nickyo

Hi all, we are in the very very early stages of thinking about moving to Canada. It is such a big decission as we have two small children and just need to make sure we are doing the right thing by them. Does anyone have any advice on schools etc. Also I am a horse rider and own my own horse here in Scotland but think it would probably to much to put her through to take her along. Is Canada a good place for horse riding? Can you tell we are in the very early stages of thinking about moving, I don't know anything about the place at all. Any advice would be appreciated.

moondevil

Welcome to BE!!

It may help if you advise where you want to head to, canada is a very large place
the wiki is a good place to start if yo are after certain questions answering, cant advise on horses, but dogs are easy to ship

gill

Judy in Calgary

Hello, nickyo, and welcome to the BE forum.

There are articles on schools and other child-related topics in the Children-Canada section of the BE Wiki.

A few BE members have shipped their horses overseas. Tiaribbon is a member who brought a horse (or perhaps horses, plural) from the UK to Canada. If I remember correctly, she had them flown to the USA, and then driven to Canada.

YYZlover is a member who is planning to bring her horse when she moves from Sweden to Canada. YYZlover has written a short Wiki article about Transporting Horses.

And to answer your question about whether or not Canada is a good place for horse riding ... well ... I don't quite know how to answer that question. First of all, Canada is huge, I mean really huge. It covers six time zones.

I don't suppose the Far North is an idea place for horses. But then I don't consider it to be an ideal place for human beings either. Yet, with that having been said, there are people who love the Far North, so who am I to say what's ideal for human beings and what's not?

Anyway, back to horses. The southern bits of Canada, in which 90% of the human population lives, are great for horse riding (or horseback riding, as Canadians call it). Calgary, Alberta, where I live, is in the middle of cowboy country. It's the home of an annual, western-themed festival called the Calgary Stampede. One of our members, R I C H, owns an equestrian centre in Kamloops, British Columbia. Another of our members, dbd33, lives in the countryside, some distance outside of Toronto, Ontario, and has horses. You can see his blog here. Tiaribbon, whom I mentioned before, also lives in Ontario -- I think in the Quinte Region, in the general direction of Belleville.

It would help if you read the Wiki articles called Regions of Canada and Where to live.

Read Quick Guide to Canadian Immigration.

Then get yourself a pot of tea, and settle in to read all the Wiki articles about job hunting in Canada.

Hope that helps.
x

Elaine B.

Hi Nicko and welcome to BE. I think one of the first things you need to do is start planning a trip. I moved to Canada without even visiting first (not a good idea). Anyway good luck with your research

dbd33

Specifically on the topic of horse riding I would consider the following in comparing Ontario and the UK:

- weather. Opportunities for riding outside between November and April are limited in the extreme. If you don't board the horse and want to stay on form all year you need either an indoor arena at home or a truck and trailer (unless you happen to be close enough to ride to the arena). Legal towing vehicles here are massively larger than in the UK so that's a serious investment.

- level of affluence. It costs about $1,000 a month to board a horse and ride two or three times a week, that's maybe $17,000 gross in disposable income that has to be earned. I'm not sure what the equivalent number is in the UK but, in Canada, that's a fair whack of money - the average wage is, I think, around $30,000.

Given unlimited funds, yes, Ontario is a pretty good place to ride in most disciplines; even the hunt is legal. That said, rich kids who ride go to Florida for the winter, if it's all about horses it might make more sense to move there, or somewhere horsey all year such as Virginia.

R I C H

Some observations from Kamloops - the outdoor riding season's longer than dbd experiences in his part of Canada. It's late November before we close our outdoor arena, and it generally re-opens in early to mid March. Our neighbour keeps his outdoor arena open year round - it's just a matter of how much cold weather you can brave, the footing is perfectly useable.

Boarding costs aren't anywhere near $1k p/mth - my business charges $450 p/mth which includes hay, beetpulp and a grain mix. Of course, you still need to factor in farriers, vet costs etc too.

dbd33

I was assuming $600-700 in boarding fees, the rest is, as you say farrier, vet, coach and travel to and from the barn. That based on experience primarily with York Equestrian, a facility north of Toronto. The snag with lower cost barns here is access to the arena, it's all vey well having use of the facility but having it at 2:00am is less than ideal.

bandit

Hello

Welcome to BE.

I don't know where you are headed but good luck with it! It's certainly a great place to explore for getting a new life etc....

*There are plenty on here with horses on in the horse industry. I too know of Tiaribbon, she shipped her pony over, and as far as I know had no problems - she now has a boarding place in Ontario....

I guess the main difference is the weather - but again that will depend where you want to live. You need to work that out first I think... Transporting pets, including horses is not out of the quesiton.

good luck and speak soon.

Bandit!