Cedar Lodge Summer Riding Program

Though CEDAR LODGE prides itself in having one of the most creative, and well rounded general camp programs in the midwest, our horse program is one the best in the United States at all levels.

Our close relationship with Cedar Lodge Stables, a separate professional hunter show barn that shares the property with the Camp, makes it possible for us to offer a high-quality instruction in all levels of riding for English, and Western beginners and intermediate riders. Our Professional Riding Staff are dedicated to helping each rider achieve sound basic riding skills, learn the proper care for, and have the personal enjoyment of working with horses. Our riders are a diverse mix of campers with all kinds of different riding back grounds. Here are some of the groups that come to Cedar Lodge:

-Rank Beginners who have never sat on a horse or ridden just a couple of times.
-Campers that only ride at Cedar Lodge during the summer.
-Campers that have their own horse, but are primarily recreational riders and want to improve their skills.
-Campers that take weekly lessons, but cannot afford to own or lease a horse, but still want to get better quicker than weekly lessons will allow them to do.
-Campers that lease a horse at home occasionally or show occasionally on their stable's horses and want to keep improving.
-Campers that primarily ride western at home and want to work on their English riding skills.
-Campers that own or lease a horse regularly, show quite often and want to keep improving their and /or their horses skills.

There are probably more, but those are the backgrounds we quite often hear about. Many different backgrounds and many reasons draw them to our programs, but there is one thing that they all share in common: THEY LOVE HORSES! And boy do we have the horses for them!

Cedar Lodge Stables, which rents it's horses to the camp owns a large diverse string of horses to meet all levels of riders. Chris and Amy beleive that their horses are part of their family, and without happy horses, you can't have happy campers! Many horses in the stable string have been at Cedar Lodge for 15-25 years, doing different jobs as they age. Their horses are kept year around, evaluated after every summer and restocked with a few new ones every spring. Constant training and retraining is done to bring help each Cedar Lodge Stables horse to reach is highest level of potential for campers to learn on. Please visit OUR HORSES to meet our exceptional string.

Cedar Lodge Stables is basically a teaching facility. We offer five days of riding lessons each week, with each session lasting 45 minutes. Classes are held in Cedar Lodge Stables large facility adjacent to camp property. This includes four riding instructional rings, a large barn, and an indoor arena. Class size averages from 3-5 riders, with one instructor per class. Lower level riding classes usually have one instructor and an assistant to assure safety. In addition to their riding lessons, campers signed up for the full riding program can opt to sign up for afternoon Specialty Rides for additional riding time. Speciality rides vary in type including practice rides, polo, drill team, bare back riding, indian ponies, games and more.

To better accomodate all riding interests at Cedar Lodge, there are two basic riding packages availabe for campers that come to camp:

THE BASIC RIDING PROGRAM and THE FULL RIDING PROGRAM.

One day a week (usually Saturday) is designated for practice riding and trail riding for those in the full riding program. Sunday is designated as the horses "day off". We feel that this is very important for the health and happiness of our horses. Exceptions to this rule are new campers that need to be tested or campers who would like to show off their skills to family visitors. All Campers can also choose to participate in the VAULTING Program, offered 5-6 days per week, or Vaulting Lovers Specialty Week..

More Questions?: Camp:(269)674-8071 Stable:(269)674-8072