Described as a journey to support correctional officers, the Hoofing for Hope campaign will visit several Alberta communities in June, including the Pe Sakastew Centre in Maskwacis.
"We're riding our horses through the beautiful Alberta corridor to raise awareness for the unsung heroes who serve behind the prison fences: our correctional officers," said Stacie Bourdon, who founded the cause.
"We aim to start important conversations about the challenges they face every day and the proactive support they need before it's too late."
She added the goal is to provide resources that will help make a truly positive difference in their lives.
The tour will visit institutions in seven communities, including Bowden, Drumheller, and Edmonton among others.
The Hoofing for Hope campaign is actually run through a non-profit organization called the Edmonton-based CX Solid Foundation, which Bourdon founded.
"We do proactive and alternative approaches to mental health wellness for correctional officers. In a nutshell, we raise funds to be able to send officers to mental health wellness programs, such as yoga, Tai Chi, Equine Assisted Learning - things like that, and things that their benefits maybe wouldn't cover," explained Bourdon.
Ultimately, it's about being proactive and helping to provide a stabilizing impact.
"We want to be able to get to these people before they have those kinds of major issues," she said.
"That is the whole point of Hoofing for Hope - it's not only an awareness campaign, but also to raise funds to be able to send these officers to those types of programs."
She added organizers are seeking additional sponsorship for Hoofing for Hope. That can come through monthly or one-time donations, for example.
Bourdon also said the the foundation is quite new, having been incorporated about a year and a half ago.
"It was intended to be started as a means of raising funds to send officers to equine assisted learning, and it just expanded from there."
Bourdon serves as a correctional officer with Correctional Service Canada, with 15 years of experience. And since the inception of the CX Solid Foundation, she has been taking horses to Edmonton Max for mental wellness breaks for officers and institutional staff, according to the CX Solid website.
"She was also certified in Equine Assisted Learning so as to offer officers hands-on learning with the horses they have grown to know and love."
Folks come and check out the horses - and the calming impact of these sensitive animals is undeniable, she noted.
"They all walk away with big smiles on their faces."
It will be a really great mental wellness day for all the staff, she said.
"The animals are astonishing. Horses can actually sense your heartbeat from about four feet away - sometimes even further. And they know how you are.
"They can 'read' us from a distance away to decide what we are like; what we are all about. And they have such empathy. They also try to match themselves to our level - if we are calm they are calm. So that helps us self-regulate."
Essentially, they tend to have a calming, therapeutic effect.
As to the upcoming trek around Alberta, Bourdon noted that hopefully this is just the beginning.
"We are expanding across Alberta now, and the goal is to hit all 52 or 53 sites in Canada," she said.
As to the day-to-day work of a correctional officer, Bourdon said it can indeed be a challenging line of work. The public can tend to forget about people who are incarcerated, and once they are there are all kinds of routines and procedures for correctional staff to manage.
"That's where officers come into play, 24/7, 365 days a year. And it's very draining sometimes," she explained. "Every day you walk on shift, (you think) is that the day that is going to change your life forever. You don't know what is going to happen.
"So I decided we needed to do something, because people were coming to me and talking to me, and they weren't doing well," she added. "They needed something.
"I also take dogs onsite, and I see the difference that these animals can make in peoples lives. And it's also about the fact we need to be there for each other."
For more about the Hoofing for Hope campaign, visit cxsolid.ca/event/hoofing-for-hope.
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