Horse Camp ideas?

Question

We need some new ideas for some horse related activities at our riding day camp. We split up the kids into two groups and while one group is riding, the other does a craft or colors, etc. We are already doing the picture frame idea and we are looking for something new. The kids range in ages of 5 to 13. Any ideas would be appreciated!

Answer 1

These kids are old enough to play the horse version of Jeopardy!! if you want to do that, and there is another game that we played with the kids when I was a camp instructor called "Who am I?" which I always thought was fun. In this game, split the kids up into 2 teams, with an even number of people on both teams. One person from one of the teams starts the game by thinking of something horse related, and then describing it to all the others, and ends by asking the question "Who ( or what) am I"?  The first person to answer the question scores one point for his or her team, and gets the honor of asking the next question. An example might be someone saying " The rider puts his foot in me. Who am I?" The first kid to say " the stirrup" gets to ask the next question. The game continues for a period of 15 minutes ( you can make it longer if it is raining or you have extra time you need to kill) and whichever team has the most points wins.

Other than this game, why not try having a "good hands" demonstration? For this activity, you will want your kids to pick a partner, because they will all get a chance to try this. Have your first pair of kids sit in two chairs ( or on two bales of hay) with one of them sitting with his back towards the other. The kid who is sitting this way gets to hold a horse bit in his hands, and the other child gets the reins. Have the other kids watch as this first pair demonstrates how the horse might respond to different rein signals from the rider- and make sure the kid who is the "horse" makes some gestures or noises which show different attitudes any horse might have. The point of this activity is to teach children the importance of "good hands" when they ride- a lesson which ALL young beginning riders must learn. After 5 minutes, switch pairs and repeat the lesson with the next pair.

There also other activities you can do- and some of these are not only good for unmounted lessons, but are useful for rainy days. Having kids name parts of the horse, parts of the tack, horse colors, horse breeds, etc., is one. If you have a horse that is quiet and will stand, have a drawing session. You can teach kids how to braid manes and tails- most of the girls usually enjoy that one, because a lot of them like to braid their own hair. Another thing you can do is have a session where you talk about horse health- and show kids how to do things like take a horse's pulse and temperature.

Relay races are fun to do as well- especially if you are lucky enough to have some burlap feed sacks in your barn. Kids can bob for apples too- just get a large washtub, fill it with clean water and apples, and let the kids go at it !!

Good luck- I hope this helps. These are things we always did when I was an instructor.

Answer 2

You can do a carrot-eating contest, painting the horses with washable glitter and have a creativity contest. We also did this: tied our hands behind our back, and try to grab an apple with our mouth, so as to see how hard it must be for horses.

Also, put a ball between your legs and do a race.

Answer 3

One thing that I have done is if you have a good horse thgat is for like benginers that is not being used in the lesson and is a light coat and you want to teach the parts of the horse to the students is to buy different color finger paint.  Then ask to paint a certain part of the horse they have fun and learn the parts of the horses al in one.  Then they can give the horse a bath after all the paint is on.  It is really fun and I think it was really worth it to buy the paint to use.

Answer 4

We designed our own horse themed canvas bags, Made T-shirts........(puff paint, iron ons, etc..) We also made scrapbooks for our pictures of horse camp. On hotter days, we also had a slip and slide, water balloons, and the pool close by.  Have fun!

Answer 5

omg i have the best idea. we did this at my camp. its a relay race game

ok you split the kids up into 2 groups. you give each team a horse to ride and an equestrian catalog with saddles and bridles and clothing and trailers and lead ropes and stuff and a pair of scissors.

u or the person incharge stands at one end of a field or arena and the students with thier horses stand at the other end.

u have to call out an item that they would find in the catalog such as a blanket or trailer or grooming box or somthing and each team has to find a picture of that in the catalog, cut it out and they can eather walk or trotit down to the other end to u. and walk or trot back. then u call out another. the first person to bring it to u and get back wins a point for thier team. once everybody gets a turn u count up the points to see which team wins.

its alot of funn

Answer 6

while the other group is riding you could let the kids fingerpaint a horse (they have special kinds made for horses) or braid ribbons into one of the horse's manes.

play simon says--horse style.  the kids act like they're horses and someone calls out directions like trot, halt, turn on the forehand, etc.

try to find some inexpensive horse board games, such as Horse Sense, and Horseopoly

get a bunch of horse catalogs and have the kids cut out and glue items they would like for "their" horse onto construction paper

Answer 7

Dress your horses up in fancy costumes and have a contest.

Answer 8

we did this.. we painted horseshoes. it was very fun

wheelbarrow races

horse games like egg and spoon, toilet paper race (have two people hold the edges.. like each on own horse)

mount, run up and around a pole/barrel/bucket.. run back, tag your other team member, etc..

if you like these ideas, i have more.. you can email me

Answer 9

How about learning the parts of the horse?  For the older kids, you could get more detailed than with the younger kids.

How about teaching them about the grooming tools and where they are to be used on the horse?

I was thinking you could have a large drawing of a horse, maybe even life sized, and the kids could walk-up and point out the different parts or pick up the correct tool for grooming the area you select.

How about having them learn how to assemble and disassemble tack?  With English saddles, the stirrups are breakaway and they should know how to reattach them and so forth.

For crafts, you could have the younger kids make stick horses and then have a stick horse race.  The older kids could paint model horses over the course of a few days.  You could then have the other kids (the ones who didn't paint the horses) vote on which one is the best.  You could have the older kids design ribbons to give out during an event, like the stick horse race and such. The older kids could even sculpt a horse or horse head out of clay, that might be cool.

How about doing a scavenger hunt for horse related items?  Or start with a clue that leads to somewhere on the property and another clue would be waiting there...kinda like that TV show where those people travel across the world.

I hope these help!

Answer 10

If you're not doing it later, a horseless horse show. Depending on what you are doing (English or Wester) you can set up (smaller than you would than horses obviously) a jumper course with groundpoles, crossrails and some really low verticles. A dressage test. Barrels. Poles. Anything like that!

The next time the farrier comes, ask if you can have the horse shoes. Then they can decorate them.

If you have an extra horse while the others are riding, you should teach them about horse care. Everything- grooming, tacking up, mucking out, feeding, ect. If they are more advanced, teach them things like how to perfect their braiding, how to clean tack- oils, conditioners ect., blanketing or even trailering!

Relay races! My personal favorite will help you out too! First, completely dissasble two bridles. This is two different races.

1) After teaching them about cleaning tack, see who can clean the bridle the quickest and the most thouroughly.

2) Now that they're clean the second one is tricky. You have to see who can figure out how the bridle goes together and whoever has it put together first wins!

Hope I helped! Have fun!

Answer 11

One suggestion would be to get digital photos of the kids riding, or just sitting nicely on their horses, printing them out and decoupaging them on something unique like a piece of wood slice that they have found or a large rock (doesn't have to be smooth to work) or the side of an old bucket, crock or piece of old and unused tack....using the old horseshoes are good, you can tack them to a piece of wood and put the photo on the wood. This way they can take a piece of camp back with them...they might even like a group photo to do the same thing with.

"Simon Says" is always fun on horseback as well...Simon Says walk, stop, back, turn left, etc....Last one sitting on their horse gets a home made "Simon Says" trophy.   It could even have their photo on it.

Answer 12

Make horse treats.  I put a question out earlier today with two recipes.  One has to be cooked, the other not.