Blue Gate Farm offers
Riding and Vaulting Lessons
Horse care is part of the lesson
12/19/2025
Even though the topic of after-hours and emergency care is important year-round, we wanted to offer this reminder as we approach the holidays.
Though we wish our horse doctors could be there for our equine friends in any emergency, the reality is that our horses' primary veterinarian cannot be available 24/7 and still juggle the needs of their own personal lives, health and happiness.
The most significant pain point for many veterinarians is caring for their clients during regular business hours and then also being on call for emergencies after hours. For single-doctor or small practices, this traditionally has been the case most nights of the week.
However, private veterinary practices and veterinary schools have more recently focused on developing new models for emergency care which ease the strain on individual practitioners. This includes the growth of emergency cooperatives where two or more practices in a geographic area work together to share after-hours care, as well as more emergency-only practices and the use of tele-triage services to address client concerns after normal business hours.
As equine veterinarians reevaluate what after-hours care looks like for their practices, the support of their clients is critical to creating a balance that works for both parties. If your horse doctor talks with you about changes in how after-hours care is delivered, we hope you’ll welcome the adjustments. This evolution of emergency care must take place in order for equine veterinarians to avoid burnout and continue to be at their best to treat all of your equine friends.
12/19/2025
🚨 WARNING: Stolen Horses within the Slaughter Pipeline🚨
This horrific network is literally set up to disguise and hide stolen horses, making it nearly impossible for owners and law enforcement to track them down. It gives horse thieves a perfect, untraceable cover.
How Stolen Horses Disappear:
The Paper Laundering Scam: Stolen horses are often given official-looking paperwork, Coggins papers, to create a new, deceptive paper trail that distances them from the original theft.
Physical Disguise: In some cases, horses are even spray-painted to alter their markings and further disguise their identity.
If you know about these activities happening, please make a confidential report to our Hotline 4 Horses. Your information is crucial to our investigations.
12/19/2025
Have you ever wondered how your horse’s hooves could be affecting their back? Discover the connection from a vet, farrier, and physio’s perspective!
In addition to recording an amazing webinar with us, The Equine Documentalist also offered us access to a webinar recording on:
"The Connection Between the Hoof and Back Pain - What the Vet, Farrier and Physio See" - With Yogi Sharp, Dr Roland Perrin and Marc Beaussart
In this exciting session, Yogi is joined by Dr Roland Perrin and Marc Beaussart for a deep dive into how the horse’s feet and back pain are connected, bringing together vet, farrier and physio perspectives.
Interested in watching this episode? Comment 'BACK' below for a chance to win free access to this educational webinar on The Equine Education Hub!
Winners will be announced on Thursday! 🎁
12/19/2025
12/19/2025
COVID vaccines are cutting death rates years after the first dose.
A massive study of over 28 million people just confirmed what many suspected: COVID mRNA vaccines didn’t just protect against the virus. They were linked to a lower risk of death from all causes for years after vaccination.
Researchers in France tracked adults aged 18 to 59 for nearly four years. Their findings, published in JAMA Network Open, show that vaccinated adults had a 74% lower risk of dying from severe COVID-19 — and a 25% lower risk of dying from any cause compared to unvaccinated people. The protective effect was consistent even among younger adults, who typically face lower risks from COVID.
This is the first long-term population-based study to measure all-cause mortality years after vaccination. By using national health data and adjusting for 41 different health factors, researchers were able to isolate the vaccine’s impact more clearly than ever before.
While rare complications like myocarditis and anaphylaxis have been reported, the study found no increased long-term death risk from the vaccines. Instead, mortality rates were actually 29% lower within the first six months after vaccination — a difference that remained significant over time.
Researchers note that some of the benefit may come from healthier people being more likely to get vaccinated. But even after adjusting for confounding factors, vaccinated people still lived longer.
Their conclusion: mRNA vaccines helped prevent COVID deaths — and possibly saved lives in other ways, too.
Read the study:
"COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination and 4-Year All-Cause Mortality Among Adults Aged 18 to 59 Years in France." JAMA, 2025.
12/19/2025
12/19/2025
Ready to Help Man’s Best Friend?
12/19/2025
12/19/2025
One of the world's biggest infrastructure investors just set up shop in Toronto, betting big on Canada's stability in an uncertain global market.
Australia's IFM Investors knows that when paper currency gets shaky, real assets like our trade terminals and energy grids are the safest place to be.
It is a massive endorsement of our economy, proving that smart global money still views Canada as a premier destination for long-term growth.
Address
9425 Cheryl Road, Ness Lake Prince George, BC V2K5L9
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Barbara has always wanted to be a riding instructor. So she did the best thing: went to England and trained at Crabbet Park Equitation Centre, Sussex. It was the best training she could have got.
The 40th year Reunion at Crabbet Park confirmed this feeling as other former students, clients and staff felt the same way. Crabbet Park was exceptional in its training of students in riding, horsemanship, and theory lessons. She learned excellent basics that have carried ther through to present time ( and what more could a person new to riding ask for?)
After attaining the BHSAI she worked in London at Alderbrooke Stables in East London where she looked after all the horses, rode and taught lessons. This was excellent experience for someone new to working with horses. After returning to Canada, Barbara got a call from Peter Poole at Windfields Farm offering her a job working with the horses. At Windfields Farm Barbara got to work with a variety of Thoroughbreds: yearlings: grooming for the Sales, riding the yearlings (interesting and valuable experience), breeding and foaling the mares. The horses were well bred and some would go on to become famous. Windfields Farm, at the time Barbara worked there, was one of the top breeding farms of Thoroughbreds in the world.
Eventually Barbara came back to Prince George, with her husband, bought the current farm and over the years has improved it with fencing, loafing sheds, paddocks, lunge arenas, outdoor arena and finally the indoor arena. Garth Everall has been great to have come do the cat work to improve drainage, put in a driveway to the barn and in 2016 change the footing in the arena (which the horses love).
After graduating from University Barbara went to Pen Y Bryn Equestrian Centre in Pennsylvannia for 7 months. She trained under Major Jeremy Beale, BHSI (winner of Burghley horse trials). She furthered her riding in dressage, over fences and cross-country.
Martina Pork, Pferdewerkshaftmeister, moved to Burns Lake from Germany to teach and train horses. Barbara was one of the early students. One of the qualities of Martina’s teaching: lessons are repeatable. Martina trained 2 of her horses. She supervised the training of 5 of Barbara’s horses. Martina, unfortunately returned to Germany, but is available for lessons there.
Barbara has continued learning by atttending clinics (auditing), conferences, etc. The speakers and trainers at these clinics, conferences, etc are well known for their accomplishments internationally. Some of the people are Dr. Andrew McLean (horse behaviour and equine learning theory associated with ISES, Lasse Kristianson of Denmark who is the Technical Advisor for the Deanish Dressage Team and world class lunger of vaulting horses and coach of vaulters, Conrad Schumacher (Dressage), Jochen Schleese (Saddlemaker), Dr. Gerd Heuschmann (Veterinarian), Ellen Bonje (Dressage), Dr. Deb Bennett (Equine Palentologist), Dr. Hilary Clayton, etc.
In addition to riding lessons Barbara also offers vaulting as she has found student progress faster, are better riders, and have fun vaulting. She has trained a number of her horses and ponies to be vaulting horses.
Lessons focus on the welfare of the horse, as she was taught long ago at Crabbet Park, was reinforced at Windfields Farm, and now through ISES and vaulting.
Horsemanship (care of the horse, handling of the horse) is part of every lesson. Safety is important because falling off does happen, but shouldn’t happen frequently. Injury and fear do not help a rider progress. There is so much to learn in order to ride well. A rider cannot learn if the horse is unhappy which is why students learn using positive training and use the Principles of Equine Learning Theory as developed by Dr. Andrew McLean and International Society of Equitation Science (ISES).
