Ride the Best of the West
Six reasons to book a dude ranch vacation now.
Dressage team members compete in classes at local horse shows.
Likewise, the organization’s Junior Mounted Patrol provides boys with equestrian training, promotes leadership skills, and puts both to work as mounted rangers in Hartford’s Keney Park.
“There are bikes in the park, runners, dogs—they never know what they’re going to meet—so the horses have to know that they can trust the boys and the boys have to know that they can trust the horses,” Kelly explains. “When you’re out there on patrol, it’s just you and the horse.”
Kelly believes that urban horseback riding programs are successful because they show kids ways to tap into their best selves. In Chicago, Murdock hopes to do the same for young people there through the Broken Arrow Riding Club.
Learning to ride in Chicago’s Washington Park sparked Murdock’s dream of making a living as a member of a mounted police unit. But when he returned to the city after a stint in the military, horseback riding opportunities for both kids and adults were scarce.
Learning to ride in Chicago’s Washington Park sparked Murdock’s dream of making a living as a member of a mounted police unit. But when he returned to the city after a stint in the military, horseback riding opportunities for both kids and adults were scarce.
As a result, for the past several years Murdock has been petitioning the Chicago Park District to develop a venue where inner-city kids can learn to ride, participate in horse-focused demonstrations and workshops, and watch farriers at work. He believes that the experiences can change kids’ lives.
“As a kid, I knew that I could be one of the Three Stooges, a circus boy, or someone who worked with horses,” he says. “I had a dream in my heart to work with horses, and it made a difference.”
While a facility specifically for the Broken Arrow Riding Club remains under consideration, the group sponsors a pair of events intended to call attention to Chicago’s urban equestrian community. The Broken Arrow Rodeo and Horse Show at the South Side Cultural Center draws 40 riders and attracts 300 spectators every June. In July, 75 horses are riders are expected to take part in the High Noon Picnic and ride to Washington Park.
“We’re in our 30th year this year, and I think that’s significant,” Murdock says.
In the meantime, urban riding programs that exist right now are making the difference in youngsters’ lives every day.
“We tell kids they can be farriers, veterinarians, trainers,” says Harling. “We tell them to pay attention because the skills they get from the program will help them get into college.”
The message is not lost, according to recent poll of kids in involved in the Detroit Horse Power program.
“Some kids tell us that they are interested in jobs that work directly with horses, others have a goal of going to college to be in professions that will allow them to afford to own and care for horses,” says Silver. “Either way, they can see that alternatives exist—it works.”