Game
Day
Spice up your riding with these fun activities
By: Amanda Fisher
What do you get when you
gather a couple of your friends, your horses, and a few household
items? It’s easy. Just use a little imagination and some horse
sense, and you’ll have some really fun horse games.
Are you and your friends
tired of riding the same old trails? Well, use your imagination and
spice up your life.
The Money Game
Here’s what you need to play the first game: an open field, your
horses, and a dollar bill for each person in the game (if you’re
Canadian, you’ll have to use a five, or better still, use Canadian
Tire money or other coupons that you assign a dollar value). How you
play: Mount your horses and place your dollar bill between your knee
and the saddle. Try to hold it there while you ride around. If the
dollar bill falls, you’re out. The last person still holding
the bill is the winner. To increase the difficulty, have a caller
call out commands, like “trot”, “canter”, or “make
a 360-degree turn to the left.”
Musical Cones
For the next game you will need: four or five players on horses, a
radio or CD/tape player, one person on the ground controlling the
player, and about eight cones.
This game is like musical chairs on horseback. First, you place two
cones about three feet away from each other (enough space for a horse
to walk through), and then put two more cones about five feet away
from the first two. Place the remaining cones in sets of two to complete
the circle. You should have four sets of cones spread out in a large
circle. When the horses are travelling around the circle, they weave
through the four sets of cones.
How to play: Each player mounts and begins to walk around the circle,
between the cones. The person controlling the music starts it, and
when he or she stops the music, all the players must rush to get in
between a set of cones. Only one horse is allowed to stand between
a set of cones. The last person to get between two cones is out, and
the music starts again. The last person left is the winner.
Relay Race
If you want to play a team activity, this relay race is the game for
you. You can use just about anything as a baton – a crop, a piece
of wood, or for a real challenge, an egg on a spoon. What you will
need: Two teams of about three or four people each, two cones, and
a starting line. How you play: Have the two teams form lines behind
the starting line. One person from each team has to race down to the
cone and back to the start holding the baton; when they return to
the start, they must hand off the baton to the next player. The first
team to finish wins.
Obstacle Course
The perfect game for everyone, regardless of skill level, is the obstacle
course, because you can make the course as difficult or as easy as
you wish. What you need: You need a stopwatch or a watch with a second
hand. Create your obstacle course with just about anything. Place
cones for riders to weave through, or place small jumps such as crosspoles,
or assign little tasks, such as opening a gate, backing up through
ground poles, or retrieving flags off a stick. Use creativity. The
person who runs the obstacle course the fastest and with the most
accuracy wins.
Now, get your friends
and start horsing around. Remember to wear your helmet and play safe.
Have fun!
