Winnie Stott and 10-year-old Zelador perform for the crowd at Winsong Farm during the recent Headwaters Stable Tour. Photo by Jake Courtepatte
Here is an excerpt from a newspaper article in The Weekly Sentinel by Jake CourtepatteThursday, October 16th about the 2014 Headwaters Stable Tour, which took place October 5th.
King facilities open their doors for annual stable tour
The prestigious facilities of King City’s equestrian centres opened their doors to the public recently, giving members of the community a rare “behind-the-scenes” look into their inner workings.
Winsong Farm on the 15th Sideroad in King put on quite a show for curious on-lookers, with a variety of horses show-casing the games they like to play and the tricks they’ve learned.
Trainer Sarah and the one-year old miniature horse, “Promise”, showed off her bag of tricks, culminating in the horse throwing a bouquet of flowers into the audience.
Local equestrian Winnie Stott brought out 10-year old Zelador. They have been together since Zelador was only nine months old.
The horse showed off to the crowd by standing on platforms, following Winnie around the ring, and even sitting on a beanbag.
Winnie and her husband Bill have owned Winsong Farm since 2000. According to Bill, the couple also host a number of other equestrians at Winsong.
“Right now we have quite a few jumping people on the property, as well as liberty training. We do lots of different things with the horses, in terms of jumping, riding, dressage.”
When training at liberty the horse has no equipment on it. The horse is free to leave or stay with the human. Liberty training creates a personal bond between the horse and the trainer. This training is the main focus at Winsong Farm.
“We use trick techniques in a very cooperative way,” said Bill. “We don’t force the horses … we encourage them to do something, until eventually they do it from their own volition. It builds a bond of trust between the human and the horse.”
