For Kera Willis, Christmas should be about something different than commerce and lining up for department store Santas.
For the second holiday season in a row, she is opening up her Mountain Horse School in the Upper Squamish Valley for kids and families to have a simpler Christmas experience.
“We’re dressing the horses up in homemade reindeer costumes,” she says.
This means rigging up some antlers on the animals and having them give children rides as if the kids were travelling with Santa’s reindeer.
“They’re quite good souls and good sports about it,” she says.
Last year, even the weather cooperated to make the site a winter wonderland.
“We were blessed with snow the day before,” she says. “I’ve got my fingers crossed for this year.”
She was inspired by remembering when she was young she would go to Christmas craft fairs with her mother that offered a more festive experience than going to shopping malls.
“There was always a children’s area that was just like this magical experience that seemed to be exempt from Santa Claus and plastic Christmas decorations,” she says. “There were candles and evergreen trees... I’ve been looking to replicate that spirit and share it with people.”
Unlike pony rides in pens or visiting animals in a petting zoo, her horses will take the kids on a ride into the forest on her property.
There will be a guide person along to make sure each child is safe, and parents are welcome to walk along as well and take pictures.
She is also setting up her operation to provide coffee, hot chocolate and treats, as well as offer people something else to do, in this case, assembling Christmas wreaths or table centrepieces.
“They can make something to take home with them,” she says.
Willis will have her famed pig, Rosie, roaming around to greet visitors and look for people to give her scratches or cookies.
“She’s sort of my roving minstrel,” she says.
Willis runs Mountain Horse School not only to give riding lessons but also to use her animals for therapy.
She does equine experiential learning, building bonds between the horse and the person.
“It’s almost like a translator between species,” she says.
The animals are key to the relationship, especially when it comes to working with those facing challenges such as autism.
Beyond her usual work at Mountain Horse School, Willis has started doing more outreach events like the Christmas Reindeer days.
This included a popular summer fête and a “Pumpkin-palooza” event around Halloween.
For the upcoming Christmas event, people can book advance tickets for the rides. Willis is offering staggered start times, so that parents can be able to set out in advance when their children can get a ride, so that people do not need to stand around in lineups while waiting – something that takes on extra importance if the weather is not idyllic.
The event takes place Dec. 17 and 18 from 1 to 4 p.m. each day at the property on 15023 Upper Squamish Valley Rd.
For information on tickets, people can go to the Mountain Horse School website at www.mountainhorseschool.com, the Facebook page or to www.eventbrite.com.
