The Raise the Barn equestrian clinic and fundraiser raised about $3,000 from May 20 to May 22.
Organized by Fort McMurray resident Christina Lush, the clinic was originally set to happen in Fort McMurray until the city came under siege by wildfire. Despite the major setback, Lush was determined to see the clinic happen.
“I didn’t want to give up that date and I just thought that there must be something I can do with this … And Cochrane has a really strong Extreme Cowboy group so I started looking into if we could book the arena,” Lush said.
Run by Jim Anderson, professional cowboy and a legend in Alberta, the clinic trained 15 participants in horsemanship, riding, participating in a liberty group, or on the obstacle course for Extreme Cowboy.
“Born and raised in southern Alberta, Jim has spent his life with horses; Team Roping, starting colts and taking clinics with Tom Dorrance and Ray Hunt as a youngster, progressing to Reining and Cow Horse Events where he has NRHA earnings over $130,000 and Lifetime earnings in excess of $200,000 total including other events,” states Anderson’s website.
There was also a demonstration featuring the talents of the participants on May 21. Anderson and his wife also performed a liberty demonstration that evening. Liberty refers to when a rider-less horse responds to verbal commands.
Lush’s intentions are to use the funds raised to help rebuild any barns lost in the wildfires. The cause is personal for her because she lost a barn on her property.
“Our house is still standing but we lost the back portion of our barn, it wasn’t the main barn though, so that’s good,” Lush said.
Lush would like to extend a thank you to Extreme Cowboy Alberta and the Cochrane Ag Society for their support.
“Their board really helped put this together – they gave the donation of the use of the arena, the equipment for the obstacle courses, and just the resources to be able to find the groups that performed the demonstrations,” Lush said.
