One of the RCMP’s musical ride horses has been officially named by students at Father Jan School.
The RCMP announced June 19 Janelle Brcic’s Grade 1/2 class at École Father Jan in St. Albert was one of the 12 winners of this year’s Name the Foal contest.
The RCMP holds an annual contest to name foals bred for their Musical Ride program. Twelve foals were in need of names this year, with Canadians submitting some 3,100 suggestions to the contest.
The RCMP gives all horses born in the same year names that start with the same letter to keep track of birthdates, moving through the alphabet from A to Z and skipping less common letters, spokesperson Marie-Eve Breton said in an email. Horse names for 2022 started with “V,” this year’s started with “W,” and next year’s will start with “A.”
Brcic said one of her Grade 1 students, Addison, proposed that her class enter the contest last March, and made the winning suggestion of “West.” Brcic said she thought the name was significant, as the students lived in western Canada.
West is a black Hanoverian horse bred for the RCMP’s Musical Ride program, Breton said. West and its fellow foals Windsor, Wales, Wayacawiw, Winnie, Warrant, Worden, Wilde, Wynn, Willow, Wasabi, and Whisper will now grow for three years before undergoing three years of training. Top performers will join the Musical Ride.
The Father Jan students received a 2023 Musical Ride horseshoe and a picture of West for winning the contest. They also got a virtual tour of the RCMP’s stables.
Brcic said her students were excited to learn their name had been picked for one of the horses.
“It just warmed my heart,” she said, as this was one of the last activities these students would get to do as Father Jan students — Father Jan closes June 30, with its students headed to the new École Sacré-Coeur this September.
“I think it’s so important and so special for them to have one last thing together.”
Details on the Musical Ride can be found at rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
