Parents whose children participated in this year’s Cariboo Chilcotin Child Development Centre Horsin’ Around told organizer Ruth Shaw they wished it could happen more often.
“One mom told me her daughter talked about the horse she rode in last year’s program all year long,” Shaw said.
Between Monday, July 10 and Friday, July 14, 12 children participated.
Thanks to the efforts of many volunteers, there were several horses and two miniature horses for the children to ride.
Instructor and handler Bobby Denner of 150 Mile House was back for her second year in a row.
“It is amazing,” she said of the program. “I love it and feel very blessed to be a part of it.”
Denner has been riding horses since she was two-years-old and grew up around horses.
She moved to the Cariboo, following her sister Brady McNolty, and lived at the Alkali Lake Ranch for 15 years.
On Friday, July 14, the last day of the camp, Denner led the children and their side-walkers through a series of stretches followed by some games which included musical cones, much like musical chairs.
The riders had to lead their horses around the cones and stop when the music stopped.
“There are six riders and five cones,” she said.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Shaw creatively kept the program going virtually.
Riders were encouraged to share photographs of themselves with horses and do some horse-topic activities.
Gathering again in person for the second year in a row was so nice though, she said.
“I even thought I was not going to have enough volunteers but I really did,” she said.
People who loaned horses were Ava Haw, Damian Inglis, Christina Roderus and Bailey Fuller.
The Cariboo Chilcotin Child Development Centre has operated in Williams Lake since the 1970s and was the brainchild of the late Aileen Hewett.
Horsin’ Around is one of its many programs.
monica.lamb-yorski@wltribune.com
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