09.27.08
Children from day camp visit horse Herd
25 kids from a local summer camp stopped over to Connie’s barn in June and it was so much fun!! Connie spoke about horse basics and made it so interesting, not only for them, but for me too. I was Connie’s photographer and I had the best time taking pictures and videos for her!!! The kids were very interested and had some great questions – they kept Connie on her toes!!
Welcome to children on field trip, topic “Farming and animals”
Not being sure how the Herd would take to all this commotion, and not having any script pre-planned, Connie sort of played things by ear.
After a brief intro outside the barn, all the kids came in to see the horses in their stalls. Were they excited!
Most of these children had never been up close to a horse before. They got to go into the barn and see what a horse barn looks like and got to feel and touch the horses’ muzzles as Momma, Gilford and baby Glendale stretched their necks out through their stall doors searching for treats.
Then Connie had them all go outside into a small enclosed area and she brought out her beautiful Momma mare. The children were ringed around the fenceline with plenty of room for a horse in the middle.
Momma Willy comes out to meet the children
(These children were very well behaved and took direction readily from the 6 adults with them.) Connie knew Willy mare would be OK with crowds of people (she’s done it all!) so brought her out first, talking about how horses communicate, her age and past history as a show horse, 4-H horse, jumping horse, Arabian native costume horse, mother mare, etc.
Young girl meets horse…
…and another feeds her a carrot!
The children had brought carrots (with prior permission) so Connie took the mare around the lineup and many children fed her a carrot piece.
Willy is polite accepting carrots but Connie restrained her nonetheless, all those little hands holding out carrots was awfully overwhelming. Then she got them to approach the mare one at a time, and that worked much better so that Wil wouldn’t get over-eager and possibly pushy.
Next Connie lunged the mare, which was also a first for me to see. I have never seen Willy lunged in person, only in videos with Emmie lunging her. And Momma mare performed beautifully – I think it’s been a long time since Willy was at the end of a lunge line but she acted like she’d done it yesterday by doing just what Connie asked her to. She lunged her in 3 gaits (walk, trot, and canter) while explaining how she knew the words and was trained what to do.
After she cantered nicely, the children applauded! Willy was soaking it up, this job was SO easy!
Connie did some more Q&A– A teacher asked the parts of the horse and they were shown the basics. The kids had many thoughtful questions, such as how much they ate, how they stayed warm in winter, how do you tell a girl horse from a boy horse (!)– (Connie dodged that one by answering “the same way you do with people.”)
Q&A subject showing off.
Then more carrots, and everyone wanted to pat her through the fence, which kept it really safe for little feet.
Connie brought the mare right up to the gate (with kids on the other side). That mare stood there PERFECTLY STILL and let everyone touch her and admire her!!
All the kids with their outstretched arms wanting to touch Momma mare gave Gilford and Glendale’s mom a celebrity-like status!! Connie had expected that Momma would be fine with a crowd of excited kids around since she’s been used to it from her days with Emmie.
She truly is an amazing and wonderful horse!
Then Connie brought out Momma’s oldest boy Gilford and you could see the difference age and experiences makes. While Momma just stood quietly with barely an ear twitch and let the kids touch her and admire her, young Gilford was not quite so willing to stand still! He wasn’t difficult or anything like that, he just wasn’t quite so patient as his Mom. He is, after all, a youngster and hasn’t been around crowds like mare mom has. [Connie's NOTE: he smelled carrots and basically just wanted to grab for them!]
Dad and Fio look on…
This was a great experience for me– it’s wonderful to see young kids eager to learn about horses and I shared in their excitement that day. I’d love to be part of something like this with Connie again! I felt like a real Horse Gal by being my mentor’s assistant! [And many fine photos and vids you took too, thanks HorseGal!]
Fio was ready to help out too!
