Have you kids ever been in boys or girls club? is it fun? do you reccomend? pros cons?

Question

any better suggestion for this summer...for a young teenage?

Answer 1

Most boys and girls' clubs don't offer riding, mainly because of where they are located, which is usually in the inner or central part of America's major cities. If you want to find a place where your teen can ride or take lessons this summer, then I would suggest you look into sending him or her to summer camp. Many if not most residential camps offer riding and lessons- and there are lots of specialty camps which are exclusively horse oriented programs. Go to the website of the American Camping Association, or ACA, and click the link for resident camps- and they will give you a list of all the camps in your area or state. You can also go to the website of the YMCA, which is maintained by the national office in Chicago, and do the same thing- virtually EVERY Y camp has horses, and almost all of them offer lessons, trail rides, or a combination of both. Depending on your teen's age, he or she might also be able to get into a junior counselor or LIT ( leader in training) position at one of these camps, which would mean a discount for you on fees. LIT's typically earn part of their tuition costs by working at least some of the time with the campers during their stay.

Summer camp is one of the easiest and best ways to become familiar with horses and riding- and unlike long term lesson programs, camp is usually quite inexpensive and affordable. Most camps have some type of sponsorship program for kids from disadvantaged or underprivileged families, which helps parents with the fees. In some cases, there are kids who can even attend camp for nothing this way. I used to work in the YMCA camping system, at one of the largest camps in the country ( at least in terms of its equestrian program, which WAS the largest in the USA) so I know from personal experience that this is true.

Good luck to you in your search. The web addresses are www.aca.org, and www.ymcaoftheusa.org. Hope that helps.