It was a chance for 4-Hers of all experience levels to pick up some new horse riding skills.
Nikki Wall, a member from a club near Saskatoon, travelled to Melfort for a equine camp held at the Agricultural Society May 20 and 21. She was taking the beginner class.
“I want to learn more stuff with my horse,” she said. “We’re learning how to keep a trot and do nice circles.”
Wall, who was one of 36 members at the event, said she believes the class will be useful for her.
“I had a couple setbacks last year and this is boosting my confidence.”
There were four clinicians at the event. Carol Hollinger from Esterhazy taught beginning reining, Brandi Byers from Prince Albert taught horsemanship, Laurel Vaadeland from Debden taught basic dressage and jumping, and Gloria Kadlec taught gymkhana.
“We do it for our 4-H members and learning opportunities for them,” said Rheann LaClare, the chair of the event. “We bring in four clinicians and all our clinicians teach something different to the kids so it gives them the opportunity to try lots of different things.”
Reining is something that’s becoming more popular within the equine world.
“I equate it to figure skating on horseback,” Hollinger said.”It’s very technical and for people that don’t know what reining is, that’s the easiest way to describe it.”
A rider will have to combine sliding stops, lead changes, spins, circles, in a specific order. The rule book suggests that 13 patterns be combined for a performance.
Horsemanship was Byers’ focus.
“I’m working on correct body position, riding position and working on teaching them to ride, horsemanship and western pleasure patterns according to the criteria in the rule books.”
Both clinicians said their students were eager to learn – something that’s important in equine activities, as they require lifelong learning.
“Just because you can ride doesn’t mean you know everything,” Hollinger said. “There’s always things to learn when you ride.”
Byers said the students she was teaching were acting on their desire to learn more.
“I’m finding out that a lot of these kids are taking lessons and have instructors and that is amazing, because that’s what helps them get successful, is learning from people in the industry and have been in the industry for a while that can give back to them and motivate them and give them the correct knowledge that they need to be successful.”
Both clinicians also emphasized safety and following the rule books.
LaClare said it took only three weeks to fill the camp. Next year’s camp is already booked on the Victoria Day long weekend, with clinicians already secured.
