Youth Connections

To all the youth riders out there – if you didn’t make it to last year’s youth camp, consider registering for our 2007 youth camp July 10–12.

Davalee and Marcia develop the camp activities around concepts of partnering and leadership, not only with horses but also when campers interact with each other. Camp starts with the Pledge of Allegiance and orientation under the picnic tent. Campers are assigned partners from day one to help facilitate cooperation and a spirit of camaraderie. Campers also are engaged into conversations about expectations, safety and what constitutes good horsemanship. Marcia demonstrates the basics of proper equitation, and Davalee speaks on building character and other interpersonal skills.

The riding/horsemanship sessions are organized by skill levels of beginner, intermediate and advanced but are given code names of red, white or blue so that no one carries a label. Riding sessions run concurrently with character and leadership building exercises taught without horses. This system prevents campers from getting physically overtired and reinforces our program’s mission and vision of helping youth become principled, good citizens.

On the last day of camp, those who have demonstrated a controlled lope in the outdoor arena and can execute a correct emergency stop are invited to go on a fun trail ride to the McMurray ranch, about an hour’s ride through the woods. The campers bring a picnic lunch and enjoy the scenery before heading back to celebrate end of camp awards.

All campers are secretly judged during the three days of camp for horsemanship, leadership, partnership and other skills introduced at the beginning of camp. Those who have shown significant growth are recognized with special awards.

I hope this brief recap of youth camp is enough to give you a picture of the outstanding program Marcia and Davalee put on for our youth riders. The positive benefits our campers experience are more than can be put into words.​