Students teach their horses to ground tie and stay in one place. “Can I really be part of a horse club?”
This simple question from a tiny twelve year old girl with great big wide open eyes started the Horse Club. In October of this year Local District High School started the first Horse Club in this rural junior/senior high school. There are eleven regular members and several more that come for special events such as Pizza Night and Movie Night. A onetime cost of $10.00 covers snacks, a magazine subscription, and prizes at the end of the year. The students learn safety, stable management and horsemanship skills through ground training with the Haflinger horses. The scope of the club does not include riding as several local horse schools provide riding lessons. This club is designed to give young horse enthusiasts the opportunity to learn about horses and themselves.
The stars of the Horse Club are two Haflinger horses, Flaxen and Fantasia and their pal, Frosty, a retired Welsh pony. Each Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday three to four students come to the Wallace River Equestrian Centre for a one hour lesson after school. Most of the students have little experience with horses and the gentle nature of the two teaching horses and pony give them confidence and comfort. Each student comes with a different set of experiences and expectations. All of them have grown and developed in horse handling skills and personal skills. They are learning more than horsemanship, they are learning about themselves and life’s lessons. The motto of the club is “Learn to Try and Try to Learn”. Each day brings new challenges and loads of smiles.
I will keep you posted on the developments of our young students as they “Learn to Try and Try to Learn” in further issues of the Chatter. There is always a specific horse lesson to learn and a broader life lesson for each child. And the answer to the opening question is, “Yes you can!”
This simple question from a tiny twelve year old girl with great big wide open eyes started the Horse Club. In October of this year Local District High School started the first Horse Club in this rural junior/senior high school. There are eleven regular members and several more that come for special events such as Pizza Night and Movie Night. A onetime cost of $10.00 covers snacks, a magazine subscription, and prizes at the end of the year. The students learn safety, stable management and horsemanship skills through ground training with the Haflinger horses. The scope of the club does not include riding as several local horse schools provide riding lessons. This club is designed to give young horse enthusiasts the opportunity to learn about horses and themselves.
The stars of the Horse Club are two Haflinger horses, Flaxen and Fantasia and their pal, Frosty, a retired Welsh pony. Each Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday three to four students come to the Wallace River Equestrian Centre for a one hour lesson after school. Most of the students have little experience with horses and the gentle nature of the two teaching horses and pony give them confidence and comfort. Each student comes with a different set of experiences and expectations. All of them have grown and developed in horse handling skills and personal skills. They are learning more than horsemanship, they are learning about themselves and life’s lessons. The motto of the club is “Learn to Try and Try to Learn”. Each day brings new challenges and loads of smiles.
I will keep you posted on the developments of our young students as they “Learn to Try and Try to Learn” in further issues of the Chatter. There is always a specific horse lesson to learn and a broader life lesson for each child. And the answer to the opening question is, “Yes you can!”
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