College's equine mini-camp in full swing

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Participants in the Beginner I equine camp at North Central Texas College take a break from instruction to pose for a photo. Riders include (left to right) Jena Dangelmayr on Kat, Abbi Cove on Max, Sarah Davis on Pip, Victoria Schockey on Odie and Preston Diehl on Happy. Assistant instructors at the camp include Tessa Cranston, Michelle Mohr, Jessica Hertel, Robin Cruz and Tami Gandt. Courtesy photo

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June 9, 2012

College's equine mini-camp in full swing

Special to the Register Gainesville Daily Register The Daily Register Sat Jun 09, 2012, 09:19 PM CDT

Gainesville — The North Central Texas College Equine Department's Youth Mini-Camps are in full swing, and several area young students are learning how to ride horses with instruction from a horse trainer with 20 years of experience.

NCTC Equine Science instructor Bill Kaven is teaching classes at the camps, which started June 5, with the Beginning I and Intermediate camps. There will be another Beginning I camp June 12-14, with the Beginner II camp set for June 19-22, and the Beginner III camp running June 26-28.

Kaven coaches the college's Intercollegiate Horse Show Association equestrian team and has two decades of experience as a horse trainer, breeder, clinician and judge.

He says it is always rewarding to see the young students develop a love of horses during the three-day camp.

“What's really fun is taking a kid who has maybe never had the opportunity to be around a horse and expose them to it,” he said. “And then they get to interact and understand how wonderful the horse is as a partner, in enjoying the outdoors, and just interacting with an animal like that and learning to trust. This is one of the things the kids are a little bit apprehensive about when the horses start moving. They learn to trust and how to have a lot of fun. That part's really enjoyable; to foster the desire and the passion.”

The Beginner I camp is for children with no previous riding experience or fear of riding. The Beginner II camp is for riders who are very confident walking, somewhat confident trotting or have completed Beginner I. The Beginner III camp includes riders who are very confident trotting, ready to lope or have completed Beginner II. The Intermediate camp is for children who are very confident riding at all gaits, need to work on more advanced skills or have completed Beginner III.

Sarah Davis of Muenster is one of the young students in the Beginner I camp. She says she is learning several interesting things while riding Pip, one of the college's horses.

“We learn how to trot, put the saddle on, put the reins on, brush it and groom it,” she said.

The camps are held on the NCTC Gainesville campus at the Equine Center. Kaven hopes that the students attending these youth summer camps eventually become students in the NCTC equine program.

“We hope this is a very early recruiting program,” he said. “That's why I continue to try and make the camps a progressive learning experience where we can continue to foster them, and they keep coming back year after year, and foster their desire to work with horses and maybe be in our program one day.”

For more information on the NCTC equine program, contact Kaven at (940) 668-7731 or e-mail bkaven@nctc.edu.

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College's equine mini-camp in full swing

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