Mini Heroes Horsemanship Camp - School Holiday Activity

Post

Subscribe

Posted 2020-09-06 by Vanessa ⇒ follow

Fri 25 Sep 2020 - Sat 10 Oct 2020

These spring school holidays, the dedicated and supportive EquiTune team is offering a Mini Heroes Horsemanship Camp for children aged 6-8, 9-11 and 12-14 (choose from Friday 25 September or Wednesday 30 September).This is a special opportunity for your child to build life, social and team skills alongside EquiTune's beautiful and gentle horses. Minimal riding is involved as these camps are designed to help children build a unique connection to the horses. They also provide a taster of EquiTune's 10-week course which coincides with the upcoming school term.[BREAK]

What skills can your child develop with EquiTune?Responsibility: Horses teach responsibility very quickly. The horse depends on the child for everything; food, water, care; it's their job to keep this animal alive essentially. When working with a horse, everything it does is because of the child's actions; they are solely responsible for anything the horse does whether 'good' or 'bad'. It's never the horse's fault. Even down to an emotive sense, how they act affects how the horses act, so they learn how their actions have effects. Your child will want to be responsible because they want to do things with a horse.Respect: Respecting the horse's boundaries is taught quickly, otherwise, it can easily be dangerous. Ask, don't force. Respect of belongings is also taught through the care of gear. Horse equipment is very expensive and in order for it to last, they must take good care of it, which is why we emphasis the cleaning and maintenance of any gear used. Children will also learn to respect themselves and what they are capable of.Confidence: Horses are large and scary, just being around them builds confidence. Horsemanship also builds self-confidence because a horse doesn't care what you look like but how you treat it, so they learn to have confidence and find worth in their own character. Accomplishing anything with a horse feels fantastic and gives you a lot of confidence and self-esteem. Children set goals and can reach them and feel accomplished. Being with horses is something children do for themselves because they enjoy it, not because other people want them to.Problem Solving: Horses are unpredictable, so it's very common to have a new problem that needs solving. If you want to teach your horse to play soccer that seems unattainable. However, break it down into small steps and it is suddenly achievable. This skill of how to break tasks down into steps that can be easily managed is applicable to any problem. And it's not just working by themselves to solve a problem but also learning to solve something by asking for help if they are unsure. Since horses are so different from anything else it's quite easy to ask questions if you are unsure because children have nothing else in their experience to draw from. When learning to ride, it's easy to blame the horse if they won't do anything, however, it's never the horse's fault. If it's never the horse's fault, the problem then becomes: how can they change their own actions to get the outcome they want.Resilience: If you get it wrong, you dust yourself off and try again. If you can't get your horse to walk, you try again. If you miscommunicate, you try it again correctly. Horses teach you to never give up and try again. It also teaches children to manage frustration and turn it into patience.Ethic: In order to play with a horse, the child has to look after the horse. If you want to ride, you have to catch, groom, feed, tack up, etc... so they learn to do so efficiently. If you work hard and take good care of your horse and train well, it will show, and children learn to take pride in their horse's appearance and behaviour.

Safety: Horses are large animals and in order to work efficiently with them, you have to learn the safe practices of good horsemanship and to evaluate risk in any course of action. Children learn to think about what they are going to do before they do it.Trust: Children learn to trust in themselves for to be able to manage this large creature and trust in the horse to work with them, they must first trust and believe in themselves.Open Minded: You never stop learning with horses, no matter how advanced or accomplished you get. Children learn to avoid assumptions or taking things for granted. This applies to school and makes it easier to learn other new skills and admit that they don't know something. You always play with the horse you have today - you might've been ok to run a marathon yesterday, doesn't mean you can the day after.Empathy: Children learn to put themselves in the horse's shoes to see how they would like to be kicked, jumped on, pulled, ignored, etc. It's also about reading the horses subtle body language and asking softly and with sensitivity towards another being. Lots of "please" and "thank you"s are involved. Working with horses is about being kind and consistent with no hard feelings, even if you're frustrated you never take it out on the horse.Leadership: If you can communicate with a horse and get it to agree to do what you want, talking to people and sharing ideas becomes a whole lot easier.Exercise: Horsemanship and caring is a fantastic exercise and encourages children to get outdoors and want to be outdoors away from today's technology. The average day working with horses covers around 16,000 steps and that's before exercising them.[BREAK]

EquiTune's herd is led by Nathalie, a qualified life coach, counsellor, horsewoman, seichim and reiki practitioner and yoga teacher. Nathalie notes that the horse interaction in EquiTune's Mini Heroes Horsemanship Camp and 10-week course is arguably more than during a riding lesson and the connection is second to none.All children love horses and this is a chance for your child to develop life-long skills and new ways of being and interacting. Bookings for the Mini Heroes Horsemanship Camp on Friday 25 September or Wednesday 30 September are now open. Register your interest now at [email protected]. The fee is $195 per child.The 10-week course runs during the school term, starting on Wednesday 7 October and Saturday 10 October, so you can choose which suits your schedule best. The 10-week course features weekly and quarterly goals with milestones which are achievable for each child. The course is held in small groups, ensuring your child receives one on guidance and attention. Register your interest now at [email protected]. The fee is $445 per child.For more information on EquiTune and their range of equine facilitated wellness services through horsemanship, yoga, and horse riding, please see www.EquiTune.com.au and follow www.facebook.com/equitune