Giddy Up, CFA— Your Fall Horse Update

Howdy howdy, campers, staff and families. I haven't written in a few weeks and wanted to share some of the exciting changes we are planning for the YMCA Camp Flaming Arrow's Equestrian Education program in 2012.

Three great NightRyders on Whiskers, Cash, and Rocky.

The NightRyders program was a big hit for 6 of the 8 camp weeks this year. NightRyders offered some of the more advanced teen riders one or two nights during their week to come out and try their hand at a different equine activity— some nights it was beginner jumping, sometimes trying out English or Australian riding styles and saddles, riding bareback, or trying their hand at competitive trail riding obstacles with Tiffany and myself. Some Ryders loped for the first time. This was the first year for the group and participants were chosen on a volunteer basis. Next year, due to demand, we will do our best to ensure in advance riders who are interested and eligible (must be a teen and been enrolled in Saddle Club or another year-round equine activity for at least two years) have a chance to try at least one NightRyder activity. If you have any suggestions for safe, fun, and exciting horse programming for our best riders to try, let us know in the comments section below!

Camp favorite Salty and his Saddle Club rider, Week 7.

Currently, we are in the planning stages of expanding the CFA Saddle Club from 12 to 18 members. To do this safely, we hope to have a total of four equestrian staff who can accommodate two groups of riders on two different curricula, who will rotate trail riding classes, round pen classes, and arena classes.  Each week of summer camp, we have to turn away potential Saddle Club riders who were unable to sign up in time to claim their spot. We hope to serve more horse-crazy (or at least, horse-curious!) children who want to ride.

Young campers giving horseback riding their first try.

With the potential expansion of riders, we will continue to look for quality horses who meet the high standards set for a Great Camp Horse! Not all of ours are beautiful, but it takes calm, courage, intelligence, and patience to be a camp mount and we are in the process of acquiring three new horses this fall. With spring retreats coming, we'll have a chance to see how these horses do in the high-pressure situation of camp, and they may make the cut to be part of our string for summer 2012. The camp mustang colts, Indigo and Flint, are not ready for full-time camper duties yet, but are still undergoing training and fine-tuning and we would love to see them being ridden by advanced campers in 2013.  I'll be attending clinics this fall to continue to develop my own skills, including natural horsemanship workshops and dressage lessons. Hopefully I can bring a lot of that back to CFA

As for your summer 2011 Equestrian Staff, who both love their own brand of competitive trail riding— Tiffany and her horse, Rocky, continue to compete in American Competitive Trail Horse Association (visit ACTHA.us for more information) rides and I continue my involvement with the North American Trail Ride Conference (NATRC.org.) We have facilitated several retreats this fall, with many more planned in the spring, and CFA Adopt-a-Horse riding lessons continue throughout the year. Both of us have acquired mustangs from the Bureau of Land Management and spend time on a daily or weekly basis training them to be great trail horses of the future.

Tiffany & Rocky on a competitive ride near Ingram, TX.

Bandit & I riding near Caprock Canyon.

Happy trails to all of you readers,
And hope your lives are full and happy!

— "MA"

What goes on at the barn when ya'll aren't here?

Whenever I have a chance to talk to folks about my job —I'm the Equestrian Director here, by the way, I usually hear one of two responses. Sometimes both.

One, "That sounds like the greatest job ever."

And two, "So what do you actually do when you don't have summer camp / a retreat / trail rides?"

Well, let me tell you!

CFA currently has twenty-four horses. To my knowledge, that's more than we've had in quite awhile and besides feeding them, there comes a lot of maintenance with our herd who varies in age from 15 months old to 30 years old.

Obviously, the horses have to eat each day. Every horse has access to hay 24/7. Total, the herd goes through almost 4,000 pounds of high-quality Coastal hay each week— which is a lot, but it makes up most of their diet. We put out hay at least once a week and each horse spends 8 - 16 hours a day eating.. Which explains why we need 4,000 pounds of the stuff! Besides hay, each horse receives a ration of grain. In some cases, for some of the fittest and fattest horses (like Pumbaa and JB and Rue) that means only a couple of handfuls of horse feed. The oldest and skinniest guys (like Charlie and Dixie and Puzzle) get pounds and pounds of feed generally twice a day, soaked in water, so it's easier to digest.

Whenever the horses come in for grain, they also get checked for any wounds they may have picked up playing in the pasture, or any signs of sickness. Part of my work is using basic veterinary skills to patch up scrapes and bites and scratches, and making sure everyone is healthy. We keep a big cabinet full of first aid supplies and medicine, but anything truly major is addressed by our wonderful veterinarians in nearby Kerrville.

The younger and more excitable horses also need exercise in the form of arena work, trail rides, and "groundwork"— working with a horse while not being mounted in a saddle. That falls to me, too, though everyone at CFA enjoys a horseback ride on occasion! We also have two very young horses who have, at this point, never been ridden yet. They are in training to become saddle horses too, and that takes plenty of groundwork several days a week.

For most of the fall and spring, CFA welcomes retreat groups in the form of Girl or Boy Scouts, YMCA Adventure Guides, church or youth groups, and other groups of people. Many groups choose to ride horses, so a Wrangler and I saddle up ten or twelve horses on Saturday and Sunday and lead trail rides on Santa Fe Trail, the Enchanted Forest Trail, the BB Trail, and the Fiesta Trail.

Also during the off season, when there isn't a retreat group here, I teach riding lessons for the Adopt-a-Horse Program. Currently, Hannah, Missy, Dolly, and Karat are all in the program, and we're expecting more sign ups in October. Lessons are a lot like Saddle Club rides on a smaller scale— horsemanship is taught in the arena through exercises and practice, and we break it up often with games and trail rides.

Besides the barn stuff, there's always plenty to do in the office and often with the San Antonio Y.. And now, apparently, writing blog posts once a week for CFA! (I love the idea, Ryne.) A lot goes into taking care of a herd of camp horses, but the reasoning behind it is easy. I think camp is incredibly important and, working here at CFA, I have the very lucky opportunity to give lots of people a chance to ride for the first or thousandth time. Being around horses can teach a person many things about themselves, and it is certainly one of my favorite things to do in this beautiful Hill Country setting!