Today was an absolutely wonderful day for a Hack!

12C at the end of November....the sun...and great horses, what else is there? ;)

We finished the last (and longest) hunt of the season today. 25km in the cooool wind! Lovely runs!

Last hunt of the season today... brr.

Nice long runs!

The 'last-hunt-of-the-season' Day! This is IT peeps... ;)

Farm sunrises are the Best!

:)

Our farm is slowly changing its look...

... to winter !

Happy Friday!

Sidesaddle clinic at our place Jan. 21!

Sidesaddle clinic at @Hopewell_Creek on Jan. 21, 2018! Learn the lost art of Sidesaddle Riding with the Ontario Sidesaddle Association! Read more for measuring rider fit here! http://americansidesaddleassociation.org/measuring-fitting/

Winter Wonderland at Hopewell Creek Stables this morning!

Fun day out with the Wellington -Waterloo hunt club!

Nov. 12

big fat fields to run in...

:)

“To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.”

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. / At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them." “The living owe it to those who no longer can speak to tell their story for them.”

Remembrance Day

Hunting yesterday on a sunny November morning!

#Hopewell_Creek #drag_hunting Nov. 8, 2017

We are in the works to host a SideSaddle Clinic in January.... :) .... and who does not want to try this ? Ride on your horse in a sidesaddle fitted to your horse. :) Stunning outfits optional! #exciting

Beautiful crisp morning at the stable!

Hopewell Creek Stables
http://sites.google.com/site/hopewellcreekstable/

   

Saw a very interesting presentation yesterday on Canada's war horses....

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/morning-glory-canada-s-own-wwi-war-horse-1.1259736

Saw a very interesting presentation yesterday on Canada's war horses.... Canada sent about 130,000 horses overseas during the First World War.

The novel and stage play War Horse, also a Steven Spielberg film, is the story of a horse from Devon that goes to France during the First World War. There is an equally moving but little known true story about a Canadian horse and her rider who took part in the "war to end all wars."That horse, Morning Glory, was shipped to France from Brome County in Quebec’s Eastern Townships in 1915. Her owner was Lt.-Col. George Harold Baker, known to friends and family as Harry.

Return of the war horse

Morning Glory came home to Canada in 1918 at the end of war, even though it was unusual for a horse to be shipped back from overseas.

Morning Glory is buried behind Glenmere, the house at the family’s summer home at Baker Pond, where a large bronze plaque is attached to a rock on a hill. The inscription is blackened in places and hard to read: "Here lies Morning Glory, a faithful charger who served overseas 1915-1918. Died 1936 aged 26 years."

Article:Horses can learn to use symbols to communicate their preferences

Horses can learn to use symbols to communicate their preferences

horses learn to communicate by touching different neutral visual symbols, in order to tell the handler whether they want to have a blanket on or not. Horses were trained for 10–15 min per day, following a training program comprising ten steps in a strategic order. Reward based operant conditioning was used to teach horses to approach and touch a board, and to understand the meaning of three different symbols. Heat and cold challenges were performed to help learning and to check level of understanding. At certain stages, a learning criterion of correct responses for 8–14 successive trials had to be achieved before proceeding. After introducing the free choice situation, on average at training day 11, the horse could choose between a “no change” symbol and the symbol for either “blanket on” or “blanket off” depending on whether the horse already wore a blanket or not. A cut off point for performance or non-performance was set to day 14, and 23/23 horses successfully learned the task within this limit. Horses of warm-blood type needed fewer training days to reach criterion than cold-bloods (P < 0.05). Horses were then tested under differing weather conditions. Results show that choices made, i.e. the symbol touched, was not random but dependent on weather. Horses chose to stay without a blanket in nice weather, and they chose to have a blanket on when the weather was wet, windy and cold (χ2 = 36.67, P < 0.005). This indicates that horses both had an understanding of the consequence of their choice on own thermal comfort, and that they successfully had learned to communicate their preference by using the symbols. The method represents a novel tool for studying preferences in horses.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159116302192

A review of the human–horse relationship

A review of the human–horse relationship

Despite a long history of human–horse relationship, horse-related incidents and accidents do occur amongst professional and non professional horse handlers. Recent studies show that their occurrence depend more on the frequency and amount of interactions with horses than on the level of competency, suggesting a strong need for specific research and training of individuals working with horses. In the present study, we review the current scientific knowledge on human–horse relationships. We distinguish here short occasional interactions with familiar or unfamiliar horses (e.g. veterinary inspection) and long-term bonds (e.g. horse–owner) http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159107001414

LOT of work to clean paddocks....

Its a LOT of work to clean paddocks.... but satisfying to see the horses standing like this after 19mm rain yesterday as 12 mm and counting today. :) #Hopewell_Creek :)

Grey horses on a grey day!

#Hopewell_Creek

@ the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair

Lots to see at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto! (Much more than just horses if you can believe that... lol)