Players at Leafs development camp skated in two groups at the Ford Performance Centre on Friday.

The prospects at Leafs development camp observed a world class horse trainer breaking in a wild colt on Friday morning at Toronto Equestrian Downtown on the Exhibition Grounds.

"We first walked in, it smelled horrible," said University of Michigan winger Nick Moldenhauer with a smile. "So we were like, 'Okay, what are we in for here?' We didn't know if we had to like ride horses or something."

The players kept their distance from the horse, but learned from watching professional clinician Jeff Davis from Downunder Horsemanship do his thing during a presentation that stretched over two hours.

"The first whole hour was just foundation stuff," said Toronto Marlies centre Luke Haymes, who signed with the Leafs in March out of Dartmouth College. "Teaching the horse how to move in different directions and to pay attention to you instead of paying attention to distractions and stuff like that. So that's really important as hockey players is to keep your focus inside the boards and focus on what you're doing."

Dr. Hayley Wickenheiser admitted on Thursday that she wasn't exactly sure how the seminar would be received. The Leafs assistant general manager for player development hoped players would learn about managing emotion and pressure in tricky situations.

Things can get chaotic on the ice and there was at least one moment when the intensity rose during Friday's equine exhibition.

"Yeah, when he was putting the saddle on the horse," said Fargo Force defenceman Matt Lahey, who is heading to Michigan State this fall. "Once he got around 10 feet away from him, the horse went absolutely ballistic."

Things calmed down quickly.

"The horse started bucking everywhere and went crazy so that surprised everybody," said USNTDP winger William Belle. "But when the horse learned to trust the guy who was handling it, it settled down, so that was what he was trying to preach to us."

Developing trust within a relationship was a theme that resonated among many of the prospects.

"One of the big takeaways is the relationship you have to build," said Lethbridge Hurricanes defenceman Noah Chadwick. "First, being kind of assertive with it, but also not too aggressive. It's kind of like a teammate relationship, he kind of explained to us, where you got to get the horse to respect you and vice versa."

While different prospects had different moments that stood out, everyone agreed it was nice to experience something new.

"Not your average experience at dev camp," said Moldenhauer, who was a third-round pick (95th overall) in the 2022 draft.

"It was a younger horse in its development........

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