Tag Archives: travel
Travel (Toronto): The Royal Rocks Part II: Eventing Jumping Finals
I’m not sure if Indoor Eventing is my favourite equestrian event. Riders race through a jumping course designed to resemble outdoor obstacles – water features, platform jumps, and wide pie-shaped blocks of gravel – at breakneck speeds. And the risk of breaking necks (and legs) seems high too … too high for my taste, anyway. […]
Toronto, Ontario Royal Fun Part I: Canadian Show Jumping Championships … and Plenty of Horse Love
Another year at the Royal! Once again I was there opening weekend celebrating the best of Canadian show jumping. Jill Henselwood took home the $100,000 Greenhawk Canadian Show Jumping Championship title November 7, 2015 at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair 2015 in Toronto, Ontario. After round one Friday, she was leading the event with a […]
Travel Rockton, Ontario: World’s [Greatest Horseshow] Fair
Fall is fleeting. Figures it’s my favourite season. Cool, crisp and country – country fairs that is and every year I attend one (or two) in Southern Ontario because, let’s face it, they’re very similar… except for the horses. Clearly, country fair and horse show combos are the way to go. I figured if I was gioing […]
Travel Brant County, Ontario: Riding a Horse of a Different Gait
We’re trotting up hill and I’m bouncing out of this Western saddle like popcorn on Nashville summer asphalt. Good thing it’s for a short time, just long enough for the horses to gain momentum up the inclines along this local hunt club trail. I didn’t know either were here – this trail-riding operator or these […]
Peterborough, Ontario: No Flies on me at the Lang Pioneer Village
Who knows if this fly mask actually worked, but it’s one of the many century-old artifacts – most agriculture-related – restored and even used at Lang Pioneer Village, a living history museum. This horse fly net could be catalogue ordered in the late 1800’s, and it’s one of the many items on display in a […]
Travel: Door County, Wisconsin. Who knew Paso Finos Float?
Today we’re riding in the morning and a large group has already gone out ahead of us. Chica barely reacts to Winston’s antics as he spooks off the path several times and leads the trail with uncertainty. She does however compete with him at a trot overtaking him easily, likely because he’s not a comfortable leader preferring to walk beside side her rather than in front.
Contest! Win a Kurgo Dog Harness at www.horsetrotting.net
Attention all horsey dog-lovers! Few horse lovers don’t have dogs so here’s a great chance to win a great product that I use on my dog, especially while travelling…
Travel, Ontario: Upper Canada Village Canadian Horse Naming Contest!
Upper Canada Village in Morrisburg, Ontario has a new purebred Canadian Horse Foal. In celebration of 350 years of the Canadian Horse (the country’s national horse) residents of Ontario can name him.
Here’s the criteria: the name has to begin with ‘C’ – a stipulation of the Canadian Livestock Registry for all purebred Canadian Horses born in 2015. Of course, it also has to be appropriate for a horse, setting and use by handlers.
Travel, Caledon, Ontario: Pan Am Games Equestrian Jumping Finals
The Pan Am Equestrian games wrapped up today (along with other sports) and the Canadian Jumping team was riding high after yesterday’s Team Jumping gold medal win. After a disappointing first round, they needed no or few faults in round two to not only improve their score but also secure a place in the Rio Summer Olympics. Showgirl, ridden by Yann Candele in his hometown of Caledon, Ontario, was purchased by the Canadian Equestrian Team to help improve the team’s chances of qualifying.
Travel, Caledon, Ontario: Pan Am Equestrian Games Jumping Preliminaries
At the jumping preliminaries, 30 out of 50 riders from South and North America sailed over the Canada-themed course fault-free and within the 80-second time allowance. They will move to the first qualifying round today, with a score of zero, both as individuals and teams.
Travel, Caledon, Ontario: PanAm Equestrian Eventing Silver
Lead by ‘Captain Canada,’ the legendary Ian Millar, the Canadian Eventing Team took third place at the PanAm Games with a score of 163 overall after three days of dressage, cross-country and jumping. The U.S. won the gold with a score of 133 and not far behind was the impressive Brazilian team with a score of 140.70.
Travel, Toronto, Ontario: Disappointing Equestrian Facility at PanAm Games
Toronto, Canada is not a city full of rip-off tourist attractions and that’s part of its charm.
Or it was … until the PanAm Games came to town. What a racket – a least that’s how I feel about the Equestrian Games in Caledon, a small town east of Toronto.
Travel, Nashville, Tennessee: Wet Wilderness Ride with Lucy the Tennessee Walking Horse
And it’s muddy alright. It’s been storming three days straight in Nashville and the tornado siren has gone off twice today, I’m told. During some strange twist of fate, I’m riding in the window of rain reprieve. It’s stopped for the time being, and there’s only wind infrequently blowing.
Travel, Calgary, Alberta: Stampede opens today. Meet the rescue horses.
The 2015 Calgary Stampede opens today with horse (and some dog and donkey) events running throughout the fairgrounds in Calgary, Alberta until July 12. What you might not know is many of the horses participating in events are rescues.
Lakefield, Ontario: A Horse Named Bear is How Old?
Twenty-two years ago, I rode a horse named Bear at the Irwin Inn in Lakefield, Ontario. Imagine my surprise when I discovered he was still there. I was in my late 20’s, working my first real job at an urban weekly magazine writing about the good things in life: art, theatre, film, books, and editing […]
Top 6 Horse Adventures: Celebrating Horse Trotting’s Two Year Anniversary
Horsetrotting.net is two years old and to celebrate I’m reflecting on my six favourite horse adventures posted on the site – of course, I’m writing more bi-monthly.
Ontario: Lion, Zebra and Giraffe Oh Yes at African Lion Safari
We aren’t supposed to pet the giraffe, but that’s hard to remember when the adorable five-month-old Safari reaches his head into the open-air truck to grab the carrots and lettuce we’re feeding him. This tour is literally ‘waking up the wild’ here at the African Lion Safari, north of Hamilton, Ontario. And we’re a small […]
Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Fossil Horse. What if horses were the size of dogs?
“Did you know horses were once as small as dogs?” My nephew said when his brother noticed the amount of dog, cat and horse art scattered on my household walls. “It’s true,” he insisted. “Millions of years ago.” Ok, I said, a bit skeptical become sometimes he gets superhero stories and science a bit mixed […]
Waterloo, Ontario: My First Norwegian Horse and Belly High Snow Drift
Not many trail ride operators offer winter rides, and that’s looptoo bad because there’s two advantages to heading out into the sparkly snow: a one hour ride is long enough because toes start to freeze, and there’s no problem with your horse grabbing bites of grasses. Well, there’s almost no greenery around – my mount, the adorable […]
Amelia Island, Florida: The Great Horse Trilogy – Beach, Carriage and Boat Tours
Amelia Island is the Florida of days gone by – summer homes along the shore, beaches lined with boardwalks and independent restaurants serving up locally-caught grilled shrimp, seafood chowder and fish tacos you take outside and eat at picnic tables under a canopy. This narrow island, 18-miles (29km) long and three miles (4.8km) wide, is in the northern part of Florida, just south of Georgia and a one-half hour drive from the Jacksonville International Airport.
It’s not the kind of place I thought I’d have three different equine experiences.
Global Travel for Horse Lovers 