Ranch Riders – Kids

Seven Week Program

This is a 7 week series for those who want to learn how to become a confident rider in a relaxed and low pressure setting for beginner level riders.

Note: We treat all our horses with respect and kindness, so we only accept those students who understand the importance of the time needed to build a bond with an equine partner, and consequently, those who are willing to be open and honest with themselves as well.  This is why we offer smaller groups and 1.5 hr sessions in order to allow the time needed each session for this process.

The first few weeks we concentrate on the basics, of catching and haltering your horse, tacking up, communicating and understanding horse.  We feel its important that you are comfortable on the ground around the horse in order to understand behaviours and how communicate before just jumping on a large animal!

Once its time to mount up we begin learning how to master a walk and a trot as we layer on the technical skills.  We ride in various sized pens, throw in a few obstacle challenges until finally everyone is comfortable enough to ride out on various ranch trails.  Our trail system has various terrain and as we ride along we do real ranch activities such as checking cattle, counting calves, and enjoying various wildlife and nature as we ride over 500 acres.
If we see a fence down, we will stop and fix it.  If we see a cow out, we’ll push it back to the proper pasture.  Repetition gains confidence and we like to do it outside in the fresh air!  Lots of friendships have been built as we help each other open gates and hold horses, change paces as well as views!

 Riding tips and instruction is constantly given and it is very rewarding to celebrate with all the riders at the end when we can all comfortably lope across a pasture!

Love the horse first; the sport second.

Cost: $440 for 7 weeks
Total time :  1.5 hrs
Note: No classes the first week of August.

Must have your own helmet, wear long pants, riding/cowboy boots and appropriate layers for the weather.

NOTE: In addition to sending us a registration please email HorsePlayRanchAdventures@gmail.com to book an evaluation if you have never been in a class with us before.  We like to meet with each NEW student, for safety reasons, before to confirming a registration.  We also try to build groups with complimentary age groups.  (wink, wink…. #MomGroups)

HorsePlay is based out of Big Rock Farms, a 120 year old family run ranch just SW of Okotoks.

For more information on location go to the Venue page.