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Last year’s inaugural event was held in
Oregon; this year’s rotated to High
River, Alberta (the filming location for
the family-oriented tv series
Heartland), and next year, the crowds
will move to New South Wales,
Australia, where the 3rd CNC is
currently being planned by the
national WE association Working
Equitation Down Under (WEDU).
This year’s event, which was organized
by the Canadian Working Equitation
organization WE-CAN, drew over 130
participants from four countries:
Canada, the United States, Australia,
and New Zealand. The first four days
focused on intensive learning, with
volunteer instructors from across the
world providing small-group
instruction on both dressage and
riding fundamentals as well as fine-
tuning the obstacle work. Each
morning began with a yoga/stretching class, and participants also had the
opportunity to fine-tune their in-hand
work with their horses. Late afternoon
sessions covered a variety of topics,
from equine physiology to selecting
course lines for the Ease of Handling
and Speed trials.
Kirsten Baumber, one of the Canadian
participants, reflected, “CNC was
amazeballs!!! The energy, the people,
the horses, the clinicians, the judges,
the camaraderie and the environment
for learning were absolutely fantastic!
There are no words...to all the
clinicians, the extent to which you
volunteered your time, freely shared
in your expertise and traveled so far to
help so many with open hearts...I
commend you all!!! The tips and tricks
I've learned will come in handy as I get
more accustomed to this thing we call
working equitation... so thank you all!!”
Manitoba, Canada, participant
Heather Davis wrote, “Arrived home to
Manitoba last night around 7pm with
my sweet Riosa. Spent the day today
back at work as well as reflecting on
my time and the experience of being
part of this FABULOUS event and the
WE community! I was blown away by
the people, the horses, the wonderful
instructors and the entire experience!
I reconnected with some old friends,
met some wonderful new friends and
learned a ton! For me it was a
wonderful adventure, learning
experience and networking/
relationship building opportunity! I
LOVED every minute of it...well maybe
setting the fences up in the wind and
rain wasn’t my most favourite part...but
I still loved it! Lol!”