Bengal Lancers Getting Back In The Saddle With The ‘Horses Of Halifax’
HALIFAX – The Halifax Junior Bengal Lancers, known as the Bengal Lancers, are getting back in the saddle as Covid-19 restrictions relax.
The organization is the only non-profit urban riding stable in Canada and was founded in 1936, then called the Halifax Ride and Drive Club, by M.B. (aka. Dick) Zwicker. He wanted to teach urban children how to ride and provide them with an activity to learn during what he believed was an upcoming war.
“There are thousands of people who have lived in Halifax who at some point have had some connection with Lancers,” said Angie Holt, Head Coach and Barn Manager. “Part of our mission is to build better lives through horses and part of that includes instilling a good sense of citizenship in all of our riders and so we hope that any lessons they learn through the barn they take that into life too.”
The club moved from the Halifax Forum on Windsor Street to 1690 Bell Road, where they still operate out of today.
The Lancers currently house 27 horses and offer junior and adult memberships and beginner courses. Beginner courses are 12-week riding programs teaching the basics of horsemanship, riding and being a Lancer while memberships are for riders with previous riding experience.
“Part of how we’re located right in the middle of the city lends the organization to being so accessible for anybody; we’re only really limited by our own capacity,” said Holt.
“Our promotion, for lack of better word, is focused more on just helping the public understand what it is we do because I think there’s a bit of a misconception that horseback riding in general, that it tends to be for the upper classes,” she said. “We don’t take borders, nobody owns their own horse. They’re all horses that are used by the lesson program, and we call them the Horses of Halifax.”
The Lancers are also home to one of the oldest therapeutic riding programs in Canada. The program began in the 1960s as a partnership with the Halifax School For The Blind but quickly morphed into being available for anybody with a form of special need or disability. There are 32 people, skewed towards children, who take part in the therapeutic ride, the limit of what the Lancers can accommodate.
Prior to Covid-19 the Bengal Lancers have been at the beginnings of negotiations with the city for expansion, which have now been put on hold.
“In order to significantly offer more services to people, all we really need would be a second indoor arena where we ride the horses in the winter and in bad weather, as well as enough space for some more horses,” explained Holt.
It would allow the Lancers to expand regular programming, conduct two lessons simultaneously, further grow the therapeutic programming and introduce client assisted learning programming.
“Our therapeutic programming doesn’t take as much out of the horse physically, as some of our riding lessons do, so we could certainly like significantly expand that part of the programming,” she said.
The Lancers closed the facility on March 12, with the essential staff looking after the horses and keeping up their fitness and usual activity.
One way the Lancers kept in contact with members was through Holt’s Athletic Immersion Program where youth from Grades 7-12 can learn about being an athlete, how it helps them be a better rider, covering topics from nutrition to mindfulness meditation.
“She decided to do those daily sessions Monday to Friday at 10 am, every day on Facebook Live for our members and she did that for eight weeks consecutively,” said Dr. Claire L. Halsead, historian and representative of the Lancers.
The Bengal Lancers were ironically prepared for a pandemic because they went through a similar situation not long ago. In 2018 they had to quarantine their stables due to an outbreak of strangles, a highly contagious equine disease.
“It became apparent that we really needed to prioritize having some kind of contingency fund and how we operate, so that had been something we had been working towards as a board,” said Holt.
The organization asked its members to consider continuing to pay their monthly fees, if they were able, and set up a system where members could also contribute towards another member’s fees to keep their membership.
The expense of maintaining the horses was a big potential worry.
“We’re non-profit, so prices are as low as possible, but we’re always just bringing in the amount of money that we need to cover our expenses so when we’re not able to bring that money in, and our expenses don’t change that’s a problem,” she said
The Lancers were given the go-ahead by the province’s health department at the end of May.
“There were a whole bunch of restrictions around it, including there wasn’t to be any type of formal training or coaching,” said Holt.
They decided to limit riders to people who have enough experience that they could be supervised, but not coached, while social distancing.
“One of our main objectives is keeping everything fair for everybody, and it felt like for the first time ever, we were going to create policy that really wasn’t fair to most of our members,” she said. “Thankfully, everybody was very understanding and very cooperative and two weeks later we were able to begin teaching lessons again.”
Lessons are now held at half-capacity to properly meet the social distancing requirements while providing the opportunity for all members to come back and ride.
The Lancers’ Musical Ride, where 16 riders and horses execute drills and movements in full uniform and coordinated to music, usually held on Canada Day with an open house performance in October, will most likely be cancelled for 2020.
The Bengal Lancers’ history and impact make it a unique Haligonian and Canadian institution.
“It’s something so magical to have in a city like this,” said Claire Halstead. “We have a long, long history and legacy and we like to that that we are able to serve our community, that’s really part of our mandate to share the horses with the people.”