Head to Baddeck on Sunday, June 6 for some Horse time starting at 1pm. “Open Barn” is an afternoon of fun, held at Rocking Horse Ranch and Rehabilitation Centre. There will be entertainment, pony rides for the kids, face painting, riding demonstrations, and BBQ hotdogs and hamburgers. By spending the afternoon you can learn what the ranch is all about, meet the gang who keep it going, meet the animals, and gain some good karma points.
Rocking Horse Ranch and Rehabilitation Centre is not only a place where you can take Riding Lessons, or go for a Trail Ride, but a safe haven for many animals who would have met a terrible fate, some of whom had a rough go before arriving in the Baddeck hills. The Ranch is “about bringing trust and hope back to horses, dogs, and even people” is the fitting description on their website: rockinghorseranch.ca.
Several of the horses on the Ranch were originally destined for slaughter. In Canada it is not illegal to slaughter horses for meat, as it is in the United States. Auction houses in the eastern US will often end up with “leftovers” who are held in a feedlot for a last call of sorts. Then they are shipped to Canada. A few times, however, an intervention from Dale Stone, proprietor of the Ranch and her many supporters, enabled them to purchase these feedlot horses to take to the ranch to bring back to a healthy state, and given the opportunity to learn to trust and create a meaningful bond with humans again.
The Ranch is holding Open Barn as a free event, however donations made to the organization will be certainly put to good use. Grab your cowboy hats and the kids and head for Baddeck Forks, from exit 9 off the Trans Canada Highway. Here’s an artists rendering of how to find it: rockinghorseranch.ca/rrr/map.gif
