Chris Cowland
Chris has always had a passion for animals and when Chris began his riding career when he was 12 years old, with coach Judy Cummings in Victoria, BC. This passion grew to another level. Chris believes strongly in letting horses be horses, when they are happy and relaxed you will get consistent and peak performance from them. It was at a Courtenay horse show where he met his famous horse Condor, the two became an unstoppable pair at any show they entered. He later went on to ride with Peter Holmes, competing all over BC. They went on to compete at Spruce Meadows were they held their own in the Grand Prix rings, 1.40m-1.50m. While riding at these shows Chris was offered coaching from many other German riders in the grand prix rings, even Ian Miller helped him out a time or two during warm ups at Spruce Meadows. Chris trained with German dressage coach Alex Wortmann, a German F.N. certified dressage coach (Reitlehrer), whom helped get him a job at Parkland Meadows in Alberta, where he also began training with German instructor Hartmut Gutzmann. While at parkland Meadows, Chris would ride 15 plus horses a day and would be doing anything from breaking new horses to riding seasoned show horses. Chris has taken many clinics over the years some of his more memorable clinicians were Michel Vaillencourt (when chef d'equipe), Judy Gullelis and Daton Gorslan. Although his heart is in the jumper ring Chris has a very strong dressage back ground and believes that all great jumpers begin with a strong solid foundation of dressage. |
Trish Cowland
Trish has always had a love for horses, finally at age 12 Trish was given riding lessons as a Christmas present, and she has never looked back. She was given the opportunity as a young teenager to ride the different horses at the stable. Trish has always enjoyed starting and backing young mounts. She equally enjoys spending the time with horses that need a restart or require more training and are considered difficult. Trish uses natural horsemanship working with pressure and release when training the horses. After taking a few years off riding to focus on a career Trish got back into riding again and began riding competitively. Trish takes regular clinics when available to always be learning. Born in Campbell River, Trish has always had a love for the up island lifestyle and was lucky enough to move to the Comox Valley. It was at the Benefit Horse Show in Victoria that she met her soul mate Chris Cowland, now married the two bought their property together with a dream, now known as Sprout Meadows. |
Laila Labonte
Working Student
Laila has always been passionate about horses, after moving to the Comox Valley she started to learn natural horsemanship from there her her love for horses took off.
At the age of 9 she started taking hunter / jumper lessons while being involved in the local pony club. Through pony club Laila was able to attend many clinics for different disciplines, this is where her love for dressage started. Intrigued by the discipline and she began taking formal dressage lessons. While working under and learning from her dressage coach this helped lead Laila to ride and study theory in Germany in 2016. Laila looks forward to growing her knowledge by returning to Germany to continue her studies yearly.
Laila is excited to have the opportunity to share her knowledge with other people and is looking forward to teaching new riders who share the same love for horses she does.
Working Student
Laila has always been passionate about horses, after moving to the Comox Valley she started to learn natural horsemanship from there her her love for horses took off.
At the age of 9 she started taking hunter / jumper lessons while being involved in the local pony club. Through pony club Laila was able to attend many clinics for different disciplines, this is where her love for dressage started. Intrigued by the discipline and she began taking formal dressage lessons. While working under and learning from her dressage coach this helped lead Laila to ride and study theory in Germany in 2016. Laila looks forward to growing her knowledge by returning to Germany to continue her studies yearly.
Laila is excited to have the opportunity to share her knowledge with other people and is looking forward to teaching new riders who share the same love for horses she does.
