No Lessons December 21 to January 1
Office Closed December 23 - January 3
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At PARDS we are thankful that we have been able to continue providing lessons to our riders during these trying times.
For many of our riders, their PARDS program is one of the few activities they are able to attend.
This is thanks to modified programming, following AHS guidelines and putting protocols in place for the health safety of everyone.
Thank you to families, visitors, riders and boarders for your support!
For updated information please visit
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PARDS is a proud partner with the
CARS FOR CHRISTMAS LOTTERY.
As a partner, PARDS receives an honorarium for our assistance in promoting the lottery and ticket sales. Monies received enable PARDS to continue to provide programs to Peace are residents in need.
We have a few spaces left to help with ticket sales at the mall kiosk. If you are wanting to help during November 30 to December 3 please sign up using the link below.
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Emma is confident, kind and just a little bit sassy. She has been riding at PARDS since 2011.
When she started riding with us at age 8, she rode with a leader and sidewalker and a goal to ride independently and enter into the ParaEquestrian Video Competitions. Instructors also worked on Emma's therapeutic goals which were to improve her ability to follow directions and to participate in a fun and enjoyable activity. Activities such as weaving through cones, matching coloured hoops to coloured poles were incorporated to help with these goals. Instructions were kept to one or two steps at a time, gradually increasing as Emma became more able to retain the information and plan her next steps. Game like activities keep Emma's lessons fun and engaging while developing riding skills. As she got stronger, Emma developed enough balance to ride with just a leader and now that she is older and more focused on controlling her horse and following directions she has started riding independently. Emma gained enough confidence to compete in her first Para Dressage video competition where she placed 4th in the Level 1 walk class!
We look forward to seeing Emma in more video competitions and watching her continue to develop her riding skills, confidence, stamina and dressage scores!
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PARDS thanks all involved in this tremendously generous and thoughtful gift and we would like to share the story of how it came to be.
11 years ago, the KIN Club of Grande Prairie came together with Brandt Tractor Ltd. to provide a skid steer to STARS Air Ambulance GP. Today, Brandt gifted STARS with an upgraded unit to meet their growing needs and, along with support from the County of Grande Prairie No. 1, paid it forward even further by giving PARDS the original STARS unit. For over 3 years, Brandt has offered their excellent service to complete the maintenance of PARDS' Bobcat and it became very obvious to them that we were in need of a more powerful and updated unit that we could rely on. Kevin, Lou and Dave from Brandt saw this situation as an excellent opportunity to assist 2 local non-profit service providers that they see as very important to our community. Thank you SO much to Brandt Tractor, County of Grande Prairie, Kin Club of Grande Prairie and Stars for being a part of all of this coming together. You are all champions! Thank you William Vavrek Photography for taking the photos to commemorate this special day!
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We were so excited to have been chosen as the charity partner for Grande Prairie RONA's Heroes Campaign!
The management and staff of RONA came up with so many ways to help support PARDS throughout the month of September. They had silent auction items in store, collected donations at the till and on September 19th PARDS was out at RONA with our small animal therapy partners to introduce them to everyone who stopped by the yard sale hosted by RONA. It was a great opportunity to introduce our Critter Connections Literacy program.
All the folks at RONA really went above and beyond in helping raise funds for PARDS through this initiative. Thank you RONA for your support of our riders!
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We were so sad that, due to the pandemic, we were unable to host our annual Dine & Dance event this year. Not only is it a ton of fun, but it also raises critical program funds, supporting our riders to access the life enhancing therapeutic programs they have come to rely on over the past 36 years.
Don & Jan Sharp have been regular attendees of the Dine & Dance for many years, and were even the lucky winners of our 13 Bottles of Wine auction in 2017 taking home a trip for 2 anywhere Westjet flies! Through their participation at the event, they have been tremendous supporters over the years and, when they heard that we were not able to host our event, they came down to see us and make a donation of $2,500! "We hope that the event is back next year, but in the meantime we wanted to make a contribution to help," Don shared.
Thank you so very much, Don & Jan! And we hope the event is back again next year, as well!!
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PARDS TRANSPORTATION RESUMES |
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Presenting PARDS new Accessible Bus!
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~ PARDS Equine Spotlight ~ |
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Frodo is an 8-year-old, cute as his name, miniature gelding who was generously donated by long-time PARDS supporter, Ruth Finch.
Frodo has been with the PARDS herd since 2019 and is in our Little Pony Motricity program where he is adored for his cuddliness and comical pony antics by our age 3 to 6 riders. Frodo has potential for versatility in programs and is currently undergoing training to begin working in our Therapeutic Cart Driving program.
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The saying goes, "It takes a Community" and boy did ours sure come together!
Thanks to the generous donations of hay, transportation and cash donations, we have the much needed 800 plus high quality bales to feed our herd for the coming year.
Thank you to Krista & Ken Schuett who donated 400 bales off their field and to RyTy Developments for donating the transportation.
Lead Wellsite Management Inc., Diana Ketchum, E. S. Williams & Associates Inc.,
Tim Powell, Brian Tink, Melbern Vegetation Ltd., Gina Hommy Holdings Ltd., Linda Side, Arnold & Kathy Longson, Ritchie Bros Auctioneers (Canada) Ltd and Tom Adams all contributed toward the over 400 bales we secured from Tanglewood Ranch. A huge thank you also goes out to JDA Oillfield Hauling & Hotshot, Cinch Oilfield Hauling Ltd. and Regulators Oilfield Hauling for donating the transportation for these bales.
And we can never forget our fabulous volunteers Jim Rawlek and Hunter Walker for unloading!!!
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PARDS offers a variety of boarding options and year round access to indoor and outdoor arenas and trails. For more information please go to our website by clicking on the link below
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REGISTRATION
Information and registration
for all PARDS programs is
available on our website at www.pards.ca
For a list and overview of all programs and to register, please click on
Program Information
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PARDS Therapeutic Centre
710009 RR 55
County of Grande Prairie #1, AB
T8W 5A7
Phone: (780) 538-3211
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