Spring Break in Three Lakes, Wisconsin--Equestrian Skills

Becky Webber--Ranch Coordinator

Amidst the many Spring Break classes offered by HoneyRock this year, only one class was actually at HoneyRock:  Equestrian Skills.  Part of my job as the Ranch Coordinator at HoneyRock is the opportunity to teach an Equestrian Skills class to Wheaton College students every Fall Break and Spring Break.

This year there were 6 students in the class: 2 guys and 4 girls.  My co-instructor was Ashley Butman who has been working up at HoneyRock this winter in the Barn.  Coray Watson (who worked here as a Wrangler last summer) volunteered for the week.  We spent the week learning about basic horse care, including grooming, tacking, and
feeding.  We also learned about horse behavior and communication.  During
the riding lessons, we worked on basic position and balance of the rider
on the horse at the walk, trot, and canter.  We focused on using our
body to cue the horse by working with him rather than against him, and
using the lightest cue needed to get the response we wanted.  We also
had a bareback lesson, where Mara made a lovely emergency dismount when
her horse's trot became too bouncy.

We also played horse Pictionary where Daniel won the
prize for the best drawer of all things horsey.  There was also a
rousing game of stick the name of the part of the horse on Posie (who is an enormous draft horse).  There was
some debate over the location of the loin, gaskin, flank, and stifle. 
The grand prize for the winning team was Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

It was nice that we had warm weather for the
class, but it made everything melt so we were pretty much riding in a giant mud
puddle.  The class was a lot of fun and it was great to hang out with students from Wheaton for the week. 

REMINDER:  We are now in the final week of our camper t-shirt design scholarship opportunity.  It's not too late to submit your entry!  You can email it to liz@honeyrockcamp.org or call 715.479.7474 ext. 240 with any questions.