Verde Valley School Equestrian Events

 

The Equestrian Program at VVS is very popular, challenging, and exciting.  We focus on overall horsemanship with a strong emphasis on safety, both on the ground and in the saddle.  We also stress the importance of having fun and developing a strong communication between rider and mount.  Our students learn and regularly participate routine horse care such as saddling, feeding, mucking pens, vaccinating, worming, and basic doctoring.  Most of the time, students are matched up with a horse for which they regularly care and ride. Of course, with more than 25 horses, students are also given the opportunity to try many different horses if they are so inclined.

Students can ride English or Western, and many at VVS switch between the two. We also do a lot of bareback riding.  On any given day, some students may head down to the arena to work on jumping, or gymkhana events, while others are headed out on our extensive trail system through the Coconino National Forest. The game of Pato, which is a cross between polo and horseback basketball that originated in South America, is a favorite riding activity along with The Hat.  Our program is flexible which makes it possible for our riders to focus on what they want to learn.

In addition to the 2 to 2.5 hours of riding available each weekday afternoon, there are also opportunities for weekend riding.  Most of the time we use the weekends to do longer half-day and all-day rides.  "Moonlight" rides are also fun since most students have never had the opportunity to ride in the dark of night before coming to VVS.

We are surrounded by thousands of acres of National Forest Service land which allows us to trail ride in some of this country's most spectacular scenery.  Students have the opportunity to gallop through extensive meadows, ride steep mountain trails, swim the horses in the river, and "really" ride in a wide variety of terrains. Our students enjoy training for and Arizona for more than 15 years, and our horses have claimed the prestigious Best Condition award twice.  In 2008, our students finished in 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th place in the Land of the Sun Endurance Ride in Wickenburg, Arizona. This is a 25-mile race with over 165 participants. In 2009, we competed in the Valley of the Sun Endurance Ride in Scottsdale and finished 5th, 6th, and 7th.  We also will compete this year for the first time in a Quad School Gymkhana event with three other boarding schools from around the country.  Another highlight of the riding program is that 3 or 4 times a year we do a 25-mile pasture ride that takes place before each vacation. The students and riding instructors ride the horses from Sedona to Camp Verde where they are turned out in green grass fields for their vacation.  These rides are an all-day adventure and something to which the students always look forward.

VVS is planning a new equestrian center which should be fully operational next year which will be a "state-of-the-art" than the facility for our 25 horses.  The center will have a beautiful riding arena, round pen, large tack room and hay barn, classroom and office, and restrooms.  We are eagerly awaiting it's completion and the horses will have large turn-out and pasture areas as well which will be wonderful for them.

Don't hesitate to email or call our Equestrian Program Director if you have any questions. Caroline Diehl will be happy to talk to you about our program (928-284-2272, ext. 20).  carolined@verdevalleyschool.org