We offer kids and adults the opportunity to experience horses in a relaxed and safe environment. Our goals are to teach quality horsemanship and solid riding skills. We have the experienced lesson ponies and horses to do that and the instructors to make it a reality.
Here are Sophie on Evie and Sarah on Dougal enjoying the sunshine after a lesson and a walk on the polo field located at South Bay Horse Ranch.
Our five summer camps for this year are successfully completed. Thank you to the amazing camp counselors, our well behaved and patient ponies and our array of guest speakers that made this possible. Please check out the photos in the gallery for this year’s fun.
A highlight was Dr Ann Wimmer helping the campers understand the internal workings of a horse’s leg. Fascinating!
See more pictures in the gallery.
Our camps are popular this year and are filling up quickly. Weeks 1, 2 & 4 are full. Week 3 has a couple of spaces left; this camp is for the 10-14 group that already know how to tack up and can trot and steer independently.
More info in the Camp Flyer
We are pleased to offer 5 camps in 2018. There will be 2 beginner camps, 1 skilled beginner camp, 1 intermediate rider camp and 1 experienced rider camp. The details are on the camp page. The good news is that the price has not increased since 2014. This is an excellent week of horse related activities provided by experienced camp counsellors.
Please welcome Oliver. He is the official rodent patrol at Sugarloaf Farm. The added bonus is that he is very friendly and hangs out with kids whenever he can.
The kids had the best time with the reptiles today. Jen Van Deren explained and answered many questions about snakes, toads and spiders this afternoon. It was a lot of fun.
Dougal and Brittney, reserve champions in their division at the Ocean Breeze July 28-30 show. His first show of the year and he behaved impeccably. Easy to load, easy to be around, he is good for the farrier, the vet. He is everything you expect of a Connemara.
photo credit: Allissa Williams
The kids had a fun new experience this week. Mini Cooper pulled the cart for them with Cher as the driver.
We had two teams of ponies playing games, a grey team and a bay team. Here are the greys with their riders: Evie on the right and Woody on the left. Please note the crazy cute tie-dyed saddle pads which were Thursday’s craft.
Our first week of camp is June 12, after that we have 5 more weeks of horse-filled fun and learning. July 17 is full but there are spaces in the other weeks. After one kids first year, she must have been 9 at the time, she said it was the best week of her life. She is now driving herself and still coming to camp. This is a week that kids will remember, so many memories. The petting zoo has been booked for the beginner and skilled beginner weeks, polo for the advanced camp. Our ponies and counsellors are ready to keep the kids safe, happy and active.
2016 Advanced week of camp plus counsellors.
I was honored to receive the 2016 Area VI Volunteer of the Year award (Area VI is California and Hawaii.). The jacket was presented by Don Trotter, himself an awesome volunteer, Chris Scarlett is the Chair of Area VI, again a volunteer and the master of ceremonies is Robert Kellerhouse. Robert runs a terrific series of events both at Woodside and at Galway Downs in Temecula.
As the dressage coordinator for volunteers I call on a a large number of people to give of their time and energy and enthusiasm to ensure that competitors get into their dressage arenas on time and they receive their dressage tests back at the end of day with legible handwriting and more importantly its their dressage test they are receiving back! Now that we use email such a lot it’s easier to reach people, a decade ago I used to make phone calls and that was way more of a challenge. It would be impossible for me to do my job without the great people that answer my emails. Thank you to volunteers everywhere for the time you spend giving to your community.
Woodside, May 27, 2017
