Dogsledding & Horseback Riding - Ontario March Break Camp fun for girls!



Ontario Children's Horseback Riding
& Dogsledding March Break Camp

MARCH 15 - 21st, 2009

In our continuing quest to provide unique,
fun, and educational activities for kids,
we're back again with the oh so popular

Dogsledding & Horseback Riding Combo!

THERE ARE STILL THREE SPACES AVAILABLE AS OF FEB 5, 20098!

The camp is centred around the following:

~ Horseback Riding/Lessons & Trail Riding
~ Caring for, Harnessing, & Driving a Dog Team
~ a BLAST of other fun winter stuff like campfires
marshmallows, and even winter camping!

A WEEK long, (Sunday to Saturday) residential
camp, with a unique variety of outdoor activities
that EMBRACE WINTER as it comes to a gentle close.
This one of a kind Children's Riding Camp is open
up to sixteen girls, ages 10 - 16  ~ so book early!

The scope of the campers' daily activities
is intensive winter fun, with friendly and
personal instruction (and lots of animal stuff!)

Our dogs haveproven
themselves great
candidates for our
program. They run
the regular tours all
winter taking kids as
young as FOUR out
on the trails daily.
When March Break
camp rolls around,
our canine pals seem
to sense 'THIS' is the
one where they get
all that ATTENTION!
(which they LOVE)

As with all our camps, this educational program
is practical, it's presented in depth (and in an
easy to understand format) and of course, there's
lots of winter fun and games! Your child will leave
feeling like they really accomplished something,
met lots of new friends their own age, learned to
dogsled and get in lots of riding time, and had
alot of fun while they were at it! The entire
program is very hands on for kids - they do all
the daily tasks associated with running dogs and
riding horses. It's very fun for ALL of us, and the
kids jump into the fray with enthusiasm! Best of
all, they're pros by week's end, & the confidence
they have gained as a result of their newfound
skills is OBVIOUS and exciting!

HORSEBACK RIDING!

Basic Horsemanship Skills, Fun Horseback
Riding lessons grooming, tacking, and trail
riding will be a part of our daily horseback
activities at March Break Camp.  Campers
learn how to groom, feed, saddle, and ride
their own horse.  Safety is the focus, as is
FUN! And at the end of the week, we'll have
games that test what they've learned, and of
course, lots of horse laughs! To find out more
about our coach, click here. Make no mistake,
our horses have it easy ALL winter, so it's
always pleasant for them to be groomed and
fussed over and they very quickly remember
what the grain pail is all about! Here is Tuffy,
one of our best young horses, and her little
friend from Korea. Our horses are pros when it comes to kids, and we're pretty darn proud
of them. Horses + kids = FUN!

Then there's something all kids
love! (a love of speed and good
balance comes quite naturally
to the young!)

DOGSLEDDING!

Every day, we'll harness up &
hit the trails for a fun blast
through our private dogsled
trails.  Everyone will get a
chance to drive their very
own team,  whom they will
care for, feed,  and learn how
to harness ~ they'll even
learn how to put on 'booties'!
There's lots to know ~ and
the kids will spend time learning
all about the dogsleds, the
lines, and other the other
equipment that goes with
running a dogteam.  Best of
all, the children always
get to know each & every dog in
the yard, and we have a fun
race and dogsledding games
at the end of the week.

Alaskan Huskies are amazing athletes,
& they love the kids! It's comical to
watch the girls try and harness the
goofy, bouncing and barking dogs
- the kids may spend alot of time on
the ground, but they always get the
job done! (It wouldn't be sledding if
there weren't thrills and spills! 

If you would like to read more about our
dogs & sledding program, please click
here. If you would like to read all about
Alaskan Huskies, on a page I wrote about the
breed, click here. We have a few new dogs to run
this year - 'Special' and 'Highbeam!'

After a day filled with dogsledding
and horses our campers will enjoy
a homecooked dinner at the
farmhouse, and later spend the
evening enjoying an outdoor fire
& marshmallows.  And, our
campers will enjoy a HUGE cabin
heated by a woodstove. In the
evening, the boss stokes the fire,
and we snuggle in our jams for
a movie. The bunks have 4" foam
pads, and a common room has
couches, TV/DVD player, games
table & comfy chairs. It's a home away from home! Well, its 200 yds from the farmhouse, that is (tucked in the bush on the farm)


Big picture windows show theclearing, and our firepit,
with a nightly campfire if the mood grabs us or we
feel woodsy.  The stars are very close, in Maynooth!

Our agenda even includes learning how to SNOWSHOE!  
When was the last time you got a chance to strap some
wood on your feet and see how it makes travelling in the forest
easier when winter has dumped it's worst on you?  It's always
good for a laugh!  There's instruction on how to use them
~ AND THEN, OF COURSE, we RACE!

What was that that just darted across our path?  We'll spend
some time identifying and understanding those mysterious tracks
in the snow.  Animals tracks tell a story.  What it was, what it ate,
where it hid ~ even where it was sleeping.   The kids will identify
everything from Ruffed Grouse, Porcupine, Mink, Rabbit, Fox, Deer
- maybe even the elusive Mink, Bobcat & perhaps even a Fisher ! 

(These are fox tracks - we'll learn about the creatures that inhabit the forest outside our door!)

Even though it's usually mild in March, dressing right for Camp is important. 
We supply the girls with ASTM certified horseback riding helmets & cozy polar
fleece helmet covers, which protect them quite well for both daytime activities. 
The main daytime activities at this camp are always close to a warmup spot - they
are run in the barn and dogyard, the riding paddocks, and on the forest trails of
our 134 acre wilderness property, located near Algonquin Park, Ontario. 

If your child loves camping, playing in the snow, dogs and horses, we have just the
March Break Camp for you!  A very popular camp with a very high return rate,
we'll introduce your child to the joys of a wilderness winter paradise!

What better way to get the cobwebs out of our ears, enjoy some
spring sunshine, play all the fun and games that you can think of
- and all in a WINTER WONDERLAND near Algonquin Park?

For more information or to sign up,
please contact

Highland Wilderness Tours
Matt & Penny Nicol, Box 211, Maynooth, Ontario, K0L 2S0
1-613-338-2330  or toll free    1-866-RYD-WILD
info@ridethewilderness.com

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