In this video (3:55), learn about horseback riding at Rockbrook Camp for girls. See the horses, the equestrian facilities, and meet the riding instructors.
Transcript – Horse Camp Video
Our top priority is going to be safety. Then the next thing that we focus on is fun. They might ride at home or they may have never ridden before, but we really want to make sure that they’re doing something at camp that they don’t get to do at home. And then third is skill advancement, so that’s going to be learning how to post or jumping jumps that they don’t normally get to jump, or riding new horses.
We also only keep preferably three to four, occasionally we’ll do five riders to every instructor and so, we never have more than four maybe five riders in a ring at once. We try so hard to find that special horse. We try really hard to kind of match them with what they say they want to ride. And if a kid comes down and they say I felt a little frustrated in that lesson, then we are going to talk to them and say, you know what, not a problem, we are going to find that horse.
We are going to find that special horse that you can bond with, that you feel safe and comfortable on, that you can have a blast with. When a girl comes down barn and they ride the same horse several times in a row, they build that relationship with them. They get excited to come down and see that horse. We give them the opportunity to spend extra time with the horse and not just sitting on their back riding them but time to bond with them and time to interact with them in different ways.
Sometimes I like to tell the kids that the horse is not like a four wheeler. It’s not like you just get on and push the gas pedal. They are a living, breathing animal with their own personalities. One of biggest joys is finding the right personality of the camper to the right personality of the horse. What happens is when those kids click with that horse then they get really excited about the care of them and the day-to-day stuff.
We absolutely love our campers that have never ridden before because what they do is they come down and on the first we take our time with them and we make sure they are comfortable being on the horse on the ground, and make sure that they have all the tools that they need that once they are on their back, they feel comfortable and confident. And then also we make sure that they’re on the horses that are very experienced with the beginners.
Our lessons for the more advanced riders, tend to be a mix of working on the skills that they want to develop. Helping them be stronger, working on their balance, helping them to learn how to ride different horses. We mix that up with just having a lot of fun, and we do games and activities that strengthen them as riders and that kind of help remind them why they got into it in the first place.
I think I hope that as they leave Rockbrook, I hope that they look back and think, I had a really great time and they remember not only the friends they made up at the camp, but the friends they made down here at the barn, two legs and four legs.
