Erica Zacharuk Tells the Story of her Horse Farm

Erica Zacharuk Tells the Story of her Horse Farm

Rosanne Fortier - News Correspondent

Erica Zacharuk owns, runs, and lives on a horse farm between Two Hills and Vegreville with her husband Gerald and their daughter Alexis who lives with them and will have the horses passed on to her after they are done.

Erica and Gerald now have between 25 and 30 horses which they breed and sell to the public. The breed of horses they’ve been working on since 2013 are Paso Fino.

“These horses are gaited so they move differently than other horses; the other horses they trot and bounce but the Paso Fino horses do not trot or bounce,” Erica explained.

Erica said their home place has 10 acres and they have some of their horses on this acreage but she has a couple of friends who have acreages that their horses go on to eat the grass. “I have a good friend who I keep half the herd of horses at her place during the winter and the other half of my horses are kept at my place,” Erica mentioned.

Gerald and Erica’s daughter Alexis rides one of the horses on the horse farm.

(Erica Zacharuk/ Submitted Photo)

Erica said she got into horses because she loved horses her entire life. “I think horses were my first word. We don’t do horse racing but we do trail riding. A few friends and I like to participate in fundraisers which involve trail riding.

“The pros of this venture is setting the horses up with great families and making people happy and create an animal that can go to a fantastic home and live its life out there. Right now I am on baby watch with one of my mares who will be having a baby anytime soon. The rebirths and the happiness the horses give me in this form and turning them into something that people want to buy and use is definitely a pro.

Paso Fino horses on Erica and Gerald Zacharuk’s horse farm.

(Erica Zacharuk/Submitted Photo)

The cons are is if it is a really bad year, it can get stressful to find good hay. What your feed costs can be alarming, cold weather and water freezing up can be pretty stressful, and the general losses if the horse is ill or you lose a horse at birth; that can be really traumatizing.

I would recommend for others to go into this type of farming because there is a good feeling of creating a life and an animal that you can pass down to people. When I walk into my herd, the horses calm me down and make me happy.

“We are diversifying into mule now. We have a gaited Jack donkey. What you do to get a mule is cross the Jack donkey unto a horse mare and the female horse will have a mule baby horse. We had a mule on the ground last year. A lot of people are looking for mules, especially in the States because they are surefooted and smart,” Erica added.