by Sheryl Hilton
Little S Ranch sits atop some light rolling hills five km northeast of Carstairs, AB. While the facility is visible from Highway 2, it isn’t obvious to the eye what actually goes on inside the 90 x 110 ft building.
Through the doors of this huge establishment are two rows of box stalls on either side of a long, narrow pool – yes, a pool as in an “equine treadmill pool.” Behind the box stalls is a sand ring with a hot walker and the area is further edged with larger, more open stalls.
Stacie Chisholm, owner and operator of Little S Ranch, is the only entrepreneur to offer a public equine treadmill pool in Canada. Chisholm learned of the system while she was attending school in Texas on a rodeo scholarship.
The equine treadmill was recommended to her when one of her best barrel racing horses went lame. After her horse swam for two weeks at the U.S. facility, Chisholm was amazed at the results and she also realized that there was no such method available to the public in her home country of Canada. With this in mind, her vision to build such a place began.
continue reading "Healing Waters: First Canadian Equine Treadmill Pool Open to the public"
The next time you share an elevator with a Miniature horse, or walk into a hospital and see a horse standing in the lobby, Hearts and Hooves is probably in action.
The tall man pushed his Stetson back slightly on his head and looked puzzled. “Well, from what I know, she’s about 95 per cent right on with everything she’s said about my horse!”
