It’s Not Just Riding a Horse
During the months of February and March, the Outdoor Program partners with Sodergreen Ranch to host an equestrian course to not only students but people from all around the world wanting to learn the basics of horsemanship. The students learn safety, proper techniques, and basic training for teamwork between a horse and a rider.
Sodergreen Ranch is owned by expert equestrian, Eleanor F. Prince. Prince has been working with the University since the 1970s after she wrote several articles and books.
“After people read my published works, everyone wanted to come and learn,” Prince said. “We built a barn and arena before I went over to the University.”
The course is based off of books titled, Basic Training for Horses, Basic Horse Care, and Basic Horsemanship: English and Western. All three books Prince wrote with a co-author from 1979 to 1989.
“Her name was Gaydell M. Collier. She is unfortunately deceased, but was a wonderful person who worked hard to help me provide resources for people pursuing equestrian,” Prince said.
According to Prince, the University of Wyoming offered physical education classes. However, according to the required credits needed to fulfill a Physical Education Teaching Major, there are no physical education courses offered anymore.
“They had horsemanship lessons as a credit course to count toward physical education,” Prince said. Now that the field is no longer required, we went to the outdoor program to keep the course going.”
The course is titled Horsemanship and meets on Sundays. The ranch is located halfway between Laramie and Cheyenne off of Interstate 80, so students must drive themselves in order to attend.
“The ranch is very open,” second year Kinesiology student at the University of Wyoming, Brianna Spect, said. “There’s nothing much around the property which is great for the horses to be able to run around when they’re not in the arena for lessons.”
Horsemanship provides lecture, demonstration, and riding time. According to Prince, the course’s whole idea is to not get on a horse and only ride, but gain horsemanship rules and safety measures.
“Throughout the course so far, I have learned how to groom our horses, clean their hooves, saddle them, and ride them,” Spect said. “We have also learned the anatomical terms for horses to communicate with them better and the proper terms for equipment.”
Not only do the students get to ride horses for several hours throughout the course, but they also focus on horsemanship skills and safety rules.
“The whole idea of the cose is that the students don’t just get on a horse and ride,” Prince said. “We try to give them a basic education on how to handle a horse, how a horse thinks, and how we should respond. We want them to have natural horsemanship, nothing forced. We need them to know that they are a link with their horse and they need to work as a team.”
When it comes to the amount of freedom that the participants receive from the owners of the ranch, they attain a great deal of independence for it being a beginner’s level course. The members are assigned a specific horse each week that they take care of.
“After a small lecture, we are assigned a horse then we bring them to the arena and tie them up by their names,” Spect said. “I have been assigned the horse, Five, during most of the sessions. I like riding him the best because he is older and knows what he is doing.”
Even though the owners of the ranch direct them in what they are doing, the participants of the course complete all of the horse exercises on their own.
“We groom them before riding them and when we are done we saddle them up,” Spect said. “After that, we ride them around for a couple of hours, we put away the saddles, brush them again, and bring them back to their corral.”
Due to the course being for beginners, any student, faculty or staff, or guest can take it without feeling uncomfortable and unprepared.
“It is a great course for beginners that are interested in learning to ride a horse,” Spect said. “It is an opportunity that I recommend to anyone who is looking for something new to try.”
The horsemanship course has provided an outlet for people, including students, to pursue their passion of equestrian knowledge and skills.
“I chose to join this course because I love being around horses and riding them,” Spect said. “I also wanted to learn more about riding them so I could use skills I learn on my horse. I heard about the course through a flyer I saw around campus, and I thought it would satisfy my love for horses.”
McKenna Nylander Media 