Words & Photos from Lauren W.
For our third day of the “Giddy Up” cohort, we went to Hunt Valley again. It was raining at Hunt Valley when we first arrived, but we quickly adjusted to the weather and began to work with the horses. We started by meeting some new staff, and seeing some staff we had already met from the previous visit. After going over the main horse environment rules, we split into two groups. The first group, of about six people, went and got one of the ponies so people could lunge it. The lunging part was very interesting because we got to learn how to use our voice and movements to get a horse to move in the direction and speed we wanted them to go. After lunging, group one went and learned the anatomy of a horse. We were given stickers with a variety of horse parts written on them, then we were told to stick the stickers onto the pony to the best of our ability. Once passing with about 50% of the stickers in the right place, we learned the correct names for the anatomy of a horse.
The next activity we did with our horse, we learned how to polo wrap a horse's leg. We first practiced wrapping each others legs, then tried it on the horses legs. This was the first part of our day at Hunt Valley before we had lunch. After our lunch break the two groups switched leaders and did opposite activities. It was our group’s turn to ride the horses. We took turns riding the horses for about 45 minutes each, with about three people in the ring at a time. We had to first prepare our horses for riding, which included brushing the horses and putting on their saddles. While in the ring we practiced trotting with the horses, and guiding them with our words. By the end of the day, everybody had greatly improved their riding skills, and knowledge about the anatomy of a horse. Overall, it was a great third cohort day and we learned a lot of new skills working with horses.