Kayleigh Redish and Shandelle Mathusz share a love of horses.
That love for the animal is why they both became part of the horse community in southern Ontario growing up.
Redish, from Kingston, and Mathusz, from Trenton, only lived a couple of hours away from each other, but it wasn’t until they were attending the concurrent education program at Lakehead University last year that the two met and became friends.
They instantly realized their shared love for horses and decided to start an equestrian club at Lakehead.
They went to the athletics department and asked if they could form the club, which includes a competitive team. They now have around 20 members.
Because of the far distance, and subsequent expenses, between Thunder Bay and southern Ontario, where university equestrian clubs are common, the Lakehead equestrian team travels to Minnesota and Wisconsin to compete in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association.
With the club in its freshman year, this season has been a learning experience for Redish and Mathusz, the co-presidents of the club. They need to fundraise more and one of their main goals is to have the club become involved in the community.
One to way to begin to achieve both of those items is a horse show. This Saturday, Jan. 28 the Lakehead Equestrian Club is hosting their first horse show at the Dell Farm in Murillo.
“We wanted to have a local horse show to benefit the community and the Lakehead Equestrian team. We want all people of all ages to come and experience a positive horse show environment,” said Mathusz. “We know what it’s like to have to travel far for competitions so to offer a local horse show for Thunder Bay will help people who can’t afford to travel.”
Saturday’s event will be a hunter jumper show with four divisions. Each division consists of two jumping classes and flat classes. Flat classes have the horses walking and trotting on the ground without taking any jumps.
The club wanted to make the show diverse so it would appeal to all levels of riders.
The buzz about the show is strong in the local equine community, added Mathusz.
When she started calling the local farms, she asked if she could bring some paperwork with the details to them. Most of them already had it.
“It circulated very quickly and everybody’s been talking about it,” she said.
Some people are still a bit unsure about the show as indoor horse shows in Thunder Bay are rare. Local horse shows are also often limited to the hosting farm.
“We want to bring the equestrian community together to start new knit relationships,” Mathusz said.
For Redish, her love of horses fills a therapeutic need.
“It’s like therapy and recreation at the same time,” she said. “You get a good work out. It’s a huge bond with the animal.”
Mathusz has been involved in the horse industry since she was 12 and enjoys the people around her and the connections made within the horse community.
“To watch a little kid get on a horse and do a course perfectly and just enjoy themselves and be so proud they accomplished this hard task is amazing,” she said.
“That’s another reason we were both so excited to bring this horse show here. We want to see these kids succeed. We want to see them grow and experience things they might have never experienced before. For a lot of kids in the area, this would be their very first show.”
While the Lakehead Equestrian Team’s first year has been a lot of trial and error, they would like to make the horse show an annual event. They’d also like to one day compete in southern Ontario against other Ontario universities.
In the meantime, they won’t forget to have fun along the way.
The Lakehead Equestrian Team horse show begins at 10 a.m. at the Dell Farm on Mud Lake Road in Murillo on Jan. 28. There is a heated, indoor seating area and sleigh rides and pony rides will also be available for $5 each from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The event is free to attend.
Follow Jodi Lundmark on Twitter: @JodiL_reporter
