Riding Camp at Red Gate Farm

Reagan went to camp for the first time this week at the age of four.  She and her friend Abby went to the Red Gate Farm Preschool Camp for horseback riding.  Although I was a little apprehensive about how she would deal with the heat and having to wear pants, boots and a helmet, she didn't complain at all.

The camp was structured each day with 30 minutes of equine education, 30 minutes of horseback riding and 30 minutes doing crafts.  Although the camp counselors didn't exactly keep to the schedule very well, Reagan had a great time and is hoping to go to the longer camp next year since she will be a little older.  She is also hoping to start taking lessons so we are researching that too.

The equine education included information about safety around horses and the barn, learning the parts of a horse, bathing a horse and learning about the tack (e.g., bridle, halter, saddle).  Riding included one instructor for the class and one camp counselor for each horse/rider.  There were 14 preschoolers in the class and they were broken into two groups for the riding/craft time.  In this picture, the kids were asked to identify a part of the horse and paint it.  They thought that was so funny!

Reagan was especially lucky to have her cousin Jacqueline as her camp counselor.  Although she did help the other kids and with other activities around the stable, it was so nice having there to teach Reagan all about horses.  She is such a great role model for Reagan!

For the crafting time the camp counselors had a lot of fun with different activities each day.  One day they painted horses with water colors and talked about the different parts of a horse (e.g., tail, legs, mane, fetlock).  One day they were told to go search the playground for horse shoes (painted pink none-the-less!) and were given stickers to write their names on the horse shoes.  They were also given construction paper and glue and could pick a picture of one of the horses from the barn and decorate the page with stickers.  One day they were given horse and boot tattoos and the last day they colored pillow cases that had horses traced on them.

The riding instruction was tailored to preschoolers, but I was impressed with the depth of information they covered.  They were taught to hold the reins, sitting position and jumping position, navigating over cavaletties (poles on the ground) and through an obstacle course, walking independently (steering on their own) and trotting. Reagan did a great job and was able to achieve three of our big goals - she got a great stretch in her ankle as she put her heal down in the stirrups and she held the reins with lefty which required her to turn her thumbs up.  Great supination!  Oh, AND she had fun!!  Although this picture is a little blurry, Reagan was trotting - the smile says it all and the giggle was priceless!

The horse Reagan was assigned for the week was Caroline, a very sweet mare who took very good care of Reagan.  Although a little on the sluggish side, she was a perfect partner to break Reagan into horseback riding. As you can see from the picture, Caroline lost her eye.  She had an unfortunate infection that started to go to her brain so it had to be removed.  Reagan was very proud to explain to the other kids that her horse got an infection and had to "take her eye out".  As a person who believes everything happens for a reason, I like to think that Reagan and Caroline understood each other.  Reagan is very compassionate when she tells the story about Caroline's eye...seeing that side of her makes me so proud to be her mama.