In operation for six years this summer, Whispering Hills Stables located in Darwell, Alberta, (straight west of Edmonton) has become a dream come true for stable manager Gail Sooley-Mckee, her husband Kerry, and daughter Hilary.
Having graduated from the Equine Studies program in the Nova Scotia Agriculture College in 1980, Gail says that there has been nothing else that she has ever wanted to do but care for and work with horses.
The family’s stable, started with general boarding, but then expanded to provide the need for equine retirement, broodmare care, sport lay-ups and rehabilitation, as well as working equestrian summer riding camps and riding lessons.
In their working rider camps, participants have the opportunity to learn the daily routine of a horse farm. Chores range from mucking out stalls, paddock clean up, grooming, and making rations, to helping out with the special needs of rehabilitating and retired horses stabled on the property.
Students also assist in round penning and natural horsemanship with young stock and are assigned a mature horse that becomes their very own for the week, as well as a tack box filled with supplies, a saddle, and a bridle.
Participants learn basic riding skills through lessons, and eventually graduate to their first trail ride, which is held on various groomed trails throughout the family’s quarter section of land.
“Our goal by the end of the students’ stay is to ensure that they understand the commitment and needs of owning a horse,” says Gail. “Over the period of time that we have been holding our camps, we have had children from the age of 8, all the way up to 80-year-olds attending.”
Just a few years after Whispering Hills was in operation, they received a call from a Standardbred trainer from Northlands Park who needed a farm that would provide the “full-meal deal” of private and group paddocks, full ration, stable wrapping and, of course, tons of T.L.C.
The horses just needed to be horses, and after settling in, they sure did. The word spread of the McKee’s ability to rehabilitate racehorses, and soon local and long-distant vet clinics were referring them for post-surgical and injury rehabilitation.
One of Whispering Hills’ first patients was an RCMP musical ride horse that had suffered from colic, undergone surgery at West Wind Veterinary Clinic, and needed a lay-up of five weeks before being able to travel back to Ottawa.
Next came a very special Standardbred, from the same clinic named Up Ahead that had broken his pastern and had three screws surgically inserted along with a cast, He rehabbed for six months before heading back to the track. The trainer then, with great care, slowly built the gelding up, only to win his race with a new life-time mark – a year later on the day before the anniversary date of the pastern break. The horse still comes back for his routine “R&R.”
Whispering Hills have also rehabbed a racehorse back to the track that had a sever reaction to the Rhinopneumonitis (Rhino) vaccine. Too weak to even stand to have his shoes removed when he arrived, after four months of gradual paddock exercise and, of course, tons of love, he is now racing again.
Another of the stable’s patients was a weanling named Zimba that arrived with a compressed fracture of the front cannon bone. Zimba was confined to stall rest for six weeks, with 10 minutes of hand walking after four weeks. Following this, she was turned out in a small paddock for two months, before returning to a large pasture with other horses.
In their rehabilitation, they apply a lot of natural remedies to the horse to help with their recovery along with tender loving care.
On another note, Whispering Hills Stables hosted its first endurance ride from the farm, with 15-, 30-, and 60-mile rides. Thanks to the neighbouring land owners and volunteers, it was a great success.
This summer several new paddocks will be added to accommodate their growing horse population at Whispering Hills and they also plan to fence new pastures as well. They also just received their new round pen in June and in the near future plan to construct an indoor riding arena.
Whispering Hills Stables has become a dream come true for the McKee family and they look forward to continuing their work in the rehabilitation program, as well as boarding horses, operating summer camps, and offering riding lessons.
For more information on Whispering Hills Stables, call (780) 892-4645.
