WillowCreek Stables is a conglomeration of two legged and four legged animals each with a unique and interesting history and personality!
Here is an introduction to our furry friends!
Oh, and here’s a song I recorded if you want to listen while you read, just click on the link below: (please note I misspelled my own name 
~ just keepin’ it real. )
GOING TO CALIFORNIA – Jose Brault (Original: led Zeppelin)
MASTER ~ TB/QUARTER CROSS (We think?) ~ D.O.B.1990
MASTER was the first horse I acquired after a terrible accident many years ago. Master is a 23 year old Thoroughbred/Quarter horse cross. who determindely brought back my confidence and was for many years my retraining and showing partner for dressage and hunter jumper events. He was most importantly my greatest teacher and has gone on to become the best teaching partner for any novice rider here at WillowCreek. He has been my interminable friend over these many years and our seven kids have all grown up with him; he is very much a part of the family and the very reason why we began Willowcreek Stables in July 2007. Gentle in disposition and good for any level of rider, Master’s keen sense on the trails make him a fun partner for every kind of equine experience. He has lots of energy for an old guy so don’t let the age fool you! Originally Master was raised and purchased with a gentle older horse partner who was my companion for many years. When Ranger health began to decline and he died at the ripe old age of 31 a few years back, we decided to “buy Master a farm” so he would be with the family all the time. And so..Willowcreek was born!
But Master was lonely and needed a friend sooo….
WE GOT LILY!
LILY ~ Standardbred ~D.O.B. 2005
Lily was only 18 months old when her owners decided they needed to start training her to race at Bluebonnet’s race track in Montreal. Her young legs were not able to withstand the intense strain racing causes, and she suffered a sesamoid bone break. Her trainer was requested by the owner to bring her to slaughter, but instead the kind trainer contaced RR REFUGE FOR HOR
SES who immediately stepped in and found a place for Lily…luckily with us! I had called them just the previous day to introduce myself and let them know I had places for horses if they needed help. They had replied that they were very careful about the homes they chose for their horses and would need a visit, to which I heartily agreed. Lily’s situation was critical and urgent however, and a few minutes after my “introductory” phone call, Rose from the refuge called me back and said she hoped it would be ok, but they needed a place for an urgent placement. It was about 7:00 on a warm july night. I knew that I needed a friend for Master as I still had him boarding at the bautiful Bayhaven Stables on Ste. Angelique and anyone who knows Master knows very well he would not be happy alone. We were THRILLED!
Lily came in on a beautiful summer evening and I felt like she was mine the minute she walked off of the trailer. I have had many refuge horses since and have never felt quite the same way about any of them. Lily had my heart. We brought Master in the next day and the greatest of love affairs was born!
Lily is not a riding horse here at Willowcreek. She works on the ground, helping teach people how to be calm handlers; confident and gentle, she is the best alpha mare around. For anyone with fear issues…Lily is your best guide to conifidence.
TIARA ~ HALFLINGER ~ 1994 
Tiara was one of the first boarders at the original Willowcreek Stables. She was a harnessing horse whose owners wanted her trained for saddle riding. She came equipped with a young rider who retrained her for about three months. She was doing so well that the owners, busy with her own 6 kids, felt she would be better to stay and continue to get the love and attention she would get with all of the kids at Willowcreek who had fallen in love with her, so after her training was over, Tiara stayed with us and has helped teach more kids and adults to trust and love horses than any horse I know. She is the eternally gentle and forgiving Tiara; a little plump angel of happiness
Tiara is a good teacher of trust and beginning dressage for kids and (light) adults. Because she is older, we instill a 140 pound weight limit on her back. She can trail anywhere and particularly enjoys visiting the nice people who work at the local strip mall when we go on our walks. Our favourite saying around the farm is “Tiara is perfect” Full of Love! …that’s our Ti-loo-loo
Tiara is available for a “light” half lease. Please inquire with Josee or Jessica! (PS: the goat’ll cost you extra )
SCIROCCO (Rocco) ~ Standardbred/Quart ~ 2001
Rocco belonged to a young girl who was going off to work in Mexico and could no longer keep him. She was his first owner and had him since he was born. Sadly, Rocco was born all crooked in the front. Any other horse would have been put down, but happily Rocco had angels in the form of an orthopedic vet who happened to be stables at the same barn where he was born. They did surgery and put his front legs in casts for a few weeks and TADA! He was straight and perfect and beautiful! Rocco went on the compete at Bromont when he was four. I bought him when he was 7 for my daughter and to use as a large pony in the Willowcreek School. A gentle horse, we have often said is Rocco was a dog he would have been a golden retreiver!
Rocco is an excellent teacher of beginner to more intermediate levels of dressage and low jumps for students with a solid seat. He thrives when ridden consistently and loves all forms of attention!
ROCCO IS AVAILABLE FOR A FULL HALF LEASE beginning in December. Please inquire with Jessica or Josee.
Big Mac ~ BELGIAN ~ 2001
Big Mac came to us as somewhat of a surprise and a few hundred pounds lighter than how you would see him today. One night we reecievd a call from Rose at Refuge RR saying that a farmer was sending his draft horses to meat, and could we take one or two for a time. Well, I secretly always had a soft spot for big ole draft horses and was pretty excited about helping out. Rose arrived with not one, but three horses. Apparently annother farmer down the road had dumped a horse on her and she had no where for her to go. So here we found ourselves with Mac, Delilah and Sampson. Sampson was very old and had serious physical challenges, so Rose kindly agreed to take him to her own farm where he would recieve the specialized kind of senior horse care I only know her to be capable of. Delilah unfortunately went to a bad second home from our place; to someone who did not take the time to undetstand her needs and pushed a too fast training agenda which only succeeded in further traumatizing her. This happens as horse people can vary quite differently in their approaches to training. Sometimes the old approaches are great…and sometimes they aren’t. Old school approaches tend to favor fast results because in the old days horses had to become useful very quickly or they would not be worth keeping if they could not earn their food. But today we are not in this position and are able to give horses a more gentle and communicative understanding of what a human-horse relationship can be like. Unfortunately not everyone thinks like this, and Delilah suffered the consequences of disconnected horse training. Luckily, Delilah was re-homed once again and is now living a gentle happy life!
Mac, like so many other horses we have met here are all about second, third even 10th chances. Maybe you think we gave Mac a second chance by bringing him to Willowcreek and permanently adopting him, but it really is the other way around. Everyone that meets Mac finds their fears are quickly dispelled. His gentle countenance and energetic nature have become a favourite personality around the farm. I often see people stop with their kids along our little dirt road just to feed Mac grass from the side. Sometimes I think I should tell them not to feed him with their hands because he may become nippy, which in mac;s case could involves swallowing an entire appendage. But then I watch him and see how very careful he is with the tiniest of hands and I realize…they are much more brilliant than I give them credit for.
Recently Mac was diagnosed with ocular cancer. We had an amazing fundraiser this summer and raised nearly half of what it cost for his operation, which took place in November, We are ALL SO HAPPY to report that the doctor`s say teh surgery was a success and they got all of the cancer!
BIG MAC IS AVAILABLE FOR LEASE TO A VERY VERY SPECIAL PERSON! :) Please inquire with Josee or Jessica or John (cause it`s his horse and you have to pass…THE TEST).
OTIS~ 2002 ~ AQHA QUARTER HORSE
And this is Otis…the newest addition to our family. Otis belonged to some very good friends of mine who had done work with me in the past with RR Refuge. In their search to find her husband a calm and gentle horse, these people had reached all the way to Texas and had found a “Gentle Giant” as he was described in his advertisement. Otis was a huge beast of a quarter horse, at 16’3″ he stood a shoulder above any other horse in his bloodline. He had an exceptional eye and a beautiful physical demeanor. After speaking with the seller they agreed to buy Otis. It was only after they had paid for him that the seller mysteriously disappeared and the border vet advised them that Otis had a debilitating double navicular condition in both front feet. My friends were understandably devastated. They have not had the best of luck in the past with their animals, and this was not a good end for them. But, being the good people that they are, they told the border vet not to euthanize Otis as was being recommended and had Otis shipped home anyways.
They tried corrective shoeing but her husband was not confident enough on a horse that could be a challenge physically to keep fit. Pain did not wear well on Otis and soon he began to loose weight and became what we call a “hard keeper”.
“Coincidentally”, a few weeks before hearing about Otis I had mentioned to Jessica that I felt like I was now in a place in my life that could FINALLY want a “horse of my own”. Not for my kids or my school or all the people I love..but for ME. I even gave her a list of requirements I recall; he had to be MALE (girls were too moody ~ just like me), and I wanted HUGE…A BIG horse (cause the first horse I ever loved was an enormous 17 hand high Hanoverian) and I have a belief that big horse sare more gentle for whatever superstition. He had to have a beautiful calm headeye and most importantly the smoothest gait available for my aching 45 year old back. This was quite a list, but he would be my horse…my retirement horse, is what I called him. I also decided that I would do nothing about this emerging desire; he would come to me. I vowed I would not go out “horse shopping”, something I have never needed to do.
Then a few weeks later, someone who didn’t even know I was looking mentioned that my friend was looking to place this horse in a good home. She felt he wasn’t getting enough attention at her busy house and she wanted to give him a better chance. I knew the woman she spoke of and knew their family had always taken such good care of their horses, this must be a sweet horse. IReally, went on an instinct, not even actively looking. After I had made my “request” to the univerrse, I had bascially forgotten about it…until I saw Otis.
He stood ankle deep in mud (such are the conditions in our area in the fall of every year), and apart from the herd. He seemed to have no connection to any of them and was ambivalent about any sort of activity. He just watched me quietly as I approached him, and for me it was done. It was something about how he “felt” to me, like he had been just waiting for me and was frankly a little fed up of waiting. And yes, I agree…he does look allot like master in his countenancem, thats for sure. Maybe I am attracted by hard-to-get bad boy types who are really just interior marshmallows? Ugh. Whatever it was, I tried to look “professional” and not like a little girl who was getting her first pony, but I knew that whatever was wrong with this horse, he was supposed to be with me. While doign an excercise of walking him away from the herd and up a dirt road to see his road manners, I really observed what he was like under pressure, with a new person, in a chaotic situation. This particular street happened to have a few houses undergoing last minute renovations before the fall hit. I was tossed aside when a truck came roaring around the corner, towing behind it a wagon filled with loose jangly tools, things flying about that, quite frankly made my heart jump at the sudden break in the silence. But Otis hadn’t twitched a muscle. He had stepped cautiously away when the truck came dangerously close to his flank, but again, so had I.
Otis was perfect.
I don’t use Otis in the school. His feet still hurt him, so I keep him moving, but very lightly, and only with me. He settled into Willowcreek so quickly, Jessica and I were remarking almost every day for a while how much he had changed in so short a period of time.
First of all, his shoes fell off…I think they were pinching his feet; and as his feet expanded, he seemd to become more and more comfortable. We are working towards the most natural solution to keep Otis comfortable and moving forward like he should.
He is the strangest horse I have ever ridden and have never, I swear, EVER had so much trouble steering a horse in my life. Trust me…I have ridden some pretty wierd horses…but none like Otis. For example, when I was 13 I rode a galloping horse through the morrocan desert with a bunch of hollering Ber-Ber tribesmen, and yet I had more control over that crazy arab horse than I did over Otis for the first two weeks of our life together. It was a littel frustrating..let me tell you. But it began to remind me how to ride!
I would take contact…he would fight the bit, even lift his front feet off the ground. I would let him go loose…he would do whatever he wanted. I would touch him with my heel..he would gallop. Sit back on my bum…slide stop. Oy. But…everything that Otis did felt like the wind, so it was all fun. Maybe that’s it…Otis brought back the fun.
Let me tell you… I have developed a HEALTHY respect for real cowboy western riders. My hats off to you! That riding, as far as Otis is teaching me, is ALL ABOUT body language, and it is more natural and more involved than English saddle. That’s the truth. Western riding demands a greater engagement withthe horse it seems because they are trained to be so incredibly hyper sensitive to every move you make with your back and bum! It’s really a different ride as the few advanced riders I have let on him here will attest to. But slowly, we are developing our own style with Otis, something in between what we know an dwhat he knows. I love that we keep on learning in this sport.
My big conclusion?
Master taught me all the things I could put up with (built my strength and understanding) , and Otis, my “later life” teacher, is showing me all that I still have lots to learn! Thank Goodness!
Shenahnahginz~ June 2006 (But we always celebrate his birthday December 25 )
And who doesn’t love Shenanigans the donkey! Donkey was purchased for my son for Christmas one year. I was trying as parents do to try and get him invested somehow in the things that were happening on the farm being a budding teenager he was hesitant about horses but had expressed a desire to have a donkey. Well…maybe it was a Shrek inspired idea, but it was a good one. I had fallen in love with a donkey a while back on an “undercover” farm investigation to see if a man was treating his animals properly. He wasn’t, but the current laws in our country don’t do anything to help us protect these animals, so all I ccould do was walk around and look into one crowded stall after another. Gagging at that the piles of dirty light deprived hungry animals stood in. One stall alone held four enormous 2 year old Canadian horses. It was a wonder that no legs were broken that we could see anyways.
One stall I managed to spend some time at held about 25 sheep and a lone donkey who literally walked over the sheep to get to me. He was willing to put up with the bleating and shoving, and when he got to me, he determinedly put his head in my jacket and rested it against my heart. I couldn’t help crying. Usually I can say I have managed to develop abit of a tougher skin over the years and wanting to be of service to the animals is more important to me allowing my emotions to show at inopportune times; but this was too much.
I had to leave the little donkey there. I asked the man how much, he said 500.00. I was disgusted. The poor thing. I struggled with the belief that if i had bought the donkey, it would have given him a reaons to bring another to sell and another one would be tortured, because he was following the bare minimums of an already pathetic set of laws, and I can’t save the world. It was a nasty day I remember.
But that little donkey always stayed in my heart, and it was actually through the same good friend who brought Otis to us that heard i was looking for a donkey and she happened to hear of someone in Hudson who had gotten one for their horse, but eh horse hated the little thing and was beating the crap out of it on a regular basis.
I went to see him, all fuzzy and little and six months old and the decision was pretty easy. Again Cowboy was called,and this time, watching cowboy shove and heave and haul that little guy into the trailer, slipping and sliding on his fancy cowboy boots in the snow was truly an epicly funny moment for me. As we as we waited outside a store for Cowboy later, a crowd of kids gathered around the trailer where Shenanigans waited patiently. He greeted the kids happily and never put up a fuss. Perfect little donkey.
We gave him to Jordan on December 25 after diner when the whole family was here. The day before, absoultey everyone in the neighbourhood found out about our “little arrival” so timely to the seasons, and there seemd to be a pilgrammage of sorts. not everyone gets at donkey at Christmas! So, it was fun…and conspiratorial. Everyone in the world knew, including the Mayor of St. Lazare, but Jordan was kept completely unaware until after Christmas dinner on the 25th. it was a true family coup!
JESSICA LAPOLLA – SERVICES CAVALAN
WITH MARBLES THE TRUSTY PONY
Jessica and I decided to group our efforts a few years ago and combine Cavalan Services Equestres with Willowcreek Stables www.cavalan.com Jessica brings a fresh enthusiasm and a tremendously good attitude to her teaching. Her students develop a natural empathy for their mounts both on and off saddle, and become skilled in areas of care and handling. Both Jessica and I were trained early on by Captain Wiazowski of the Wiazowski Riding School in Foster Quebec. Our early memories and shared experience have made running WillowCreek with Jessica both easy and fun. The Captain gave us both a love for the natural care of horses which we have taken further into our teaching. We’re pretty sure he’d be very proud of us
Jess keeps her three school horses at Willowcreek and teaches throughout all four seasons. Each horse brings a unique personality and talent to their rider and handler. Jessica’s natural approach has created a very calm and approachable herd for all level of rider.
jessica says: ”
Partnership Through Understanding
MissionStatement
My goal is for each rider to achieve independence whether on the ground or in the saddle, in all situations, with any horse they encounter.
Please keep your eyes open in “Teacher’s Corner” for Jessica’s thoughts on teaching and training.
MARBLES AND MONTY
My husband and best life partner John Shane (Farmer John). John works away from the farm during the week and on weekends you will find him busily trying to fix everything Jessica an dI have broken over the past week. He loves his farm life and has grown to love the horses as much as we have. )