reproduction and travels all over the world teaching clinics, seminars and helping world renowned breeding farms with his expertise in equine reproduction. Horse Council BC is the first to bring Dr. Samper to his home province for a presentation.

Dr. Susan Thompson gave a lively and well received presentation on the topic of fear and what it’s good for in horseback riding. Dr. Thompson spoke about the purpose of fear, the types of fear that we experience and how to break fears down into the components physical sensations, thoughts, and actions. She also spoke about strategies to reduce our fear levels and gain control over our thoughts and actions.

Dr. Chris Clark from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine was an absolutely invaluable presenter who was able to go over the different types of parasites, their effects on horses, and how to essentially rid your horse of worms the right way in just under an hour. He also spoke
about the recent use of the term, “immune” when it comes to certain types of dewormers and was able to clearly go over why blanket deworming and different types of dewormer simply don’t work unless you understand the enemy – the parasites and which individual ones you are trying to get rid of.

Andrea Blair from Paper Horse Photography provided an excellent lunchtime presentation about her photography and what she looks for when trying to get an excellent horse photo. She is so passionate about her subjects and what she does it definitely came through in her presentation. We saw many of her extremely beautiful shots and got to hear a lot of the stories behind the photos. Andrea also told the attendees about her recent Senior Horse and Senior Dog projects which are currently taking place.

The Back Country Horsemen of BC spoke about trail riding and camping with your horse. They brought many items to show the attendees and enthralled everyone with their stories of trail riding and how they survived in the wild on a camping trip up the west coast of the United States and into Canada. There were so many questions from the attendee’s the presentation went overtime!

All in all everyone enjoyed the location, theatre and speakers and the most consistent question heard over the weekend was, “When’s the next one? I want to go again!”

Thank you to all our sponsors:

Capri Insurance
GreenScene Agritek
Equine Guelph
Western College of Veterinary Medicine
Coach.ca
Investors Group
Equanimity Edge
Horse Sport
Horse Canada
ViaSport
Government of British Columbia 
for making this event so successful!