Summer Riding Camps

Last year, I spoke at the Oregon Dressage Societies overnight dressage summer camp.  I had a great time and envied the kids sleeping out in tents and waking up feet away from the barn.  How many of us have dreamt of making a bedroom out of one of the stalls in the barn?  The facility at DevonWood is amazingly beautiful in that lush green way that only the Northwest can achieve. All the kids I spoke to and got to know said it was a truly great experience.  I emailed them this week to ask if they needed any help this year. It’s August 4th-7th.  Wouldn’t it be cool for us to all get time together, helping young riders, and sleeping under the stars after chatting until the early hours?
When I emailed them about volunteering they asked if I could post about the camp.  And then I thought what a great idea for a blog.  I went to the web to get information on all the other Region’s youth summer camps (and not private facility ones) and thought to share all the info with you.
Well I didn’t find any!  Region 6, it looks like from the web; is the only GMO sponsored youth camp.  If there are other USDF/GMO sponsored camps please post and let us know.  Use this blog or my FB!  The ODS site is www.oregondressage.com/youth-summercamp.html You can also contact the Region youth coordinator, my old Chef Jodi McMaster at jodimcmaster@yahoo.com. She is really helpful for all things youth in Region 6. They also have many scholarship opportunities!
Then I went to Lendon’s Dressage4Kids site to get all of her summer activities.  And as usual here is where I find the jackpot!
June 26-27th at Hampton Green Farms in Michigan she is holding an EDAP clinic.
June 28th is the Midwest Youth Festival also at Hampton Green Farms
For both of those dates see http://www.hamptongreenfarm.com/news-single/items/id-2014-lendon-youth-dressage-festival-midwest-features-an-excit.html#1
July 29- August 3rd is the Courtney Dye Horsemastership Clinic at Hassler Dressage in Maryland.
August 8-10th is the event , I think, started it all with Lendon’s Youth Festival.  The Hudson show grounds in Saugerties, NY.  Opening registration date is June 11th and closing date is July 8th.  This is a competition based youth event but they have really amazing and unusual classes.  They have leadline, handler classes, judging sport horse conformation, a trail class, an art contest and even a tack room contest.  This sounds like so much fun.  I know many Junior and Young Rider champions like Bebe Davis and Isabelle Leibler grew up hanging out at this very festival in the summer.  I hope to be there this year helping in some capacity!
I didn’t see any USDF summer clinics planned.  Probably because of Gladstone and NAJYRC!  They are so busy.  However, there are more clinics and youth events after summer for both D4K and USDF.  Just check out their sites.
http://www.usdf.org/education/clinics/jryr/dates-locations.asp
Finally, don’t forget the USEF high school equestrian athlete program which is a fun way to keep track of your time in sports activities like other high school athletes and get really great stuff!  I love my jacket and sweatshirts that I earned participating in this program all four years of school.  The website to check it out is https://www.usef.org/highschool/.

Well have a great summer and stay cool in the saddle.

On the www.dressage4kids.org/events/ site you can find out her ever updating schedule.