By CanTRA/Equine Guelph

On Friday January 24, 2025, Gayle Ecker, director of Equine Guelph was presented with a King Charles III Coronation Medal from the Honourable Michael Chong, Member of Parliament for Wellington-Halton Hills, at a ceremony held at the Acton Town Hall Centre, ON. 

Gayle’s leadership, vision and dedication for 20 years has resulted in Equine Guelph being a nationally and internationally recognized centre of excellence for the horse, providing education, research, and health care knowledge for the horse industry. 

“I am honoured to accept this award on behalf of the Equine Guelph team,” said Gayle. “Our collective efforts have made evidence-based horse care and welfare resources accessible worldwide. I am incredibly proud of our accomplishments and delighted to see the global impact our students and future ambassadors are making in the equine industry.”

Gayle was instrumental in embracing CanTRA as a member association of Equine Guelph, which entitles all CanTRA members to a 15 percent reduction in fees for online webinars and courses.

We are honoured to have Gayle Ecker as a CanTRA “advisor” and delighted that she was a presenter at the CanTRA 45th Anniversary Conference in May.

The Equine Guelph Centre for the horse owner has had a long and positive relationship with therapeutic riding programs through webinar presentations and training programs.

In Gayle’s words: “Partnerships make us stronger. For training purposes in our programming, the well-trained therapeutic riding horses have no equal. They are calm and quiet and even those of our students who may be a bit nervous quickly begin to learn safe and gentle handling methods.

“These horses are important members of our training team. The first introduction to being with horses needs to be safe and welfare-based. With highly trained CanTRA staff and their horses we can accomplish this.” 

To learn more about Equine Guelph’s programs and resources, visit Equine Guelph - University of Guelph.

Related: Why CanTRA? There is a Difference!

Related: The Magic of Horses - CanTRA

Photo courtesy of Susan Raymond, PhD