Saturday, June 30th, was a fun day here on the farm. We held a Summer Horse Camp 101 during the morning from 9:30-noon. Our six wranglers ranged in age from 5 to 11 years old. Some with horse experience others with none.

Three adults for the six wranglers worked very well for us. A close eye must be kept on everyone around horses.

Children and horses go well together, so long as the horse does not have a fractious disposition and is well handled. I have had horses over the years I would not trust with children. However, our animals are well child-proofed for they have been around children all their lives.

As my dear horse-owning friend says, “You can trust these horses, and you can’t trust these horses.” True, so true. Horses are a preyed upon animal and as such are naturally wary. They must be taught to trust humans. Children are terrific at teaching horses to trust us.

That being said, we must always have “our horse brain on” when working around these big strong animals that are able to spook faster than we can blink an eye. We must think like a horse instead of wanting/expecting our horses to think like a human.

Talking of these things while petting them, walking around them, and riding them seemed interesting to our wranglers. They enjoyed a brief bareback ride around the stalls, learning how to measure them in hands, learning the points of the horse and taping, with masking tape, the points directly on the horse.

Snacks fueled the wranglers for the last part of camp. Pony rides on High Hope and Duke, and painting the ponies!

One mom said if we were having another camp, they would come again. Perhaps we will!