Pony Camp

Spring Break Pony Camp

For children 8 years and up. Children will be kept very busy with horseback riding, games on
horseback, crafts, barn chores, caring for the horses, fun barn games, exploring the property,
lessons on horse anatomy, tack and more!

During the warmer days children will get to bathe the horses, learn the proper way clean the tack and have some water fun of their own! All while making new friends at ELPH!

Monday April 23 – Friday April 27, 2012 from 9:00am – 3:00pm
Early drop-off is available for an extra fee of $10 per day ( late care can be provided as well)
$325 for the week

What to bring and wear at Pony Camp:

Children will need to bring snacks/lunch and a drink
Wear jeans
Footwear needs to be sneakers or rain boots (riding boots if you have them) must have a heel
Please bring a helmet (bike helmets are fine) if you don’t have one we will provide one
Dress for mess (no open toe shoes, dresses, skirts, shorts)
During the warmer days – Bathing suit, sunscreen, hat or sunglasses.
During the colder days – coat, gloves, hat, boots, and dress in layers.

To learn more about camp and to sign up

April 2, 2012 By admin Leave a Comment

Filed Under: Announcement, Pony Camp

Pony Camp March 31 2012

Our cold gloomy morning turned into a beautiful day!

We started our morning off mucking stalls. The girls are becoming rather good at it; they each did several stalls!

During our morning ride the children did some free riding. They worked on their posting while trotting and steering.

Next up was lunch: we had a wonderful picnic in the tack-room and then followed our lunch with delicious horse cookies made by Cookiedoodlez. We were in luck today when a regular at Erin’s barn arrived with a sack full of special Ben and Jerry’s ice cream treats and shared them with everyone at Pony Camp. After lunch we sat down for our craft where the children decorated name signs for the lesson horses with paint, stickers and markers.

After the craft we went on a hike. We explored the gorgeous trails on the property and followed them to the very top of the hill where we took in some stunning views. We remained at the top of the hill to continue our lessons where the children each took turns learning and teaching each other about the different parts of Western and English saddles.

The Western saddle parts include:

horn
gullet
concho
latigo carrier
swell
seat
cantle
jockey
rear housing
skirt
fender
rigging ring
stir up
strings

The English saddle parts include:

pommel
twist
seat
cantle
panel
skirt
stirrup bar
knee roll
stirrup iron
saddle flap
stirrup leather

*Special thanks to Cookiedoodlez for the delicious horse cookies! The children loved them!

*Special thanks to Dave and Katie for bringing in the Ben and Jerry’s!

Click here to view more photos!

April 1, 2012 By admin Leave a Comment

Pony Camp March 17 2012

Finally, we had some sunshine today! What a beautiful day.

We started our morning off picking rocks out of the outdoor arena and launching them into the woods. While exploring the outdoor in search for the rocks, the girls found a 2 HUGE rocks! After rock hunting we cleaned stalls and had a mini wheelbarrow ride.

During our morning ride the children did some free riding and played follow the leader.

Next up was lunch, and we ate our delicious horse cookies made by Cookiedoodlez. After lunch we sat down for our craft. The children decorated flower pots with horse charms, stickers and markers. After the craft the girls went into Buzz’s pasture to get him for our afternoon lesson on anatomy. We reviewed the major body parts and the parts of the head. The new lesson was learning the different parts of the legs. Which consist of: point of shoulder, shoulder, arm, forearm, elbow, chestnut, knee, cannon bone, tendons, fetlock joint, pastern, coronary band, hoof, stifle, gaskin and the hock.

After our lesson the girls were able to experience riding bareback on Buzzy. They rode outside in the sun and discussed how different it felt riding without a saddle.

We tacked up the horses again for some more free riding in the indoor arena. Overall, we had a great day. It was warm, the children were able to experiences new challenges and we had a blast doing it!

*Special thanks to Cookiedoodlez for the delicious horse cookies! The children loved them!

*Special thanks to Savannah for making everyone a beautiful shamrock to help celebrate St Patrick’s Day!

To view more photos of camp click here To learn more about pony camp

March 18, 2012 By admin Leave a Comment

Filed Under: Announcement, Pony Camp Tagged With: bareback, cookiedoodlez, cookies

Pony Camp March 10 2012

The children were all such troopers! They braved the freezing temperatures to spend the day at the barn!

We kicked off our morning cleaning stalls and warming up in the Sun for a few minutes. After the stalls were clean the children went into the indoor arena to build their very own trail course. They discussed, planned and mapped out how they wanted the course to be set up. The children worked together placing the different obstacles according to their plan. Once the course was set up the children went outside and picked out which horse they wanted to ride.

During our morning ride the children did some free riding and tested their trail course.

The trail course consisted of:

Opening a gate
Picking up a spoonful of dirt from a barrel
Balancing the spoonful of dirt while weaving through cones
Going around barrels
Dumping the remaining dirt into a cup
Trotting over trot poles
And trotting home!

Next up was lunch, and after lunch we sat down for our craft. The children made horse door hangers of their own design using foam markers, foam farm stickers and heart stickers. After the craft we had Buzz in the cross ties to help with our lesson. We reviewed the major body parts that we learned last week and the new lesson was learning the different parts of the head. Which consist of: Poll, mane, crest, face, forelock, muzzle, chin, groove, cheek, jaw and throttle.

After the lesson we drove Mojo! The children learned the different parts of the harness that was placed on Mojo and went for a carriage ride. They were able to experience the different gaits while driving: walk, trot and road trot!

A special thank you to Becky and Mojo! We had a wonderful time driving.

To view more photos of camp click here To learn more about pony camp

March 11, 2012 By admin Leave a Comment

Filed Under: Announcement, Pony Camp Tagged With: Pony camp

Pony Camp March 3 2012

The children had a blast today at camp!

What better way to start your morning off than mucking stalls?! Each child had their very own stall to clean! They had to scoop the poop, wash and refill water buckets, and add fresh saw-dust to the stalls. After chores the children picked their horses and we started grooming. Once the horses were cleaned up and the children were covered in hair we tacked the horses up and headed down to the indoor arena.

During our morning ride the children played many different games on horseback such as command (like Simon Says), red-light-green-light, a barrel pattern and we even set up a trail course for them. The trail course consisted of:

Opening a gate
Going through a chute
Picking up a bucket
Going around barrels
Weaving in and out of cones
Trotting over trot poles
Phew!

Next up was lunch, and after lunch we sat down for our craft. The children made horse t-shirts of their own design out of puffy fabric paints and markers. We began our lesson while the shirts were put out to dry. Today’s lesson was on horse anatomy. With the help of our horse friend JD, the children learned the location of a horse’s major body parts: withers, back, loin, croup, dock, point of buttocks, buttocks, sheath, flank, hindquarters, barrel, belly and chest!

After the lesson we tacked the horses back up for some free riding and we went through the trail course again!

Thank you all for making the first Pony Camp of 2012 a major success!