Ahhh, my sweet Gramma. We lost Gramma earlier this year, but her memory lives on. Gram's always had something to say and definitely something to teach. Her favorite thing in the world, was kids. She would stand for hours being brushed, flowers in her mane and just being loved on. Favorite thing to eat was dandelions and little edible flowers.
I remember when I was younger I couldn't get enough of horses, didn't matter what it was, but I wanted to learn and be around them. I didn't care if I rode or not, I just wanted to learn about how to look after them, brush them, pick up their poop and know what to do if they were poorly. So, I am projecting!! This is my pet project, it is something that enables me to offer what I learned and everything I love about being around horses to young kids. It doesn't matter if you have any experience, or are even comfortable around horses. We will learn together. The program is open to kids from Grade 2 to 7.
I have run this program for a year or so on Bowen Island. We had a small group of 6 kids and the week is split into two one hour sessions. The first hour is stable management. This is where we learn about anything and everything about horses, from grooming, how they live, whether that be in a stable or on pasture or a track system. We learn about first aid, what to feed our ponies, different breeds. Even though this is not a riding program, we learn about different disciplines. On our second hour it is all about the pony, we learn about how to handle the horse, leading, moving the horse around. We learn about how we affect the horse, using our energy to work with the pony. This also delves into the equine therapy side of things, how if we settle our body, listen to our senses and how that can affect the horse and ourselves. We have built some quite amazing obstacle courses and using the skills we have learned work the ponies around the course.
2021 was a busy year for Pony Club, here are some of the things we participated in. We started by learning about how our pony likes to live and made our own stable yards, the group was very creative. This is what I love about this program, you bring you to the table. I don't care if your stable has a chandelier, awesome!
We also had Gramma's 30th birthday to celebrate, so we made Gramma a crown, as she deserves it!!
After Grammas party and our stable building, it was Halloween. OK, so my ponies are such good sports, we dressed them up for Halloween and of course had a party. The group all chose different costumes we could dress the minis and Gramma up in and then we voted. After, we broke into groups and the group all made their own costumes. I was so proud of them all. They cut, they sew, they stuck. I just supplied and helped out when needed. At the party, we did apple bobbing, which I have to say, Clyde excelled at!! All the ponies got treats. Clyde was a bumble bee, and was so cute, he bobs his head up and down, so the little antennae bobbed all over the place. Lightening was a show pony and was great at standing and being plaited up. He looked just lovely! Gramma was a sugar plum fairy. She had a unicorn's horn and wings and a tutu. Again, totally up to the group and their vision.
Soooo, after Halloween, we continued on with some stable management. We unfortunately lost one of the herd (not my horse, but still a member on the property). We spoke about Odin passing away and how that happened. We spoke about how the other herd members were handling the loss, especially his daughter. We did cards for Christine who owned Odin and we visited Odin's grave. This is a relevant part of learning and I managed this on an age appropriate basis and really held the space for the group to process and give their thoughts on the whole thing. It was beautiful and enlightening.
Christmas started to sneak up on us. We wanted to give the horses stockings and treats. So that is what we did! I made the template for the stocking and the group sewed them together and decorated them. We then found a recipe for treats and had an afternoon of making sticky, gooey yumminess for the horses to go into their stockings. We hung up the stockings ready for the horses to enjoy later in December.
We also did a lot of horsemanship through our second hour in the week (yep, all that was the first hour of the week). We learned about our ponies body language and their energy. We learned how to safely approach our ponies, understand when they were not happy to be brushed and poked, but also learning how our own energy affects all of this. We spoke about how if we have a bad day or are upset or tired or super excited, all of this has an affect on our horses. Some of the kids ride as well (at a different barn), and so we spoke about how that affects our pony when we are riding. We learned that just by breathing, we can lower that energy, how we can sense into our surrounding area and listen to what is around us, can help regulate us. The ponies always responded differently to each child in the group and I always give the group the option to participate or not. Some days, we just don't want to and that is OK.
We worked a lot in hand, catching and releasing, asking the ponies to walk and trot beside us by increasing our energy. We learned how to move the pony around just by our energy and also discuss why our ponies sometimes didn't do as we asked. Is that us or them?
I give each of the kids journals and encourage them to use them throughout the program. Whether drawing pictures of what is going on that day or writing how they are feeling, we then have the option to chat about that should they want to. This can be on a one on basis or in a group. We also worked a lot of self esteem, inclusivity, self confidence and loving who we are!!!
We designed and built obstacle courses to work the ponies around. Before doing any of this, we discussed if our ponies would be happy a four foot fence, or maybe having something they would enjoy would be nicer for them and it would mean they got to enjoy the experience and I pointed out they had to jump it as well next to them!
We took our ponies out for walks and grass and all took it in turns and worked as a team when it came to our ponies.
We also put our stable management experience into practice and mucked out their stables and turnouts, brushed them, learned what brushes the ponies liked. Learned our to halter them and how to lead correctly. We learned to put their blankets on and feed them. Each member of the group really stepped up and took turns to do this. They really worked as a team. Of course, we brought in the equine therapy side of things, without it being a big thing. This group became closer to one another and supported each other and were one another's cheer leaders. I loved it!
Soon after the snow came upon us and we finished Pony Camp for the year. We started briefly in 2022, however, due to us selling our home on Bowen and making our move to the Sunshine Coast, we have had this camp on hold. However, I am chomping at the bit to get started again and have lots of plans and ideas for this program for this year and going forward. I am very excited! So please come and join us!!!
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