PARDS FUND RIDE

September 9th, 2023

With a minimum $125 collected in pledges, come out and ride the 5K or 25K trails with picturesque river views

Collect the most pledges to win:

Adult Grand Prize: beautiful tooled western saddle

Youth Grand Prize: Western Saddle package

Grand Prizes donated by Keddie's Tack & Western Wear

many more prizes to be won!



Registration Includes:

Pancake Breakfast - 9:00 a.m.

5K or 25K trail ride registration - 10:00 a.m.

Hit the trail of your choice following registration

Gymkhana Obstacle Course & BBQ dinner to follow ride

Pledge packages available at

Keddie's Tack & Western Wear or PARDS

Don't have a horse?

Come out for a family day of fun and enjoy

Wagon Rides, Bouncy Castle and a Petting Zoo

Event Location

63009 TWP RD 704

PLEASE CONTACT PARDS FOR MORE INFORMATION

Message from the

Pancake Breakfast Mane Sponsor

KEN-CO Equipment Ltd. is proud to sponsor the PARDS Teepee Creek Breakfast, and we are excited to be part of this event! It is organizations like PARDS that create a stronger, more inclusive community for current and future generations. 

Thank you to PARDS for the opportunity to support such a great cause, and for all the important work that you do. – Jason Maki

Message from the

Hearts Hooves & Courage Sponsor

We really appreciate the folks at PARDS for everything they do and are thankful for the opportunity to be included in this event. It's an important value of Aureus's to support local organizations like PARDS, that have a meaningful and lasting impact on our community. - Jeff Taylor

Michelle Walker ~ Cart Driving

In the fall of 2001 at the age of 12, Michelle began her journey with PARDS. At the time, Michelle was in grade 7 and one of her teachers discovered PARDS and thought the programs offered may interest her and be a fun and rewarding experience. At the age of 2, Michelle was diagnosed with Multiple Specific Disability Syndrome which is defined as two or more disabling conditions that affect learning and other important life functions. Michelle has continued to participate for many years and, over her time here, she has ridden many horses, but she shared that Scout stands out in her memory as her favourite. She fondly remembers her trusty partner that she cared so enthusiastically and compassionately for.

Since first joining the program, Michelle, now 34, has moved into our cart driving program and has had much success. She very quickly began driving independently and took to it as well as she did to riding, giving her a new equine and learning experience at PARDS.

During the shutdown of the pandemic, having taken such a long break, Michelle lost a little confidence in her driving ability, but she did not let that stop her. When lessons resumed, she signed up right away as she missed coming to the barn each week. She got to work regaining that confidence and getting her driving back to the level she had been at, which took her no time at all. Michelle then looked forward to learning more. Currently her lessons are focused on her goals of driving patterns and improving her driving skills, which can help her personal goals of maintaining focus, improving memory and following instructions.

Her pony partner currently is Frodo, who just so happens to be one of her two favourite ponies, the other being Tori. Michelle is working with Frodo, doing arena figures and patterns at a trot and keeping that trot consistent and forward without breaking stride. Michelle has long term goals of taking the arena figures she is learning and working her way up to driving a full Para Dressage test.

Michelle also has interest in some barn activities and has expressed a goal of hitching and unhitching her own pony to the cart. She has recently started to learn where all the buckles are located, and in which order they need to be undone when unhitching Frodo. There is a lot to the cart and Michelle not only enjoys learning about it, but she is learning and retaining the information quickly and is a great assistant as she works her way to doing it independently.

Michelle always has a smile on her face and her infectious laugh is loved by all. We look forward to many more years of supporting Michelle in her goals.

Anna Kittleson ~ Instructor

Therapeutic Riding

Therapeutic riding is offered to clients aged 3 and up. Clients who participate in riding lessons must have a clinical diagnosis. Our therapeutic client base encompasses a wide spectrum of disabilities classified under the scope of Physical (includes riders with limited mobility, delayed fine and gross motor skills, low trunk control/core strength, undeveloped balance, etc.), Developmental (includes riders with limited cognitive capacity, autism spectrum disorders, traumatic brain injury, etc.), Sensory (includes riders with visual, auditory or speech impairment) and Nonvisible (includes riders with learning disability, epilepsy/seizure disorder, ADD/ADHD, anxiety, a variety of psychological disorders, etc.).

Therapeutic Cart Driving

Not everyone is able to ride – or wants to – and cart driving is an excellent way to access the benefits of equine therapy. Learning to work with and control a horse as the driver of a cart brings many therapeutic benefits, similar to the ones for therapeutic riding. Cart driving is where a horse or pony is hitched to a wheeled cart and is driven around an arena, an obstacle course, or out on a trail. Driving is a fabulous opportunity to make new friends, gain a sense of independence, be out in the open air (weather permitting) and have fun!

Therapeutic Grooming and/or Ground Driving

For those who are not able to participate in mounted riding or cart driving for whatever reason, we offer several alternative programs. They are also offered to clients who are looking for a different or additional challenge.

Both grooming and ground driving offer participants the opportunity to develop a relationship with their horse partner, learn horse care skills and benefit physically, psychologically and educationally. Many of the benefits are actually quite similar to those of therapeutic riding.

Unbridled

Peace Area Riding for the Disabled Society (PARDS) is excited to announce the launching of the Unbridled program in partnership with the Grande Prairie Stompede Association (GPSA).

Being subjected to something traumatic can have a profound effect on your life. It changes the way you think, feel and experience life on a daily basis. Experiencing abuse in any of its devastating forms, being involved in an accident such as a car wreck or house fire, suffering the violent or sudden loss of someone you love or being exposed to high stress situations or environments on a regular basis can all result in trauma.

Unbridled brings the expertise of a mental health professional together with a strong, confident horse to support youth in processing and navigating through lived trauma, becoming more confident, empowered and resilient.

Unbridled is offered in two formats, individual therapy as well as a group skills development based format.

Youth Leadership

Youth Leadership is a ground work experiential learning program focusing on cooperation, relationship-building, self-esteem and more. It’s learning, without realizing you’re learning.

• The client works directly with a horse partner and a volunteer mentor under the guidance of the program facilitator and a horse co-facilitator.
• The client participates in a variety of activities with their horse partner (e.g. interacting with the horse to achieve a result such as moving in a specific direction without the aid of tools or props, observing herd behaviour and dynamics, long reining as part of a group).

As co-facilitators, the horses guide and support. It’s all about choices. That’s our ultimate goal: having participants make the choices and evaluate those choices in the end.

Youth leadership is for participants:

• Youth 8-17 years old
• Youth who would benefit from an increase in self-confidence, self-awareness, social skills, empathy etc.
• Youth identified as at-risk of developing unhealthy relationships and/or behaviours
• Risk factors include: excessive unstructured/sedentary time, discrimination and isolation, lack of mental health supports, coping and life skills.

Public Riding

Our Public Riding Lessons are for anyone aged 7 and older. The lessons are geared toward many skill levels, from riders with little or no experience with horses to more advanced novice riders. Lessons are facilitated by qualified instructors, and are designed to help riders become comfortable with riding basics enabling progress to an intermediate novice riding level.

We run three 10 week Public Riding Sessions in a group lesson format that mirror the traditional school year. The programs are personalized to each rider’s abilities, giving you the choice of participating in any or all of the three, 10-week sessions. Throughout your session, our goal is to help you progress, perfect your techniques and most importantly, have fun!

P'tit Trot

P’tit Trot is an exciting program for children ages 5 years old and up, who love horses and want to learn more about the equestrian world. The P’tit Trot program is devoted solely to the initiation of equitation and general horsemanship, allowing children to discover the pleasures of English & Western disciplines as well as an introduction to trail riding and developing proper knowledge on how to care for the horse.



The P’tit Trot book is lavishly illustrated throughout and introduces familiar characters for the children to follow and relate to. Each book is divided into 4 chapters – Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum with each chapter building on the previous skill set. In addition to the illustrated manual that supports practical teaching, a game book allows the child to reinforce the knowledge gained while having fun. At each level attained (bronze, silver, gold, platinum) the young rider receives a certificate of achievement.

Little Pony Motricity

Little Pony Motricity is designed for ages 3 to 6 or to a maximum of 48” tall and 65 lbs. The program is set up with fun activities that incorporate fundamental skills in early ages of development while working with assisted learning through our equine partners. Little Pony Motricity is both a ground work and riding program.

Riders work in pairs with a pony to challenge obstacle courses designed to create self learning and independence through play. Access to this program is open to children of all abilities. Positive changes in motor skills development and memory can be seen in as little as 2 lessons. Benefits include increased self-confidence, enhanced fine and gross motor skills, improved concentration & attention span.

Critter Connection

This program provides children and youth connection with a fun, compassionate and non-judgmental animal while they develop and strengthen their fundamental literacy skills. They are given the opportunity to build their reading skills by reading to their chosen animal partner whether it be pony, horse, duck, goat, sheep, donkey or even guinea pigs. They are provided with the guidance of caring and compassionate mentor to help build their confidence in reading. They will also play fun literacy developing games with their trusty animal partners. These games focus on letters, sounds, sight words, writing, combination sounds and much more! The participants will also write a story about their animal partner throughout their session which they will take home at the end of their program.

Volunteer Registration

If you would like to become a volunteer or attend our Lesson/Barn Volunteer Orientation please fill out the volunteer registration form which can be reached by clicking the link below.