Many families in the Foothills have had to walk through the doors of the Alberta Children's Hospital at one point in time.

For a local horse trainer, one trip to the Children's Hospital was enough to want to help out and give back.

Alex Alves, owner of Hat Creek Performance Horses, and his wife made their first trip four years ago when they were about to meet their son for the first time. The only problem was their son was way too early.

Alves says during their 10 day stay at the hospital he could see areas where the hospital could improve and needed support.

"When my son was born we spent 10 days in the NICU because he was premature," says Alves. "We really saw what needed to be done within that structure and it's been playing on me ever since. I wanted to help the best way I could, being a horse trainer I don't know much about helping out directly so I decided I'm just going to raise some funds the best I can."

Alves went back to his roots and decided he would use his talent for getting through to horses to raise money for a cause near and dear to his heart and help horse owners who may be having trouble at home as well. 

He and Nick Baer, a fellow trainer and friend, will be hosting a Colt Starting Demonstration in Okotoks on Mar. 19. 

Two untouched colts have been donated for the demonstration from Rocking Heart Ranch in Waterton.

In a Facebook post they called Alves and Baer "two of Canada's most promising young horse training talents."

Alves says in this charity demonstration they will take completely new and untouched colts and show spectators how they turn them into safe, sound and trusted performance horses or family trail horses.

"The horses don't have any training, they're pretty well untouched," Alves adds "We'll show the public how to maintain a balance of respect and trust with the horse. They have to be able to trust you to climb on their back and ride around but at the same time they need to respect you, so they won't attack just because they feel like it."

Spectators are welcome to ask questions and learn from Baer and Alves during the demonstration.

"That's why we're doing this, so if people are having problems at home, they can come out and watch what we do, they're more then welcome to ask questions during the demonstration on how we're achieving what we're achieving if they need a little more explanation as well."

The Colt Starting Demonstration will take place on Mar. 19 at the Okotoks Ag Society who have donated the space and time to the good cause.

General rush seating will open at 10 a.m. with the demonstration starting before 11:00. 

There is a $10 minimum donation fee to get in at the door but people can donate as much as they'd like.

All money raised will be going directly to the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation, for more information click here

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