Held annually to raise public awareness of equestrian sport, industry and recreation, and promote the beloved horse, Horse Day is celebrated each year on the first Saturday in June.
While Horse Day may have looked a little bit different in 2020 than in years past, hosting the celebrations online didn’t dampen the spirit and joy surrounding the day.
Here’s to the Horse! Instagram Week
Here’s to the Horse! Instagram Week encouraged Canadians to share their favourite photos and memories from their equestrian careers. Hundreds of horse lovers from every discipline and activity – hunter/jumper, dressage, driving, eventing, racing and therapeutic riding, to name a few – logged into Instagram to spread the unique joy that can only be found when working with horses.
Visit @equestrian_can and the hashtag #HorseDay2020 on Instagram to view highlights from across the country.
Congratulations to the National Drawing Contest Winners!
EC is pleased to announce the winners of the Horse Day 2020 National Drawing Contest. The contest was offered as a fun and engaging way for Canadians aged 3-16 to get involved in the day’s festivities.
Fantastic entries were sent in across four age categories, making the judging no easy task. The contest guidelines required entrants to draw their art by hand and include at least one horse in the submission. The works of art were then judged based on the criteria of beauty, arrangement of colours, originality and implied effort by the contestant.
The age category winners of the Horse Day 2020 National Drawing Contest are as follows:
Category: 3 to 6
“Brushing Dream” by Merridy Hunt, Nova Scotia
Category: 7 to 9
“My Neeeighbour” by Paolo Roland Self, British Columbia
Category: 10 to 12
“Running Free” by Maddy Turek, British Columbia
Category: 13 to 16
“In Loving Memory of Caliph” by Ashlyn Thompson, Ontario
Congratulations to the winners, and a huge thank you to all contestants for submitting entries and getting involved in Horse Day 2020! Winners between the ages of 3 to 12 took home a gift certificate valued at $50. EC would also like to thank Equine Guelph, who sponsored the prize for the winner of the age 13-16 category. Ashlyn received free enrollment in Equine Guelph’s online Horse Behaviour and Safety Course.
About Horse Day
Each year, the first Saturday of June is marked as Canada’s National Horse Day. Together, EC and the Provincial/Territorial Sport Organizations invite all Canadians to take this unique opportunity to honour, discover, and explore the equestrian world. For many Canadians, Horse Day is the chance to get up close and personal with a horse for the first time. Horse Day is also the perfect opportunity to acknowledge both the important contributions made by horses in our nation’s heritage, as well as the fact that people of all ages and experience levels can continue to enjoy horses in sport and leisure. For more information on Horse Day, visit www.equestrian.ca/events-results/horseday.
EC also gives special thanks to the Provincial/Territorial Sport Organizations (PTSOs) for helping to make Horse Day 2020 such a success, and to the Canadian equestrian community for their continued involvement and commitment to spreading awareness about the wonders of the equestrian world.