Horse Camp attendees. Photo submitted
3 Cities Fairgrounds in Paradise Valley hosted a horse day camp from July 14 to 16. The Paradise Valley Horse Camp started when older members of the Light Horse Committee passed the torch to a younger generation, who wanted to create an environment to teach horse showing, horsemanship skills, and equine maintenance. Thus, the new Light Horse Committee members organized an annual horse camp. The camp was open to ages six to 18, and had a total of 44 attendees. There were multiple instructor areas at the camp including gymkhana, horse driving, and roping. Attendees were also taught leather belt making. On the evening of July 15, the camp held a mock rodeo. “The real highlight of the camp was that the kids put together the rodeo,” stated Light Horse Committee member Melissa Wright. The rodeo was completely organized and ran by the attendees of the camp; registration, announcing, and everything in between. The rodeo was not competitive and prizes were not given, it was “just for the experience,” explained Wright. The camp was also facilitated with the enforcement of COVID-19 guidelines. “The kids really appreciated having something to do with their horse in a safe manner,” Wright stated after discussing how COVID-19 has led to the cancellation of various larger horsemanship events, “It was a great thing to see kids six to 18 interacting and supporting one another.” she added.