Life at the barn!
Over the past few months we have received three new horses:
The Team - April and Irish:
We were blessed to have a mother/daughter team of Clydesdale horses donated to us by Bob and Marianne Thiessen and Elvin and Jan Kopp. Ernie and Linda Wiens donated room and board to the team as they adjusted to our Alberta winter.
April is nine and pulls on the right, Irish is five and pulls on the left. Since their arrival at camp we have been working on the solidification of their training. They came from working in a team of six, so they are still adjusting to the partnership. April, being older and the mother, is often more calm and level headed. However she is pregnant and tends to slack on actually doing much of the work when pulling the wagon. Irish on the other hand is more like a giant puppy than a horse. She loves attention, has a ton of energy and does 80% of the work when pulling the wagon!
Diesel:
Diesel came to camp from horse broker Greg Wakefield. He is a great string horse who has a very calm disposition and loves attention and food!
Horsemanship gets a restructure and the barn gets another free skill:
We have restructured our horsemanship program to double the amount of time that horsemanship campers will spend at the barn! Our aim is to expand their knowledge of horses, as well as getting them more time in a variety of riding in during the week.
The horsemanship campers will be split in half - one half will be riding (both arena riding and trail riding) while the other half will be in horse care/science and then they will switch. During horse care/science (depending on their age) campers will learn catching, leading, tying, grooming, parts of western tack, how to saddle, parts of a horse, colours, markings and breeds. All campers will have the option during their free skill block to come down to the barn and try roping!
Reflections on Summer 2014:
The summer of 2014 was a bit of a blur as I was figuring out how to run the barn. Between working with the staff, horsemanship and Internship programs and taking care of the horses there was a lot to keep track of. My favourite times were right before lunch when the barn staff would come together for devotionals or individual quiet times. It was a time to just sit and be still...which is not common at the barn. It was a time to intentionally settle myself and be with the Lord.
Another favourite time for me is facilitating and debriefing after riding lessons. I find it encouraging to see and hear how the Lord is meeting the campers and the connection they can make between their horse and their walk with the Lord. One story I remember specifically was from one of our Ignite campers. This camper was not getting along with her horse and was frustrated because she really wanted to get along, but somehow they were just not connecting. We talked about how that often paralleled in our lives. How sometimes we struggle to get along with someone in the body of Christ even though we are called to work together. The next day we ran the barrel pattern and her horse loves barrels. They ran the pattern perfectly. She was so excited and talked about how her and her horse worked together for the same goal. She made the connection on how if our goal is to follow and pursue Jesus, we can always find a way to work together in the body of Christ. It was so encouraging to see this group of campers come to this realization and the joy it brought them to know that when our goal is to follow Jesus, we can work together and help each other achieve that goal.
- Travis
Head Wrangler
The Team - April and Irish:
We were blessed to have a mother/daughter team of Clydesdale horses donated to us by Bob and Marianne Thiessen and Elvin and Jan Kopp. Ernie and Linda Wiens donated room and board to the team as they adjusted to our Alberta winter.
April is nine and pulls on the right, Irish is five and pulls on the left. Since their arrival at camp we have been working on the solidification of their training. They came from working in a team of six, so they are still adjusting to the partnership. April, being older and the mother, is often more calm and level headed. However she is pregnant and tends to slack on actually doing much of the work when pulling the wagon. Irish on the other hand is more like a giant puppy than a horse. She loves attention, has a ton of energy and does 80% of the work when pulling the wagon!
Diesel:
Diesel came to camp from horse broker Greg Wakefield. He is a great string horse who has a very calm disposition and loves attention and food!
Horsemanship gets a restructure and the barn gets another free skill:
We have restructured our horsemanship program to double the amount of time that horsemanship campers will spend at the barn! Our aim is to expand their knowledge of horses, as well as getting them more time in a variety of riding in during the week.
The horsemanship campers will be split in half - one half will be riding (both arena riding and trail riding) while the other half will be in horse care/science and then they will switch. During horse care/science (depending on their age) campers will learn catching, leading, tying, grooming, parts of western tack, how to saddle, parts of a horse, colours, markings and breeds. All campers will have the option during their free skill block to come down to the barn and try roping!
Reflections on Summer 2014:
The summer of 2014 was a bit of a blur as I was figuring out how to run the barn. Between working with the staff, horsemanship and Internship programs and taking care of the horses there was a lot to keep track of. My favourite times were right before lunch when the barn staff would come together for devotionals or individual quiet times. It was a time to just sit and be still...which is not common at the barn. It was a time to intentionally settle myself and be with the Lord.
Another favourite time for me is facilitating and debriefing after riding lessons. I find it encouraging to see and hear how the Lord is meeting the campers and the connection they can make between their horse and their walk with the Lord. One story I remember specifically was from one of our Ignite campers. This camper was not getting along with her horse and was frustrated because she really wanted to get along, but somehow they were just not connecting. We talked about how that often paralleled in our lives. How sometimes we struggle to get along with someone in the body of Christ even though we are called to work together. The next day we ran the barrel pattern and her horse loves barrels. They ran the pattern perfectly. She was so excited and talked about how her and her horse worked together for the same goal. She made the connection on how if our goal is to follow and pursue Jesus, we can always find a way to work together in the body of Christ. It was so encouraging to see this group of campers come to this realization and the joy it brought them to know that when our goal is to follow Jesus, we can work together and help each other achieve that goal.
- Travis
Head Wrangler
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