Just north of the Long Island Lake Campground, 40 km north of Westlock and 4 km down Township Road 634A, sits the Long Island Light Horse Association.
Mel Kroetsch has been a member of the association since the 1960s and continues to organize gymkhana events, including the first one in six years on May 25.
“It started with just a fence,” says Kroetsch. “Then it got dilapidated and they built another one, then that one got dilapidated and they built this one. There are a lot of memories here.”
The Long Island Lake club began in 1964 with 8 founding members. The club began with trail rides and gymkhana events in its initial years as well as hosting rodeos. The rodeos were shut down in 1994 before starting up again in 2009, running for 10 years until shutting down again due to COVID.
“Some of my favourite memories were at the cabarets, the dinner and dance they had after the rodeo,” says Kirstan Sonnenburg, a rider at the gymkhana who’s been involved with the club for several decades. “The adults were drinking and dancing, and us kids were just running around getting into all kinds of trouble.”
Kroetsch was motivated to bring the gymkhana events back as a way to get younger riders involved.
“All the clubs go through stages where they have lots of members and then it peters out until the next generation comes in and they take it the next level,” says Kreoetsch. “That’s just the way clubs are. They come and go, ups and downs.”
The gymkhana hosted events in barrels, poles, flags, stakes and keyhole.
Each event was a timed trial requiring a mix of speed, agility, and persistence.
The barrels event tests riders’ ability to ride around several barrels in the quickest time. The poles event likewise tests riders’ agility in riding around several poles slalom-style. The flags event is when riders must pick up four flags situated in a row and put each one inside a barrel in the quickest time. The stakes event is a smaller scale poles event where riders must ride around two stakes either side of the field in the quickest time. The keyhole event is when several poles are set up in a triangle pattern and the rider must thread the needle between them and ride back to their starting point.
Some young riders with the support of parents and coaches tested their skills with their efforts being cheered on enthusiastically by spectators.
“I hope it continues to grow. There's been a lot of new members. I know the family who are the core of the club now and they are the biggest hearted people you will ever meet,” says Sonnenburg. “They just want to see the facilities used and they want people to come out and enjoy time with their horses. I hope they go back to being able to do rodeos.”
