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Pause Awhile Equestrian Centre
Pause Awhile Equestrian Centre, referred to as “Pause Awhile” or "PAEC," is a family owned riding school and equestrian facility that was established in 1980. Pause Awhile is currently operated by Michelle Johnson and her mother Karen Johnson who both have years of experience in the riding world. With the capacity to house 75 horses comfortably, PAEC gives each horse access to individual stalls and to either single or shared outdoor paddocks. Its current address is 13243 McCowan Road, Whitchurch-Stouffville, ON L4A 7X5 and it is located at the intersection of Stouffville Road and McCowan Road.

Boarding Services and Leases
PAEC has boarding services and an additional part lease / full lease agreement for school or privately-owned horses. The boarding services include all basic necessities for a horse’s well-being; stalls, grain, hay, daily mucking, bedding, blanketing, and daily turnout (weather permitted). A rider is also granted access to a personal locker and riding availability during after-hours.

On top of the boarding fee, if a horse encounters an unexpected health problem there will be a veterinary, farrier or an equine therapy visit of charge. Pause Awhile works with McKee Pownall Equine Services for regular or emergency veterinary calls.

Barns, Arenas and Paddocks
Pause Awhile has three indoor multipurpose arenas that are attached to three main barns. The spaces are categorized by letter; indoor / outdoor arena A and barn A, arena B and barn B, and indoor / outdoor arena C and barn C.

Barn A is the largest in size, where all privately own horses are boarded. Barn B is where all of the school horses live, and barn C is where all of the privately-owned show team horses live.

All indoor and outdoor arenas are available to any rider, despite their advanced or novice riding abilities. The arenas include standards, jumping poles, cavalettis, a mounting block and ground poles.

The horses are turned out into paddocks after they eat and are given their medication - if necessary. North field and south field are the two paddocks that fit large groups of horses, where they are able to share hay, grass and play fight. Orchard field is where individual or double paddocks are located so if a horse is not suitable to be in a field with other horses due to injuries or preference, they will be sent to Orchard field.

Lessons
There are three kinds of lessons; group, semiprivate and private lessons.

A group lesson is one hour and can hold between three to six people. A semiprivate lesson runs for 45 minutes and can hold two riders, and a private lesson runs for 30 minutes with a maximum of one person. The coach and the rider are responsible for ensuring that the horse's bridal, saddle, and girth are put on properly for the maximum comfort of the horse during the ride. The lessons are held in either indoor or outdoor arenas based on weather conditions.

Styles of Riding
At PAEC, a rider can learn three styles of riding; hunter, jumper and dressage, which differ based on how they are judged. Hunter style is judged on the accuracy and elegance between the horse and their rider. Jumper riding is when a horse and the rider complete a course at the highest speed, without having any faults and lastly dressage is the art and movement between the horse and their rider.

Certified Instructors
PAEC's staff are certified with Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Training (CPR) and have passed their English Rider Levels. There is a total of 10 coaches, 15 barn staff, and 1 office manager.

Camps
PAEC has camps during winter break, March break and in the summer. Each camp schedule is mixed between horseback riding, horsemanship, and indoor/outdoor activities. All of the camps start at 9:00am and run until 4:00pm, with before and after care benefits but no transportation services.

Coaches, barn staff and counsellors operate the camps. The coaches lead the one-hour riding lesson each day, the counsellors plan themed based activities and have their National Lifeguard certification for supervision of campers during swimming, canoeing and fishing. The barn staff look after the hygiene and well-being of the horses, while also ensuring the barn remains organized; mucking stalls, feeding horses, putting away the horse tack, etc.

Other Animals
Pause Awhile fosters many rescue animals, ranging from dogs, cats, pigs, donkeys, goats and swans. PAEC has worked with many foster agencies in the past and recently has done a lot of work with “The Underdog Railroad Canada.” The end goal is to give the animal a forever home so if this does not succeed, Pause Awhile will keep the animals.