In only three days, five Girl Scouts have become pros at horseback riding - which isn't as simple as some may think.
This year's Girl Scout horse day camp at B and B Farm in Russellville was July 12-14.
Schellie Blochberger has owned and operated B and B Farm for about 21 years. She provides summer horse camps, horseback riding lessons, horse boarding, and horse show judging and scribing.
Blochberger began holding summer horse camps 10-15 years ago at the farm. Throughout the summer, there are three camps for anyone age 8 and older and one camp just for Girl Scouts.
The Girl Scout camp includes more in-depth lessons about horseback riding so the girls meet the requirements to earn a horsemanship badge.
The five girls, ages 9-12, spent the past three days riding horses and doing hands-on learning, bookwork, crafts and activities to learn about how to take care of and ride a horse.
They learned about horse feeding, health, grooming, cleaning up after horses, and putting on and taking off a bridle and saddle, even taking a bridle apart and putting it back together.
"Everything we do - whether it's a game, a puzzle or hands-on learning - it's all about the horse," Blochberger said. "We try to take them through something different each day and things that we have to do on a daily basis to keep the horses healthy."
They usually ride horses that have been training since they were young, but every horse has its own personality, and they're often stubborn and lazy, Blochberger said. The Girl Scouts got to ride different horses each day and learn how different they can be.
To prepare to ride the horses, they learned how to properly saddle up and get on the horse with proper form, sitting up straight and centered with feet comfortably in the stirrups.
They learned how to maneuver their horse to go around cones and poles, go in large and small circles, reverse directions, kick their feet on the horses to walk, say "whoa" to stop and tell the horse to trot.
"We've been working the past two days on getting their steering down and some very simple maneuvers like walking a circle and weaving the cones, getting them to use their different body parts in helping the horse do what we need them to do," Blochberger said.
For example, they learned to turn corners by stretching their arm outward and bringing the rein over the horse's neck. When turning left, they put their right leg on the horse, bring their leg in and put pressure on the horse's body so they naturally turn.
"There's a lot to it," Blochberger said. "People think that you just get on and go, and the horse kind of does everything, but they don't."
On Wednesday, the last day of the Girl Scout horse camp, the girls told their horses to trot for the first time.
"That was the most fun I've ever had," Girl Scout Hailey Kampeter said after getting off her horse.
Clara Poston, who hadn't ridden a horse at all before going to the camp, said she signed up because she was interested in learning about horses and wanted a fun way to defeat her summer boredom.
"It's fun and teaches you a lot," she said. "My favorite part is interacting with the horses."
Most children who attend the camp don't have much horseback-riding experience - especially not as much as the camp provides, Blochberger said.
"They've maybe ridden a horse on a vacation or ridden a cousin's horse or something, but nothing as structured as what we do here most of the time," she said.
Blochberger said she enjoys seeing the children progress and learn new skills. Since she has been around horses since she was 8 years old, it's fun to watch children get excited about the little things.
"They just had a fun time the other day leading the miniatures horses around and brushing them and loving on them," she said. "Sometimes we've been around it so much, it's just a chore to us."
She said she's proud of the Girl Scouts for being so determined and quick to learn, noting this group has been different from others because they learn skills so quickly.
"These girls really have it together," she said. "Sometimes, it takes kids a little bit longer, but these girls really got it going on."