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Horse Friends:

It's always a good time to learn more about horses. Take a look at the workshops and events we have planned and register soon. And, if you are unable to attend any of the events but would like to come meet the horses and tour the ranch, give us a call or drop us a line to set an appointment.

Happy Trails,
Jane Heath, Executive Director

Workshops and Events:

Our workshops this year have offered a great variety of learning opportunities for riders, non-riders, artists, yoga students and horse caretakers. All Sanctuary horse workshops offer humane methods to help horses and people communicate more effectively and interact more safely together. Check the schedule and register today.

The following event is highly recommended though not sponsored by Montana Horse Sanctuary:

2012 Equine Podiatry Seminar & Wet Lab
Fri.-Sat., March 2-3
Kalispell, MT

Dr. Barbara Page, DMV on Balance and Breakover
Presented and Sponsored by LaSalle Equine Clinic
About the Presenter: Soon after Barbara Page graduated from veterinary school in 1977 she became fascinated with the horse’s foot. She wanted to know how its shape is influenced by the joints, tendons, and bone position inside the hoof capsule as well as by the environment and the horse’s conformation. Then, to be practical, what is the effect of the trim on hoof capsule shape? Dr. Page is well known in the Denver area as the “go to” person for equine lameness, particularly problems with the foot. She is certified with the American Farrier’s Association and has dedicated much of her career to working with other farriers on footlame horses. Since 1995 Dr. Page has partially self-funded research focused on how the external shape of the hoof capsule relates to the radiographic and dissected anatomy of the bone and supporting structures of the lower limb. Her studies have included wild horses as well as domestic in an effort to understand where wild horse principles do and do not apply to the domestic horse.

Friday, March 2, 2012: Horseowner/Client Seminar
6:00 pm Red Lion Inn, Kalispell Center Mall
This seminar will introduce how subtle trimming changes affect alignment of bones in the horse’s lower limbs. While geared for laymen, all doctors and farriers planning on attending Saturday’s sessions are welcome to attend this evening’s free event as well. Attendance to this seminar by your clients will greatly boost communication and cooperation between you, so get the word out!

Saturday, March 3, 2012
Veterinarian/Farrier Continuing Education
Morning Session: 8-12, Red Lion Inn, Kalispell Center Mall
This seminar will focus on balance and break over – how trimming affects balance and alignment of the phalanges. Dr. Page will illustrate a unique method she has developed to visualize and measure balance and alignment seen radiographically through the use of radiographic markers placed on the hoof wall.

Afternoon Session: 1-5. Live Demostration/Web Lab, Canter Creek, LLC, 1274 Columbia Falls Stage Road. Participants in the afternoon lab will be using the aforementioned concepts to evaluate stance, support and skeletal alignment before and after trimming. Sessions include:
1:30 – 1:45 Instructions & Organize Groups
1:45 – 2:45 Observe and Trim Horses
2:45 – 3:45 Post-Trim Assessment & Radiographs
3:45 – 4:45 Summary from Each Group
4:45 – 5:15 Wrap Up Summary

Registration of $95 includes both sessions and the refreshments at each. Lunch is on your own.
• Six Continuing Education Credits are approved by both the Idaho and Montana Boards of Veterinary Medicine.

To register: call LaSalle Equine Clinic: 406-257-9399 or email: office@lasallevet.com

Questions? Call or email Dr. John Erfle at the above number/email address

VOLUNTEER ACTIVITIES
Volunteers are the lifeblood of the Sanctuary and most of our volunteer activities take place in the warmer months. Projects include horse care, fence building, office work, staffing of booths at public events, planning events like Evening Under the Stars and the tack sale and more. If you’d like to become a volunteer, visit our website, www.montanahorsesanctuary.org and go to the volunteer page and fill out and submit the information form. We even have a young volunteers program for kids age 8 and older.

Ranch work days
Activities on these days will include taking out old barbed wire fences and installing new, horse-safe fences, cleaning corrals, pulling weeds, construction and lots of other fun group projects to help make the horses’ lives better. No construction experience needed. We have a job for everyone!

Ranch work days will be held on various Saturdays in 2011 from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Volunteers may work the entire 5 hours or a portion of that time. Contact the Sanctuary for the next ranch work day date.

Other volunteer activities
Many volunteers work at the Sanctuary on a separate schedule or sporadically. Let us know what works for you. We even have volunteers who work from long-distance placing event posters, helping with grantwriting, editing documents, cooking treats for volunteer activities and so forth. Let us know how and when you would like to participate!

Montana Horse Sanctuary's educational goal is to provide humane, affordable workshops for the benefit of horses and their people.

Montana Horse Sanctuary holds a variety of interesting, pertinent and low-cost workshops each year in various locations around Montana. Our workshops are attended by beginning to advanced horse people as well as trainers, veterinarians and other horse professionals.

Basic communication between horses and their people is essential for progress at any level -- training, riding, handling or health. Our workshops focus on providing horse people with fundamental tools and techniques. The concepts taught are based on the horse's point of view.

About the instructors:

Montana Horse Sanctuary maintains the highest standards for its workshop instructors. All are outstanding professionals in their own fields of expertise. Our instructors are experienced, professional and articulate with a strong commitment to teaching horse people more about their horses. Our instructors are sensitive to the needs of both horses and horsepeople. Current slate of workshops will be presented by:

Jess Holloway of Bozeman
Jess teaches colt starting at Montana State University, and operates his own horse training facility near Gallatin Gateway west of Bozeman. He also teaches private lessons and works with horses who have problems. Jess’s approach to training and teaching utilizes a language horses and riders clearly understand and put into practice. His methods are logical and easily used by horsepeople of all backgrounds and experience. Jess grew up in Montana and has worked on horse and cattle ranches. He holds a degree in range science from Montana State University.

Jane Heath of Simms
Jane is the co-founder of Montana Horse Sanctuary. She is also a professional equine therapist with 15 years of experience and nearly 1,000 hours of training. She practices a number of hands-on modalities including Craniosacral Therapy and Traditional Chinese Massage. She integrates her hands-on work with her passion for equine nutrition and herbal medicine to help the Sanctuary horses recover from a variety of past circumstances including physical abuse, malnutrition, improper diet and so forth. She has taught many workshops about horses during her career including massage therapy for horse owners, stretching and “horse yoga”, and nutrition for starved horses.

Our workshop criteria:

Montana Horse Sanctuary provides educational opportunities which:

are humane;
are safe;
are taught by qualified, professional, experienced instructors;
will benefit the broadest possible audience of horse people;
are for the benefit of horses and their people.

The sanctuary will post other workshop information as it becomes available. If you'd like to have us send you a workshop calendar in the mail, please contact us. We will be happy to add you to our mailing list.

Montana Horse Sanctuary
email:info@montanahorsesanctuary.org
P.O. Box 10, Simms, MT 59477 • (406) 264-5300