OUR WONDERFUL STAFF
(Click on the name to see the detailed biography)Sue Colgate (Administrative Officer)
Carol Hubberstey (Vice President)
Liz Gagel (Coordinator of Volunteers)
Kyrie Martinez (Instructor)
Stella French (Head Instructor)
Samantha Howe (Program Coordinator and Instructor)
Sue Colgate (Administrative Officer)
Sue Colgate was born and raised in Victoria. She learned to ride when
she was 6 years old like and most of us from Victoria rode at
Carley's. She moved to Williams Lake where she worked on a
quarter horse ranch, and on to Cortez Island at a children's guest
ranch, in Vancouver working for a variety of different types of co-ops,
traveled for 2 years and then moved to Powell River where she lived for
14 years.
In Powell River she purchased her first horse, got her CEF Level one
western coaching certificate and opened her own riding school. At that
time she became involved with the Powell River Therapeutic Riding
Association. Her 10 year association with them was as an instructor,
board member, and later as program coordinator.
After an absence of 30 years she returned to her home town and began
employment with VRDA in 2006. She has a certificate in Financial
Management and taught bookkeeping at Malaspina College continuing ed
program for 10 years.
CAROL HUBBERSTEY (Vice President)
Carol grew up on Vancouver Island but left to attend
university in the USA and to travel, returning to complete her Masters
degree at the University of Victoria and to settle down. She has worked
in the non-profit sector previously, working with abused children and
their families and then in 1993, was part of the initial planning for
transfer of mental health services from the province to newly emerging
health authorities.Since 1995 Carol has worked as part of a consulting
team, conducting
program evaluations and doing research in social services and health
related areas. Carol has a particular interest in Fetal Alcohol
Spectrum Disorder and in services for youth living in government care
and/or leaving government care.
Carol's 17-year-old daughter has her
own horse and is a competitive show jumper. As such, Carol has spent a
great deal of time in Central Saanich, at the stables and at horse
shows. She has an appreciation for the numerous benefits that can arise
from the association with horses. Carol also served for several years
on the Board of the BC Association for Clinical Counsellors in the
early stages of the organizations' development. In her capacity as
Board member and Chair of the Discipline committee Carol was part of
the transition of the Association from being a grass roots organization
to being a professionally run regulatory body.
KYRIE MARTINEZ (Instructor)
Kyrie has been riding, owning and living with horses
since she was
10 years old. During her teen years she became involved with caring for
children with special needs, taking courses at Queen Alexandra Hospital
and The Arbutus Society. After high school she left Victoria for 10
years to work and compete with horses in the Hunter/Jumper discipline,
in Eastern Canada and the United States. During this time she achieved
her Equine Canada Level 2 Coaches certificate.....and lots of
experience.
Returning to Victoria Kyrie continued to combine her two interests,
taking courses in Equine Assisted Therapy and Behavioural Intervention.
She has joined us at the VRDA and is Instructing while working to
become a Certified CanTRA Instructor and looking forward to many years
of seeing happy faces and therapeutic advancement. Kyrie lives with her
two young daughters Gabriela and Olivia.
SAMANTHA HOWE (Program Coordinator and Instructor)
While living in Dubai in the mid 90's, Sam obtained a Degree in Training and Development from Leicester University. To determine what route she would take next for her Masters Sam joined the Riding for the Disabled Association Dubai to study cognitive disabilities. From that day she was hooked and has spent over 10 years volunteering in therapeutic riding programs as a horse handler, side walker and lately, Instructor. She obtained her CanTRA Intermediate instructor Certification and has also spent 2 years as the VRDA Board Secretary. She started riding at the age of 6 and broke and trained her first horse at age 13. She spent many years participating in the Pony Club in England and her favorite pass time was cross country jumping on her Arabian. Since coming to Canada she has been introduced to the delights of trail riding and spends many happy hours wandering up and down the hills of Metchosin on her Standard bred mare. She lives on the Westshore, with her husband and two sons, Alex and Mattie, 3 cats, 2 fish and the family dog - Jack.
Top of PageSTELLA FRENCH (Head Instructor)
Stella French was born and grew up in Powell River, BC
and
at the age
of 8, began riding to achieve her “Brownie Badge”. Much of her time as
a child was spent just riding the trails by herself and teaching some
of the neighbourhood kids to ride on her pony, “Toby”.
She taught for a time with the Powell River Therapeutic Riding
Association and began working towards her Canadian Equine Federation
certification, which she passed in 1994. In 1993, while working at
Pioneer Chehalis Riding Camp, she achieved certification with the
Canadian Horsemanship Association to teach group lessons. At that time
she was introduced to vaulting. She became involved with the Victoria
Therapeutic Riding group while researching a paper for her Recreation
Administration program at Malaspina University College and she achieved
her CanTRA I in 1997. She began to substitute as an instructor at the
VRDA and became the Head Instructor in 2002.
Most recently she's been certified to teach Vaulting and has started
coaching the Manestream Vaulters. Her teaching pursuits have also
involved learning how to coach riders with Disabilities, to show
competitively, and how to better utilize the movement of the horse for
riders who are not riding independently.
LIZ GAGEL (Coordinator of Volunteers)
Liz grew up in London, Ontario and started riding at
the age of 8.
She spent her teenage years in the stable working, riding and training
horses. Her first horse was an off the track thoroughbred which she
retrained to be a hunter jumper. While getting her education in
Business Marketing from Fanshawe Collage she worked teaching riding
lessons and horsemanship camps to children of all ages.
Liz moved to Victoria in 2008 and got her certification as a riding
instructor through the Certified Horsemanship Association. She also
started volunteering with the VRDA as an Assistant Instructor. Liz has
a passion for horses, people and children and has become more involved
with the VRDA. She now works as the Coordinator of Volunteers for the
program and looks after the VRDA horses as the barn manager. Liz enjoys
the program so much that she is also working towards her certification
with the Canadian Therapeutic Riding Association.
