Equestrian Program Info
With up to two horse activities per camper per day, our equestrian program offers a broad, fun, and meaningful connection with horses! There are never more than five campers in a lesson, allowing us to focus on all riders to promote safety and give specific and individualized feedback.
Our Horse Activities
With the assistance of our experienced Equestrian Directors, campers will learn how to properly care for and ride horses. Across our program, we foster respect for horses by encouraging campers to use soft hands, seat, leg, and voice when working with our herd, guided by our mantra “Patience and Persistence”. No matter your experience level with horses, the Camp Augusta herd is excited to learn new skills with you. (The herd also wanted us to share that they are perfectly fine with a grooming spa day and mane braiding session… just so you know…)
Check out some of our most popular activities below!
Horse Care is a popular clinic amongst campers of all ages and experience levels and is designed to foster a holistic understanding and respect for horses. It’s also a great starting point for campers who are curious about horses but aren’t interested in riding.
Each horse care clinic includes: Basic horse-sense and safety, Grooming, Saddling and bridling, Horse anatomy, Horse-whispering (understanding horse-sense and body language) and How to show love and appreciation to a horse
Arena skills clinics focus on the foundations of riding including walking, trotting, pattern and weaving exercises, and introductory jumping. We emphasize building a horse and rider partnership through quiet, clear, and gentle cues that tune into a horse’s natural movement.
We have a variety of clinics within this skill set that are flexible to our campers’ experience and excitement levels. Skills within these clinics include
- Building strong riding foundations including
- Proper body positioning and a balanced seat
- Confidence in stoping, starting, and steering at the walk and trot
- Intermediate and advanced pattern and steering exercises
- Weaving cones and barrels, trot poles, circles, figure-eights, serpentines, and more!
Trail rides are an opportunity for campers to further practice communicating with a horse outside of an arena. With over 90 acres at Camp Augusta, we can easily fill an hour-long adventure exploring the trails around camp!
Campers must come to at least one arena lesson before a trail ride to ensure everyone on the trail understands the basic cues and safety practices when riding.
Introductory trail rides include:
- Introduction to trail commands
- Understanding how to safely navigate common trail obstacles
Intermediate and advanced trail rides include:
- Trail games to improve focus and balance (and get a few giggles going)
- Walking and trotting on the trail (amount of trotting is dependent on rider skill and trail quality)
Cabin Activities are an hour-long activity block when each cabin creates an activity that they wouldn’t normally experience at home.
Some of our particularly memorable cabin activities include:
- Apple-bobbing races (don’t worry, each horse and human get their own bucket!)
- Team-building obstacle courses (can you guide a horse through a maze with no leadrope??)
- Horse pamper-pack (bubble baths, hoof-polish, braids-galore – the works)
- Total makeover (watch our horses transform into a unicorn, pegasus, or dragon thanks to a little help from non-toxic paint and horse-approved costumes)
- Medieval jousting (try your hand at jousting on our trusty-steeds and foam-padded ‘lances’)
Occasionally, our horses enjoy creating additional wish, wonder, and surprise for campers through our Special Wakeups, Story Experiences and occasional Evening Programs. They have contributed their acting skills by playing roles in activities like:
- Trumpeting and “neighing” awake a group of five royal campers, and trotting them down to a private breakfast atop our local magical waterfall
- An eerie and spooky hunt hiding in the midst of the woods to solve the mystery of the headless horseman
- Participating as ruffians and thugs in a bandit heist, kicking up dust outside the banks and saloons as the horses help the campers escape into the wild wild west
