Pony Day Camp  

Learn to ride, feed, and care for ponies!

Our expert and caring staff is ready to introduce you to all the joys of ponies at a series of week-long camps during summer, winter break, and spring break.

Each six-hour day will be packed with lessons, skill development, riding, and just plain fun as you learn to be a pony's rider, best friend, and caretaker.

Pony-related crafts will create take-home keepsakes to keep the dream alive through that long wait until next year's camps.

Our instructor/trainers have years of experience in teaching horsemanship from beginning levels up through advanced to beginning jumping.

In collaboration with our gentle and highly-trained ponies they will ensure that you learn proper riding habits that stand you in good stead as long as you ride.

Our camp counselors are boundless in their enthusiasm and creativity, and truly care for children. A high ratio of both instructors and camp counselors to students guarantees that you will receive the personal attention that makes for an unforgettable learning experience.

Join us at in the sunny Snohomish Valley at Sonrise Stables, a modern working barn that presents all aspects of horse care.

We will learn pony grooming, washing, tacking, riding, feeding, health care, and maintenance of their stalls and paddocks.

We will learn hard, play hard, work hard, and get all sweaty/dirty/smiley.

And at week's end our efforts will culminate in a pony rodeo where we will show off newly learned skills that will amaze our families.

So if you are five to twelve years old and want to get up close and personal with the ponies, just read on down to everything you need to know.

Pony Day Camp: The Details

Available Dates, Winter

 Dec 14-18 (full 5 day session)
Dec 21-23 (3 day session)
Dec 28-Jan 1 (full 5 day session)

Spring Dates: to be determined
Summer Dates: Late June through August 

Daily Schedule (10AM-4PM)

 10 AM Campers arrive, barn chores
 10:30 Morning Riding Group tacks up, rides, untacks; Afternoon Group does crafts
 11:30 Cleanup
 12:00 Sack Lunch
 1:00 Group Lesson
 2:00 Morning Group does crafts; Afternoon Riding Group tacks up, rides, untacks
 3:00 Clean up, barn chores
 4 PM Parents pick-up campers

Extended hours are available before and after camp, to be spent in craft time and barn chores. Please see pricing below for cost.

Daily High points (a sample schedule)

Monday - morning will be barn safety/tour and pony handling, afternoon will be pony tryouts and riding evaluation to sort campers into skill groups and assign them ponies. Craft: tie-died T-shirts

Tuesday - riding sessions, group lesson on pony anatomy. Craft: paint wooden horses.

Wednesday - riding sessions, group lesson on pony feeding and colic. Craft: decorate halters.

Thursday - riding sessions, group lesson on pony bathing. Craft: take pictures of campers with ponies, decorate frames for the pictures.

Friday - riding sessions in morning, group lesson on pony dress-up in preparation for... The Pony show at camp's end! All families are welcome!

We will match the riding lessons to the abilities of individual campers, with the morning and afternoon groups chosen primarily to group campers with similar skill levels.

Traditional instruction will be supplemented with lots of riding games on the ponies (Red light-Green light, etc.) to help develop newly learned skills. Crafts will be adjusted to fill the available time; extra crafts are available for extended hour campers.

Barn chores include pony feeding, mucking out stalls and paddocks (oh yes, ponies have two ends and we learn to take care of both), cleaning saddles, sweeping out the barn, etc.

Pony Camp Personnel

Trainer/Instructor Mariah Maley

Mariah has been actively involved in equestrian for 12 years. She has shown at a variety of shows and barns around the Puget Sound area. Over the years she has helped train numerous horses and riders in huntseat while maintaining a competitive riding career. Currently owning her own thoroughbred, Bear, she continues to ride and compete. Mariah also has many years of nanny and babysitting experience with youngsters ranging from infants to young teenagers, and has served several consecutive years as a hockey camp counselor and coach for a local youth ice hockey association.

Trainer/Instructor Stephanie Castner

Stephanie has rescued and trained numerous ponies over her six years in equestrian, all while actively participating in 4H and in shows around the Puget Sound area showing both English and Western. Currently owning her own Quarter Pony, Henry, Stephanie maintains a competitive riding career and lesson program with her rescue pony. Stephanie also has volunteered in a third grade classroom for four years, has been a nanny to four children for the past year, and has counseled at other summer camps. 

Pricing and Logistics

All sessions cost $400 per camper for the full week of five 6-hour days. Shorter sessions are prorated at $80 per day.

We request a $150 deposit to hold your camper's spot, though if your plans inadvertently change we will refund your full deposit if you give us at least one week's notice before the first day of camp.

Camp sessions will have a maximum of eight campers, divided into morning and afternoon riding groups. Our two trainer/instructors will oversee each riding group, with at least one craft person overseeing the remaining group doing crafts.

We reserve the right to cancel or consolidate partly-filled sessions.

If you need a particular week the best way to guarantee your spot is to recruit another camper to attend with you (a friend, even a sibling will do), as we will do sessions with only two campers. To encourage this we offer a 10% discount on the camp fee for multiple registrations. Simply include all your campers' registration forms in the same packet and they're all 10% off.

Since the morning/afternoon riding groups are intended to group riders of similar skill levels we cannot guarantee that you will ride with your friend if your skill levels differ greatly.

All campers must be 5 to 12 years old. 

In addition the small size of our ponies requires that we limit how much weight they carry.

We can not accept campers over 120lbs in weight, and can accommodate only two campers per session over 85lbs in weight.

 Please  contact us with any questions.

To register please fill out the Registration/Deposit form and the Liability Waiver and send with the appropriate deposit to the address given on the form. We can accept registrations over the phone or email but Liability Waivers need to be signed papers.

Required materials:

Sack lunch every day
Helmet, either riding or bicycle
Clothing you don't mind getting dirty:
Long pants
Closed-toed shoes (think about mucking out stalls...)
Shirt that preferably covers the shoulders
Jacket
Medicines or other necessary materials