Rochester Summer Horse Program for Kids

Horse culture is strong on the SouthCoast. You see the signs for horse crossings, locals on horseback riding on nearby trails and plenty of farms in the area.

There are many horse-related activities and programs available, whether it be equine therapy, horseback riding lessons, horse shows and more.

If your children are like mine and love seeing the horses when driving down the road, or ask to try riding one day, you may be wondering how to introduce them into the world of horsemanship.

"Horsemanship is considered the art of riding, driving, managing and handling horses-basically, it’s our way of saying that kids who come to our program won’t just have a riding lesson, but they’ll gain a comprehensive understanding of horse care," Caitlin Lewis and Katie Speer said.

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Lewis and Speer are owners and trainers at Dark Horse Training, a full service equestrian facility in Rochester. Their summer horsemanship program for children ages seven to 15 will teach your child a lot.

"Each day includes riding time, and each lesson features different activities or styles of riding throughout the week," Lewis and Speer said.

They also teach responsibility of caring for the animals.

"They will also help with a chore around the farm-some favorites include feeding lunch to the horses, measuring and mixing feed buckets, and scrubbing out the big water tubs (as you can imagine, that one is popular on a hot day). They get plenty of hands on horse time, brushing all of the lesson horses and learning how to saddle and care for them before and after they ride," Lewis and Speer said.

"We usually finish out the with an educational activity (parts of the horse, horse colors and markings, types of saddles and bridles), a craft to take home, and a game like an obstacle course or scavenger hunt," they said.

The program is open to everyone, no prior experience needed. Three sessions are offered this summer:

June 23-27

July 14-18

August 4-8

Each session runs from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Kids are required to bring lunch each day.

"We hope kids leave at the end of the week tired, covered in dirt, hay, and horse hair, and with a whole bunch of new friends," Speer and Lewis said.

"Many of our long term students and even some horse owners started out by coming to this program-it is really a great opportunity for any horse crazy kid to see what the horse world is all about," they said.

Email info@darkhorsetraining.com to register.