Kids Camps
Do you have a horse crazy kid or two? Would they like to spend time with horses, ride and learn more about them? Are you trying to decide if you should include a horse or pony in your family? If there is someone like that in your household, enroll them in one of our Kids Camps and let them learn while they have fun with horses.
Economical, Flexible and Exciting
We've designed our camps to be easy on your schedule and budget. We've found that our Kids Camps are more successful when they are relatively small and personalized. Instead of your family fitting into our schedule, we create a camp around the needs, interests and budgets of interested families.
What Kids Do at a Camp
Kids Camps touch on several areas. For most children, riding is the most exciting part, however some children are intimidated by horses. For that reason and because it makes good horse sense, we include some activities that get kids acquainted with each other and the horses. No one is forced to do anything they are uncomfortable with, so if a child ultimately does not want to ride, there are other ways to enjoy the camp. Our camps generally cover aspects of horse care and horsemanship.
Horse Care
Feeding Your child may actually get to help with morning chores. Getting the horses in, dishing up their feed and feeding them. This can be an exciting time that kids really enjoy. Horses are anxious to be fed and the kids have to hustle to get all those nickering horses their feed. Children are asked to stay in safe areas when horses are moving in and out of the barn. They feed horses that are in stalls through swing out feeders. If they are not part of feeding, they may feed horses treats from across a fence. Many times the horses are in the pasture and need to be called to come to the fence. Most often they come running in. It's quite something to see that many horses of all colors come running in!! They are so beautiful and powerful! Just like out west.
Grooming Kids learn what brushes to use and why, how to get tangles out of manes, how to pick out feet, what to do for flies and all kinds of other cool stuff to help your horse look and feel its best. I think the kids like the brushing as much or more than the horses.
Anatomy and Health Care Kids learn basic physiology of the horse, how to tell if a horse is sick and what to do. This is a very valuable and benefits those who have a horse or those just riding other people's horses. Some hot topics especially for summer might be about water. How to tell if the horse is dehydrated and how much water is safe. Colic, the #1 killer of horses. How do you know if your horse is colicing and what should you do. It could save it's life. What about toxic plants and why you should never let your horse eat while trail riding. There are any number of interesting and timely topics.
Basic Horsemanship and Riding
There are two aspects to this portion of the camp -- on the ground and in the saddle. Both are important to riding. Our riding style is Western and we keep our focus to basic riding, balance and basic horsemanship.
Basic Horsemanship
Kids learn how to be respected and trusted by their horse and develop that bond and connection most of us desire. It's leadership. Horses are herd animals and look to the leader for guidance. This is much like a dance with your horse. The child is the leader and the horse is the follower. We try to make learning fun for both the horse and child by trying to introduce games and tasks to be done from the ground with the horse. This is a great confidence booster for any child and their parents. If a child can handle a horse from the ground, they are much more safe in the saddle.
Saddle Up
Kids take those elements of on the ground horsemanship and apply it to riding. All children will get a chance to ride. Just getting up on the horse is exciting! In most cases, participants will have a chance to ride both morning and afternoon. As with our other activities, we try to incorporate things that are fun and interesting for the horses as well as the riders.
What Parents Need to Know
How our Camps Work
Generally our camps are from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Drop off times are 9:30-9:45 a.m.. Pick up times are 2:!5-2:30 p.m. Parents should send a lunch that can be refrigerated or microwaved and a lunch drink. Parents should in some way identify their child's lunch and drink. We provide plenty of water. Girls and boys are welcome. We try to create camps of children who are similar in age. All camps regardless of theme include some riding, other games or activites and time for breaks.
Required Dress
Each participating child MUST wear long pants and hard shoes during the camp!! NO SANDALS! No Tennis Shoes! This is for your child's protection and our liability. No exceptions! Your child will not be allowed to be around the horses if they do not meet these requirements.
If your child has a helmet, please bring it. If not, we have helmets. They will be required to wear them while riding. Please have your child wear outer clothing that is appropriate and functional. No swim suits or bikini tops. A tee shirt and long pants with socks and hard shoes work best. Expect them to get dirty. If this is an issue, bring a clean pair of clothes for your child to change into. You may also want to provide sunscreen or a hat to protect your child from sunburn as we will be outside. Send appropriate rain gear if necessary.
Bathroom and Hand Washing
We have soap and water in the barn for washing hands. There is a commuity towel or paper towels for drying hands. We have hand sanitizer available. We have a porta potty in the barn for bathroom needs. If your child has any additional sanitary requirements, please provide them. The atmosphere is rustic and the horses and animals are what they are.
Enrollment and Other Policies
Camps must be paid for in full at the time of enrollment. As scheduling a camp requires significant good communication and arrangements by all parties, once a camp is scheduled and paid for, there are no refunds or make ups for needing to miss the camp. We will have camp regardless of the weather.
Parents must sign a liability waiver which states that being around horses carrys certain risks which we cannot be responsible for. We put the safety of your child first and we expect cooperation from your child.
Drop off and pick up times are as scheduled. Our staff and volunteers may not be able to watch your child if you are late. Therefore, Black Forest Farm, LLC reserves the right to charge parents a late fee according to its inconvenience if parents have not made prior arrangements for late pick up.
Pricing
Each participating child is $35. If your child would like a riding lesson following the camp, you will be given a special rate because of your participation in the camp. The regular rate is $55 for a 60 minute lesson. As your child will have already had a long day, we offer a 45 minute at a 15% discount for only $35. In some instances shared lessons are possible for family members although the per person savings is not as great. Shared lessons need to be discussed on a case by case basis.
How to Register
Call 608-270-1550 or email us at only@blackforeststables.com. Tell us what dates you are available. We'll take it from there. Once your date is decided, you'll need to pay the enrollment. You may register with a credit/debit card or your IMS* number by phone. You may mail a check made out to Black Forest Farm, LLC and mail to:
2132 County Road F
Barneveld, WI 53507
*IMS is a barter network. For more information go to www.imsbarter.com
** Please note our fire number has changed. For using any GPS, use our old fire number of 3255. Our apologies for the confusion.
That's all there's to it! The rest is easy. Just have fun and enjoy the horses.