Equus Education

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Alberta Horse Industry Website

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Does your local area have a governing body relating to the horse industry? I became aware of the Alberta Horse Industry (Horse Industry Association of Alberta) recently. As it states on their website:

“The Horse Industry Association of Alberta (HIAA) was established in 1991 to act as an organizing body for the Horse Breeders & Owners Conference. In 2003, the Board of Directors of HIAA saw opportunities for a broad-based industry organization to assist in the development and growth of the horse industry.”

Alberta Horse Industry Website | Equus Education
Alberta Horse Industry Website | Equus Education

It’s such a great thing when there’s a setup to collectively promote areas of interest in a particular industry. This may be horse events, competitions, information sessions, educational tools, grants, etc. The list really could go on and on! How wonderful to have one place where you can go to gain resources for your business as well as your passion.

Alberta Horse Industry

The Mission as well as the Vision of the HIAA is found on their front page:

“To provide a unified voice for the Alberta horse industry and strengthen it through advocacy, education and research.”
“A growing, profitable, united Alberta horse industry, recognized nationally and internationally.”

This site has a list of resources that may be of interest to locals:

  • Awards
  • A directory
  • Research projects
  • Biosecurity
  • Equine Scholarships for Albertans

What a line up! I really love to see local equine initiatives. Perhaps you’re running a business or looking to within your hometown.  It really is a blessing to have a one stop shop where you can go for advice and also resources. If you’re in the area of Alberta, Canada and a horse fan, do you know about this resource?

“When I hear somebody talk about a horse or cow being stupid; I figure it’s a sure sign that the animal has somehow outfoxed them.” ― Tom Dorrance

HEART Equine Academy

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I love coming across new equine education possibilities online! HEART Equine Academy offer online equine courses. Now HEART stands for Happy Equines: Applicable and Relevant Teaching. Don’t you love that? I do! And I hope to profile one or two people from this equine education setup in the near future. Stay tuned!

HEART Equine Academy | Equus Education
HEART Equine Academy | Equus Education

HEART Equine Academy is an online place where you can go to further your equine education. The instructors are made up of “positive, experienced horse people from around the world.” They offer courses and tips in equine care, competing horses, photography and even art. You will find different courses on offer over terms of the year.

HEART Equine Academy

You can find out about their current courses that start October 15 as well as previous courses. They are aptly named!

  • Be Brave! An online course that runs for 6 weeks, focusing on confidence with and around horses.
  • Drawn to Horses. This is a course that focuses on creating portraits of horses.
  • Horses in Focus. Want to be an equine photographer? This course may be for you!

As it states on the HEART Equine Academy website, their focus is on developing equine excellence.

“…we understand “equine excellence” to mean developing a deeper relationship with your horse. To do that we all need more knowledge. Learning never stops! Plus, it’s fun :-)”

Instructors for these courses include an educator who focuses on counselling and dressage, an experienced designer and photographer who loves horses as well as a scientist who focuses on the relationship between humans and their animals with a focus on behaviour.

There is also a Certificate Equine Massage Therapist, a professional equine artist who breeds as well as trains horses and finally an instructor who has a bachelor in biochemistry and a Master Herbalist diploma. What a line-up!

You may be interested to see previous courses they’ve run on their courses page and also keep in touch with their Facebook page to find out about future courses. With the vast knowledge and skills their instructors offer, it looks like many courses could be provided in the future!

The Association of Official Racing Chemists

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If you have a love for the racing industry and an interest in pharmaceuticals, then you may be interested to learn about the AORC.  This is the Association of Official Racing Chemists. Back in 1911 in Austria, racing authorities were questioning if some horses were competing under the influence of drugs. This then led to the engagement of a Viennese chemist named Dr. Frankel.  This was to determine a method of detection to ascertain if this was so. These procedures then went on a year later to be utilised in France and England.

The Association of Official Racing Chemists | Equus Education
The Association of Official Racing Chemists | Equus Education

I know in Australia that horses are tested for drugs randomly at racetracks. It was in 1941 that several racing chemists came together to discuss issues collaboratively. In 1947, this group had expanded and then officially became known as the Association of Official Racing Chemists.

As it states on their site:

“The membership of the AORC consists of individuals, not laboratories, and is limited to those concerned with the detection of drugs in racing animals. The scope of each operation is defined by the drug control measures of the rules of racing in each jurisdiction served. From the inception of the AORC, its membership has been international. As the AORC is a member of the ARCI (Association of Racing Commissioners International), annual meetings are held in conjunction with other industry segments alternating every other year to an international venue.”

The Association of Official Racing Chemists

There are now more than 100 members covering 26 countries around the world. They work to bring quality drug testing to the horse racing industry.

“Drug testing has emerged from its primitive beginnings to become a very precise and sensitive science.”

This association may be of interest to you.  Especially if you have a particular interest for the science of pharmaceuticals and want to help keep racing a sport with integrity!

The Equine Training Resources Hub

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Recently I had to undertake a training day at work to update my Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. The resources provided to us were actually designed by someone outside of the local TAFE. These were very generic units that could be utilised across a wide range of courses – anyone who teaches in any industry at tertiary level would need this upgrade that I was doing. (I was the only equine teacher amongst bakers, nurses, health care workers, etc). Of course I got to thinking about educational resources for the equine industry. Or the Equine Training Resources Hub, let’s call it.

The Equine Training Resources Hub | Equus Education
The Equine Training Resources Hub | Equus Education

This is the place you go for horse related resources that can be utilised by a Registered Training Organisation. You may or may not be aware, but there are horse qualifications relating to instructing horse riding, racing, training racehorses, working as a stable hand and breeding horses. And so there are many horse units that need to be assessed to deem people competent and provide them with a qualification.

The Equine Training Resources Hub

Although the horse qualifications may be different, there will be many that are the same across these qualifications. Consider

  • occupational health and safety,
  • handle horses safely and even apply basic communication skills

This is where the educator who knows horses comes in. They can develop resources that match particular units – or even whole qualifications – within the horse industry.

They then provide these resources – learner guides, assessment items and even teacher answers – to RTOs for a one-off fee. If one was wise with this idea, they’d first write resources for the unit/s that span across many different qualifications. This way they have more potential buyers.

They could then go on to write resources for whole qualifications. An RTO may not offer a horse course because they don’t have the resources. If they were able to purchase them, they could then easily seek out a trainer to assess students based on pre-written units. Food for thought.

Pick My Equine Project

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Recently I was made aware of Pick My Project as someone was asking for locals to vote for their project. It seems that this is an initiative of the Victorian Government here in Australia. It states on their site that there is “at least $1 million in funding available in each metro and regional area,” as a community grants initiative. Locals can vote for the projects that they feel would best benefit their local community. You can vote for up to three different projects within your community. And so I got to thinking: why not a Pick My Equine Project?

Pick My Equine Project | Equus Education
Pick My Equine Project | Equus Education

Rather than being based on location (although this is a possibility), it could instead be based on industry. And perhaps even the sponsors could come from various equine industries.  This may be racing, English, Equestrian or perhaps Western. Various groups and also individuals put together an idea that could benefit their industry.  Then people can vote for this.

The idea could:

  • relate to education of a particular aspect of the industry (like equine welfare sessions held for horse owners and carers)
  • be a free resource for horse people to utilise (like a pool at a local racetrack or a trail for pleasure riding)
  • relate to the setup of a new riding facility
  • even be to establish a network or group of horse professionals to tend to horse needs in the local community (like veterinary, farrier, massage, chiropractic, etc)

With Pick My Project, it happened in 5 stages:

  1. Submit your project (this was possible over a 3 month period)
  2. Projects reviewed
  3. Voting open (over a 1 month period)
  4. Projects selected
  5. Funding negotiation

Pick My Equine Project

With the project idea, the cost of the project needs to be listed as well as an outline of what the project entails. Pick My Equine Project could be a great way to further the equine industry relating to facilities, technology and education across the board. It’d just take a group of people to source funding and then promote the idea. Then it’d be up to other individuals to put forward their project ideas!

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About Equus Education

You will find equine careers profiled on this blog and people interviewed who are making a career in the horse industry.  Equus Education aims to show others that horses can indeed be a sustainable career.

Explore this blog to find your horse career!

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