The University of Kentucky’s Saddle Up Safely (SUS) program and Equine Guelph have announced a partnership to provide members of SUS’ partner organizations with short, easily-accessible online training on equine safety and welfare.

Equine Guelph, the horse owners’ center at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, has developed The Horse Portal – a new e-training platform that will bring together horse people from both sides of the border like never before. The portal is designed to deliver a practical, common sense community approach to learning to horse enthusiasts of all ages.

Interacting with horses poses a high risk of injury to people of all ages. All too often, riding injuries occur due to lack of education or understanding of equine behavior and proper riding practices. In fact, a current study shows that half of equine-related injury patients believe their injuries were preventable and due to rider error.

“Through Saddle Up Safely, the University of Kentucky seeks to educate current and future riders about the simple steps that can be taken to prevent accidents,” said Fernanda Camargo, DVM, PhD, equine extension professor at the University of Kentucky. “This partnership with Equine Guelph will further our mission to provide education on understanding horse behaviour and learning the simple steps that can be taken to prevent accidents.”

The new Horse Behaviour & Safety short course will be offered October 2-22, 2017, with customized versions available to both youth (ages 14-17) and adults.

Saddle Up Safely is partnered with equine and safety organizations throughout the United States, and members of these partner organizations will receive a 10% discounted rate when registering for adult or youth versions of the online course at www.TheHorsePortal.com/SUS.

Equine Guelph is a pioneer in online training and education programs for the horse industry. However, the youth offering of the Horse Behaviour & Safety short course marks Equine Guelph’s first online training program developed specifically for youth.

“We are especially excited to work with SUS to deliver safety training for our industry’s youth,” says Gayle Ecker, director of Equine Guelph. “The Horse Portal will bring together our young people in a safe, online community where they will learn how to ‘speak horse’ and stay safe around horses and on the farm!”

For more information, go to TheHorsePortal.com.

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. For further information, visit www.EquineGuelph.ca.