In my work as an equestrian sport psychology coach, I spend a lot of time talking with riders about guilt. It seems that we riders experience a lot of guilt in response to an amazing variety of circumstances.

What does it mean for Canadian horse owners? Are you aware that a Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Equines (CPCHE) was published in Canada in 2013? Did you know that Equine Canada, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA), and the Canadian Feed Inspection Agency were among the many partners involved in the development of the CPCHE under the National Farm Animal Care Council (NFACC), and that they remain part of the team that supports the industry-recognized recommendations and requirements established within the Code for good equine husbandry? Let’s look at what exactly this equine Code entails.

Resilience: Rethinking, Restructuring, Reevaluating due to COVID-19 - Every year since 2016, University of Guelph equine faculty and students have organized the Equine Industry Symposium to bring together experts and horse enthusiasts from Canada’s equine community and discuss horse industry issues. In 2020, there was only one topic on everyone’s mind: how Canada’s equine industry would make it through the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and what the industry would look like in its aftermath.

Midway through 2020 was the first giveaway that something was off when I noticed that my days seemed to be ending sooner than they should have, with evening chores, dinner, and bedtime rolling around before I felt I even got started. That was odd because it was summer and our daylight hours here in southern Spain are long. It also seemed that very little progress was being made on my “To Do” list: day after day it was sneering at me, growing longer. Not only was there the feeling of getting little accomplished, I was also forgetful, frequently walking into rooms without remembering why; my cell phone even had a brief stay in the fridge.