Horse Camp: English Riding
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Horse Camp: English Riding - Day 1
This camp is such a fun and amazing special to do! Starting with introductions, the campers got to meet and greet each other, learning each others' names, and then going immediately into C.A.R.E.S. (Cooperation, Attitude, Respect, Empathy, Safety) which is the most important thing our Horse Campers will ever learn, besides learning how to ride a horse.
Egg Helmet
A fun team-building exercise to group into pairs, to make a helmet/protected basket for an egg, to then test to see if it will stop the egg from breaking on impact. The campers had to use straws, rubber bands, a plastic cup, as well as grasses to soften the inside. Which form works best? what do you think?
Grooming & Stable Cleaning
Part of taking care of a horse is taking care of the horse's surroundings, which means cleaning the stalls, scooping the poop, and taking out any plants growing that might be harmful to the horses. Grooming the horses involved brushing their coats and manes, partially to brush off dirt, but also to desensitize the horse before adding any saddles or the like.
Tie-Dye
Of course, a time-honored camp tradition is to take a while MSU Tollgate Farms t-shirt and tie-dying it! Each camper gets one shirt, that they get to scrunch and tie up with rubber bands, then choose which colors to spray. Afterward, put in a plastic bag to take home and leave overnight before washing. Campers will get to wear this t-shirt on our Tie-Dye Friday!
Parts of a Horse
One of the more important things to learn so you can properly care for a horse. There is a wooden model of a horse with Velcro tags to stick on the labels for the different parts of the horse. In a way, it is a kind of memorization test for the students, to take the labels and put as many in the right spots as they can remember being seen.
Introducing: Gris and Sedona!
Today, each camper got to meet two of our horses today, Sedona and Gris! Both horses were tacked and ready to help teach the campers how to ride, from getting on and off, to starting and stopping the horse on the training ground. Afterward, each camper got to have their picture taken next to one horse of their choosing, which will be relevant for another project later in the week!
See more Horse Camp Photos here!
