From November 6 - 15, Equine Guelph’s youth program, EquiMania!, will be back at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair to teach kids about horse health care and safety in a fun, interactive setting

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Safety will be a big theme at this year’s EquiMania! The 'Play Safe. It’s HorseSense!' safety initiative will be expanded to include safety on the entire horse farm. The multi-faceted safety initiative includes a scavenger hunt on a mock horse farm where kids will be 'Danger Detectives' investigating a dozen dangers: in the barn, around equipment (RTV), outside and around horses (including rider safety).

From 1990 to 2005, 63 per cent of animal-related injuries among youth in Ontario occurred in incidents involving horses. The majority of the injuries were caused by falling from a horse or being struck by a horse. Machine run-overs were the predominant cause of fatal injuries – at 46 per cent – for children under the age of 16.

“It is important to deliver a critical safety message in a fun, interactive way to kids,” says Gayle Ecker, senior manager of Equine Guelph. “Young danger detectives will be rewarded for their investigative work by receiving a detective badge and horse hat!”

In addition to horse farm safety, kids and parents will learn more about horses: how to braid a tail, the potential careers available in the horse industry, how to bandage a horse’s leg, identifying horse bones, equine nutrition, the different breeds and information on parasites.

For the young and the young at heart, every visitor to EquiMania! at the Royal, upper East Annex, will come away from the education exhibit learning at least one new thing about horses.

Sponsors of the 2009 EquiMania! travelling education centre include: Canadian Agricultural Safety Association, Farm Safety Association, Grand River Agricultural Society, Kubota Canada, Ontario Equestrian Federation, Pfizer, Shur-Gain, System Fencing and Standardbred Canada.

Kids that visit EquiMania! will receive a copy of the October special edition of Trot 4 Kids.

Equine Guelph is the horse owners’ and care givers’ Centre at the University of Guelph. It is a unique partnership dedicated to the health and well-being of horses, supported and overseen by equine industry groups. Equine Guelph is the epicentre for academia, industry and government – for the good of the equine industry as a whole.

(Equine Guelph)