Island 22 Equestrian Society
The society itself consists of members from the equestrian community, some of whom have been here since the society was created 35 years ago. There is always room for new members who are looking to get involved in helping maintain the park and organizing for the annual event. Meetings are scheduled throughout the year to keep everyone up to date on current events at the park and preparations the event.
Park Maintenance
Show Organization
Annual Island 22 Horse Trials is put on every Labour Day weekend at the park with over 150 competitors staying at the park with their horses.
History of Island 22
Thirty five years ago, in 1988, a vision was conceived by local parents who realized that their children’s river riding was no longer as safe as it used to be. Parents approached Horse Council BC and with HCBC blessing approached the District of Chilliwack for a potential plan to create an equestrian park.
Multiple site areas were offered to the group. The group decided on 45695 Cartmell Rd, an 88 acre gravel pit, overgrown with blackberry and cottonwood trees. Neverless, the industrious group saw potential and the Island 22 Equestrian Park Society was born.
Plotting the Course
The Society hired Sean Flynn to be their course designer. Sean also saw the potential and spent the summer working on District engineering drawings to create a course and park plan. Using Sean’s drawings the Society applied for a much more substantial provincial and federal grant to get started with.
The outpouring of help that was received from community, local dairy farmers, tree loggers, and the local army, was overwhelming.
To this day, the local community is still heavily involved in the Island 22 Equestrian Park. Without the generosity of our local dairy farmers, business owners, residence and fellow equestrian riders; Island 22 Equestrian Park would not be hosting the 35th anniversary Horse Trials this September 2023.
Present Day at the Park
The first cross country jumps built by Sean Flynn and his fellow jump builder Glen Waklin are all but gone, however the plan for a safe environment for equestrians has been kept alive. The Island 22 Equestrian Park has gotten a major facelift, with Heath Purdy (Technical Delegate) and Barry Tyerman (course designer and builder) Island 22 Equestrian Park will be enjoyed by equestrians for another 35 years.
2023 was an exciting year. Island 22 Horse Trials Cross country inventory received a few exciting jumps.
In particular, the “Broken Bridge,” was a major attraction on cross country day. It was on the prelim course and Leila Lucas was the first competitor to attempt the jump effort and she did it in fine style. The broken bridge rode beautifully and gave the spectators a thrill.
The “bank to bank” also was a thrilling effort to watch. The jump effort was on the Training and Preliminary cross country courses. It is situated perfectly for spectators to watch. 2024, the banks will be incorporated more extensively into the cross country jumps. The beauty of these banks is that they are suitable for many divisions. Thank you again to our sponsors for making this jump happen.
The 3 wagons, “pre-training,” “training” and “prelim” height were another addition to the inventory. These jumps are portable and can be jumped from both directions. And the decoration on these wagons was incredible as was the whole cross country course. Thank you volunteers.