Page 28 - December 2007 The Game

28 The Game, December 2007 Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper
EquiMania! 2007 – A Hit with Kids of all Ages!
Equine Guelph Educational Exhibit a Big Draw at Royal Agricultural Winter Fair
by Henrietta Coole, Equine Guelph
interactive activity ‘Hazard Hunt in the Horse’s House.’ In an actual barn setting, supplied by System Fencing, visitors went on a scavenger hunt searching for 10 safety hazards located in the mock stalls and alleyways.
and learning at the same time.”
From wee tots to keen teens to curious adults, the EquiMania! exhibit at the 2007 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, offered fun learning for all.
wee Tots:
While weary parents sat down for a break, their little ones engaged in creating horse-face masks – with the option of pointing the horse’s ears forwards or backwards – thus learning about the behavioural differences between a ‘happy’ and ‘sad’ horse.
They coloured and molded clay while learning
the different colours of horses. Some children rode ‘Shorty’, a mount-able horse replica while
What A Sparkling Year
Sponsored by the Ontario Harness Horse Association and System Fencing and present-
ed by Equine Guelph (University of Guelph), EquiMania! is an interactive youth education program designed to promote horse health and safety to horse enthusiasts of all ages and disciplines.
“This new safety component was a huge educational success,” says Gayle Ecker, senior manager of Equine Guelph. “I watched parents and children of all ages spending up to 1/2 hour searching for safety hazards in the barn. It is very rewarding to observe people of all ages having fun
EquiMania! spotlighted barn safety through the
others participated in ‘Hoof Beats’, a group activity us- ing instruments to make the sounds of horses’ hooves.
We Have En
Thank You for another Season of Great Memories!
~ Wishing you a Holiday filled with Joy and a New Year of Peace & Prosperity
Jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson & Agent Mike Luider
After completing the Hazard Hunt, teens engaged in many more interac-
tive activities: braiding a horse’s tail, learning how
to bandage a horse’s legs, identifying horse bones (and discovering that horses have 210 bones), learning why horses sleep standing up and investigating career opportunities in the equine industry at kiosks offering information on educational programs at
Equine Guelph, Kemptville College and the Ontario Veterinary College. On-site computers gave youngsters the opportunity to explore the EquiMania! website for youth.
Adults were just as enthusiastic about the EquiMania! exhibit as the kids. They spent time tak- ing in interesting displays such as: equine research, nutrition and anatomy
– including a cast of an actual horse skeleton and a life-sized berglass horse, named “SeeMore”, that reveals the layers of bones, muscles and organs of the horse. In addition, of cers with the Toronto Mounted Police Unit were on hand to meet the public and answer questions about a career
of service on horseback and selling posters for the Brigadier Memorial Fund.
For the young and the young at heart, every visitor to EquiMania! came away from the educational exhibit learning at the very least one new thing about horses.
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Keen ‘Tweens’ and Teens:
curious adults: