I had 9 count 'em 9 4-Her's show up to our club meeting on Sunday. This is all a pretty new group of kids and none of them have been to the previous vaulting meetings so we started at the beginning with the basics.
Everyone had to practice on my make shift vaulting horse before going to the real thing. I had them start with just some compulsory moves first. We did the basic seat, the windmill, flag and heal click - precursor to scissors.
Everyone was game to try. A couple of 4-Her's tried mounting at the trot but no one was successful for that so we just used a bucket to get on.
After everyone went through a couple of times at the walk or stand still I started letting them try other things.
Two girls wanted to try the windmill at the canter instead of the walk. There is really no point trying anything on Hank at the trot because you would just get bounced off.
They both made it 3/4 of the way around before slipping off to the outside. Hank was such a trooper putting up with everyone spinning at twirling around on top of him. He was very patient walking and would stop if someone was losing their balance. He really lived up to his name of Hank the Wonder Horse. I think this group is looking forward to the next time we do this.
2 comments:
My friend (a trainer & European immigrant) teaches a weekly vaulting class to kids as young as 5 (I believe) as a pre-cursor to actual riding lessons. It's amazing what those kids can do & how much confidence they gain from the classes!
Looks like a great turnout! Our 4H numbers in our area are increasing with young riders joining - great to see the program coming back around!
Good Boy Hank!!!!
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