With the snow gone, Pemberton's horse-riding season is upon us.
Fresh off their Horse Tack Sale and Social, the Pemberton Valley Horse Association (PVHA) is hosting trailering and emergency preparedness clinics on April 26 and 27. The workshops are free for members and open to non-members.
The clinics are hosted by Kevan Garecki, a Langley horseman who’s been running these kinds of clinics for more than 30 years. He said his hosting the workshops was kick-started by questions from police, fire and local vets on how to handle transportation issues and emergency events involving horses.
“There’s always plenty of interest, and we know the need still exists to be ready and learn new ways to transport your horses safely,” said Garecki.
This weekend’s clinics are geared toward a general audience. Past clinics have seen a wide range of attendees—from those who are new to the game to experienced people who “just want to put on polish on what they’re already doing.”
“For the emergency preparedness [clinics], it’s really a mixed bag,” said Garecki. We get a lot of residents—some people who have either experienced wildfire or flood conditions, or volunteers, rescue personnel… plenty of people from different areas.”
The sessions run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. During both days, the three hours before lunch will be spent in the classroom. The three hours after lunch will be spent outside, putting new skills to work.
The Saturday, April 26 clinic revolves entirely around trailering—how to make sure a horse is comfortable and prepared for the journey in a trailer, and that the trailer and its towing vehicle are in good condition and properly matched.
“We cover equipment, selection, driving tips, and some management tips and horse behaviour, that sort of thing," said Garecki.
He said his approach for getting horses revolves around “low-force techniques” for getting a horse into a trailer. Instead of pushing a horse into that confined environment, it’s important to minimize the stress level for them.
“I mean, it's stressful for them no matter what, but we try to minimize that as much as possible ... part of the course is devoted to helping people understand what their triggers are and how to avoid them,” said Garecki.
“Getting into the trailers is against just about every hard wire that that horse has and there's other alternatives to whips and chairs and brooms. It's not lion taming.”
The Sunday, April 27 emergency preparedness and Large Animal Emergency Response (LAER) clinic is broken down into three modules; regional emergencies like wildfires and floods, single-facility emergencies—like a structure fire—and how to prevent them with everything from fire suppression gear to proper electric wiring, followed by dealing with personal emergencies like what to do when you need to take your horse to the vet.
The LAER component of the day relies on plenty of open-source knowledge. It’s an increasingly important field, recognizing the role of horses as pets or large financial investments. Much of the information on LAER techniques is available online.
“We rely on a kind of global community of others that do what we do, and we exchange information back and forth,” said Garecki.
Still, he encourages attendees to ask questions during the day and take plenty of pictures during the presentation. Garecki’s book, Tow Like A Pro, By Learning From One, will be offered free of charge to attendees of this weekend’s clinic.
The event is free for PVHA members, thanks to grant funding from the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District. If you’d like to attend, but you aren’t a member, the clinic costs $30 for individuals and $75 for families. A detailed overview of both days’ topics is available here. Registration is required.
