Halton School of Equitation: The Coolest Place on Earth

Halton School of Equitation, a popular riding school and boarding facility west of Toronto, ON, since 1970, has sadly closed its doors. Original owner Auriel Halliday started HSE 42 years ago to share her passion for horses with both young and old. She explains, “HSE started out on a farm at Derry and Winston Churchill Blvd., but we moved to Steeles Ave. and Ninth Line in 1971. There were about 30 lesson horses and boarders, and we rode in a big group along the road to the new farm. Those riders included Jane Casselman, Sue Franklin, and Sandy Ballard, all of whom have gone on to be influential people in the horse world.”

Halliday was brought up with horses in England and emigrated to Canada with the idea of starting a riding school. Halton School of Equitation became an instant success; people were lining up to buy packages of four riding lessons for only $20. After Halliday and her first husband went their separate ways, Mary Courtney and her husband Don bought half of the business in 1980, and together Halliday and Courtney turned HSE into one of the most well-known stables in Ontario.

Courtney and Halliday decided to retire in 2007, but they wanted riding lessons to continue under new management. Although the land that HSE stands on was sold to developers in 2007, a new lease was struck and the business was able to continue. Unfortunately, the new management struggled financially and when the land developers decided not to renew the lease on the property in July of 2011, the new management moved all of the school horses to a nearby property. More financial woes resulted in the HSE horses being auctioned off in December, 2011. Auction day was packed with HSE riders, both adults and children, who were willing to bid up to $7,000 on their favorite horse or pony; someone even paid $2,000 for a retired pony.

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For many, Halton School of Equitation was over after Halliday and Courtney sold it, and now the barn where it all took place has closed as well. Halliday recalls, “HSE’s history was built around teaching young and old to ride at an affordable price. We had a large group of show riders and we started to really clean up on the newly-formed Trillium circuit. I would imagine if you talked to all the riders in Ontario, well over half of them started out at HSE. Pupils and boarders through the years have all been like family to me.” Although Halton School of Equitation is gone, it will always hold a special place in the hearts of those who rode there … including me.

The coolest place on Earth

At the tender age of six, I met the coolest first grader I’d ever known at a YMCA Fine Arts camp. Her name was Carrie and she had just spent two weeks at the YMCA riding camp at Halton School of Equitation and said it was the greatest place on earth. The following summer, I boarded the bus each day for camp at HSE, where I fell in love with a horse named Juliet. I also made a friend much cooler than Carrie (which I didn’t think was possible at the time) – my counsellor, Alison Clark, who later showed her mare Ever After to great success on the ‘A’ Circuit. At the age of 12, I had the opportunity to part-board Alison’s first horse, Dedan, and I felt as though I had “arrived” in the realm of riding and cool-ness.

That summer in 1991 changed my life, and although I held Juliet tightly and let the tears flow on the last day of riding camp, I felt an overwhelming sense of happiness and peace, because I knew this was the beginning of something extraordinary. My parents signed me up for riding lessons at HSE in September, and I felt like my life finally had meaning outside of elementary school.

My first instructor was Diane Bagnell, whose daughter, Johanna (now showing at grand prix level) let me walk around on her large pony, Harvest. Most of the time I rode a Quarter Horse named Copper who helped me build the confidence to eventually canter and trot small cavalettis. My next instructor, Lynn Coscina, made sure I had the basics down before I advanced any further. I dreamed of eventually being good enough to ride in Auriel Halliday or Mary Courtney’s lessons. I knew I would have to work very hard and overcome my initial fear of going fast and jumping anything larger than two inches!

On top of my weekly riding lessons, I returned to the YMCA day camp at HSE each year and spent every day riding different ponies and horses. During a Friday lesson at camp in 1993, I had to ride the most difficult pony, a troublesome little albino named Fudge. I rose to the occasion and didn’t let Fudge take advantage of me. Jumping my first vertical on Fudge and showing him who was boss also gave me the confidence to stick up to the fifth grader at school who would bully me in the cafeteria.

Best friends and best times

I was the only rider at my school, and horses were so important to me at this point in my life that I had trouble relating to girls who were only interested in ballet and Barbie. I met the best friend a young girl could ever have at HSE in 1994. Her name was Leigh, and we spent every minute of every day together at the YMCA riding camp. We slept over at each others’ houses every weekend, and when we weren’t with horses in real life, we pretended our bikes were horses. I felt good about myself – until the following summer. Any girl who has lived through the sixth grade knows that life changes drastically. All of a sudden I wasn’t thin enough, my breasts weren’t growing as fast as I would have liked, and Leigh and my other girlfriends had started shaving their legs without me. I felt alone and insecure, and the only place I felt safe and happy was at HSE.

My grandparents bought me Index, a 15.3hh black Thoroughbred, and because I now owned my own horse, I was admitted into Mary’s lessons and started showing Trillium with all of the other cool girls in the barn. I also had a new role model, Rebecca Napier-Andrews, a model who worked at the barn on weekends and owned a gorgeous bay horse named Spinnaker. Leigh and I both wanted to be just like Rebecca, so we would follow her around the barn on weekends after our lesson, helping her with chores and dancing to the ‘Macarena’ during lunch break.

I outgrew Index and in 1998 became the owner of Proud Hitter, who helped me through the challenges of high school, being dumped by my first love at 18, moving out for the first time to attend university, the loss of my Grandpa, and the eventual demise of HSE.

I’ve laughed, cried, and experienced life at HSE. For me, HSE was about becoming the best rider that I could be, but more importantly, it was about making friends, learning to love myself and others, and building the confidence on horseback that could be translated into real-life situations. Thank you to all of the friends I rode with over the years, to my instructors, the barn workers, to all the horses, and of course to Mary and Auriel for providing the perfect environment in which to grow up. A final goodbye to Halton School of Equitation – forever in our hearts and memories.

Note: Sadly, Lianne reports that Hitter had to be put down on Feb. 1st due to complications from a persistent infection. He was 27.