James goes Horseback Riding with the Scouts

This past Saturday, James went with 6 other Boy Scouts to the Camp Keyauwee, Circle C Ranch to work on their Horsemanship merit badge.

This was his first horseback riding experience and he certainly looked a bit nervous at first.

To his credit, he followed the instructions and after they groomed their horses, it was time to learn how to ride.

James was paired up with Penny. She was the largest horse of the group, but she also appeared to be the most gentle. This made the day go much smoother for James.

He learned how to make Penny walk, stop, and turn where he wanted to go. They got plenty of opportunity to practice, riding around the very nice indoor area on this cold rainy Saturday.

Near the end of the practice they each had to make their horses trot to a designated location, slow down to a walk, turn a complete circle, walk again, then stop and have the horse back up a couple of steps, and then proceed on forward. All of the boys were able to successfully complete the sequence (It helps to have good horses).

The boys then dismounted and removed the saddle and reins and then walked their horses out of the arena and back to the stable area.

They learned quite a bit and had a great time in the process.

Camp Keyauwee is the local Girl Scout camp, but they have an excellent year ruond horse program. We found out that we were the first Boy Scout troop to come there to learn and ride. Once word gets out about the great time that we had, I' quite sure there will be more wanting to visit.