August Specialty Camps 2025

IMG_2424
DSC_3246
IMG_2427
DSC_2880
Previous
Next
Camp Fees
Registration Form
Waiver

What to Expect

Equine-Assisted Learning Camp (August 5 – 8)

Equine-Assisted Learning (EAL) offers a unique educational experience in partnership with horses. Because horses are extraordinary teachers, they offer honest and immediate feedback. Unlike humans, horses don’t overanalyze our motives. Instead, they respond instinctively to our behavior and leadership style, challenging us through their intuition and sensitivity.

Their ability to reflect our behavior without judgment encourages self-awareness and individual growth. By learning to listen to what horses are telling us, participants are inspired to ask deeper questions about themselves. 

The EAL camp offers a morning riding lesson, centered on the non-verbal communication required between the horse and rider. We’ll explore how to be a kind, confident, and clear leader for the horse, and with each rider having the same horse all week, they will have the opportunity to create a strong partnership with their equine friend. Each afternoon, we will run an EAL session, reinforcing the self-awareness that horses help us develop. Participants learn valuable life skills through carefully designed, engaging exercises that foster personal and team growth. 

Over the last 40 years, we’ve seen that the skills horses teach us are transferable to life outside the barn. Countless parents and teachers have given us feedback that reinforces this belief. Horses reward all of the characteristics we want to instill in young people, and by the end of the week, campers will leave with a better sense of self and more confidence and resilience to navigate life’s challenges.

For more information on Equine-Assisted Learning, check out the link below: https://www.cartierfarms.ca/what-is-eal.html

Show Preparation Camp (August 11 – August 15)

In this 5-day intensive program, students will discover what is required of them and their horses to have successful experiences at horse shows. By taking the horses off the property to a different location, they will experience the best practices for trailering horses, the responsibility the rider has to reassure the horse in moments of uncertainty, and how to support their horses and their colleagues in a potentially stressful environment. In the process, they will learn that it’s not about the ribbons, or what others about them, but rather about building a stronger partnership with their horse. We take a horse-centered approach to learning what to expect on the show day, and how to be prepared. At the end of the week, students will put their new skills into practice and trailer their horses to an off site location to ride. 

Students will learn:
  • Skills for calming their nerves so they can better help their horse
  • How to  build a relationship based on trust with their horse so that they can lessen stress when the horse is exposed  to different environments at different locations
  • What to bring when taking the horses off the property 
  • Shipping equipment and their uses
  • Best practises for trailering – with Jim Young
  • Expected turnout of the horse and rider at clinics and shows
  • Warm up ring safety
  • Show etiquette
  • What is expected of them to prepare for a show day
  • Braiding practice
Jumping Fundamentals Camp (August 18 – 22)

During this 5-day camp experience, students will get the opportunity to understand the different skills required to train a horse to jump large colourful show jumps, master a hunter course, or negotiate the unlevel terrain and natural obstacles encountered on a cross-country course. Participants will practice these skills as well as what they’ve learned on the flat, and learn the fundamentals of how the horse jumps and our role in assisting his efforts. Throughout the week, the goal will be to deepen their partnership with their horse by applying a framework for correct training and horsemanship over fences. Students will use these tools while riding courses involving ground rails or jumps.

Students will learn:

  • Basic elements of setting the horse up for success over fences
  • How to keep themselves and the horse well-balanced over fences
  • Counting and “seeing” strides
  • Building courses and basic course design
  • Building their own self-awareness on the horse
  • Braiding Practice
  • Trying different jumping disciplines, understanding the skills required for each, and how to adjust their riding accordingly