Barn Bits (2)

Tina

Tina is a riding instructor and grant writer at Windrush Farm (www.windrushfarm.org) in Boxford, MA. In addition to working in the barn

We started with a quick tour of the farm before we introduced the children to their horses; we talked about approaching a horse, about allowing it to smell you and how horses recognize each other and humans. We discussed horses being prey animals - creatures of flight, and why it was important not to startle them. We then showed the kids how to safely enter the stall, catch the horse with a lead rope and to put the halter on. Then we allowed the children to practice. Jevonne P. was at first frightened to enter the stall, so his volunteer encouraged him to take his time to get to know Tucker, who is a 13.3hh Connemara pony.

We always teach the children to lead first, so between 9:30 and 10:30, the kids led their horses around the indoor arena, through an obstacle course, and finally for games and a relay race. They each started with a volunteer on the off side, but were soon dashing down the long side of the arena with just their pony, encouraging the pony to trot faster so that they could win the race. Jevonne

We cleaned three stalls, spread fresh shavings, scrubbed and refilled water buckets, distributed hay, and swept between 10:30 and 11:30. We will progressively allot less time for this.

At 12:20 we returned to the stable, and each child groomed his horse with his volunteer. Each child once again haltered his own horse, but this time learned to tie a slip knot to secure the horse for grooming. We discussed why we use a slip knot, and tied in the concept of being a prey species and creatures of flight. We use grooming as a teaching opportunity for many things, including parts of the horse. Today we discussed belly, back, neck, shoulder, mane, tail, hoof, knee, hock and withers as well as curry comb, hard brush, soft brush and hoof pick. Tomorrow we will introduce frog, muzzle, dock, hindquarter, loins, croup, flank, poll as well as bridle, bit, noseband, throatlatch saddle, girth and stirrup.

At 12:45 we watched a riding demonstration which emphasized mounting preparation and safety and the three gaits. We all knelt on the ground and practiced posting, and identified the differences between sitting and posting trot.

Between 1:00 and 1:45 each child had a turn to vault on Tucker. They practiced various longeing exercises, going around the world, kneeling and an arabesque. They then participated several interactive vaulting games for 10 minutes, which tired them out for the ride home.

We finished up with a popsicle and a review of what the children had learned about horses so far. We sent them home with a folder of horse information, a Boy Scouts horsemanship manual and a Windrush T shirt.