Students from Alton Elementary School came to True Blue Animal Rescue to learn about and ride horses in May. Juan Vendrell TcRanch Horsemanship gave a lesson on handling and saddling horses. The students then enjoyed riding a horse and going on a hay ride. We are currently open to book scout troops, church groups and summer camps to learn about and ride horses. Contact True Blue Animal Rescue www.t-bar.org by calling 936-878-2349 or email [email protected] for more information
Tag Archives: Kids Camps
Read to Ride Kids Camp Sept 2015
Students from Alton Elementary in Brenham, Texas that read 30 or more books over the summer got to go to True Blue Animal Rescue and learn about and ride horses along with going on a hay ride. Watching these children interact with our rescue horses brings joy to us all. The happy faces tell it all. Support True Blue Animal Rescue’s Animals Bridge Love and Education Camp by sponsoring a camp horse or donating toward the purchase of a picnic table to help provide enough seating for the kids. For more information go to www.t-bar.org
Event Recap: Read to Ride June 2015
The rain finally subsided and we were able to have our third grade Read to Ride day at True Blue Animal Rescue. These students from Alton Elementary School in Brenham read a book and wrote a report over Christmas break in order to come out and ride a horse and enjoy a hay ride. This reading incentive is also a wonderful opportunity to educate children about animal care and to help them develop compassion and empathy for animals. The horse that had the biggest impact was our biggest horse, Roman. This beautiful senior boy teaches the students how kind and gentle such a big horse can be. As a senior horse he requires a special diet and the children learn about that too. They learn about teeth floating and hoof trimming as part of horse care and needs too. While some of the children are riding and interacting with horses the others enjoy a hay ride. This allows a great opportunity for nature watching and just silly fun and laughter. As you can see from the pictures the students and volunteers had lots of fun. Stay tuned for more read to ride camps this summer and next school year too. Our goal is to increase these educational programs each year so we can reach more students every year.
ABLE Kids Camp: Alton Field Trip May 2015
Third and Fourth Grade students from Alton Elementary School in Brenham, TX who read a story and wrote a summary about the book over Christmas break earned the opportunity to go to TBAR Ranch! This year 28 4th grade students and 18 3rd grade students got to come out and enjoy this fun filled educational opportunity. The event includes reading age appropriate rescue stories, riding horses and going on a hay ride. Hands on interactions like these build self esteem, teach about animal care and help our children become better pet owners and future advocates for animals. When you add in the book component, we’re building their reading skills too! As an Elementary School teacher this adds even more to the intrinsic value of this event.
These pictures are of the fourth grade students that came out on May 8th this year. We have the 3rd grade readers rescheduled to come out if the rain holds!
Nothing warms our hearts more than seeing children connect with and enjoy our rescue animals. Thank you to all the volunteers that help make this event possible!
Fall Family Fun Day 2014!
Another one of our Animals Bridge Love and Educations (ABLE) days was Family fun day on Nov 1st. The kids enjoyed horse rides, a hay ride and feeding and petting animals. Nothing brings us more joy than sharing our rescue animals with children. This opportunity for a family to come out and enjoy a few hours at Tbar Ranch is one of our favorites! These pictures say it all!
Kids Who Read Get To Ride a Horse!
TBAR is proud of the advances our Animals Bridge Love and Education (ABLE) program. Each season we offer incentives for children to earn an animal experience through reading their choice of books. This October we hosted students from Alton Elementary (in Brenham, Texas) who read 30 picture books or 50 pages of a chapter book while they were on summer break.
In total, seventeen students met the challenge requirements by handing in their list of books, endorsed by their parents. They were all so exited to embark on their special reward: a field trip to the home of one a TBAR foster family (and a teacher at Alton), Melanie!
Melanie and her husband Dale work hard to organize these trip and ensure there are plenty of TBAR volunteers on hand to help the students meet and pet the animals while learning about care and compassion for the animals. The kids got to tour the ranch, feed animals, ride a horse, and go on a hayride!
TBAR will continue to support the ABLE program and spread love and compassion for animals throughout Washington County and beyond. Thank you to the parents and teachers who support the program, and the TBAR volunteers that make it possible!
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Kids Camp: Five Oaks Visit 2014
True Blue Animal Rescue had the pleasure of hosting the Five Oaks Achievement Center on August 13th and August the 15. From nine am until noon the kids that came out were treated to a number of fun T-bar events. The day started with the introductions to the horses they would be working with along with the many rules about how to behave around a horse. Melanie DeAeth, founder and president of True Blue Animal Rescue made sure the boys and girls that came out got hands on experience working with the animals.
Not only did the horses get one on one attention but so did the kids that came out. Thanks to our wonderful volunteers each student also had a teacher for the day. While one group went off for a nice hay ride around the T-bar ranch the next group was assigned a horse and a volunteer. First they were taught how to groom a horse and the proper brushes to use on what part of a horse’s body. Next was the even tougher lesson of putting on a saddle! That one was a little more involved!
Next the kids got to walk their horse to the round pen to learn very basic ground work skills. Melanie directed the group with first putting on a rope halter, then making sure the horses were okay with the lead line moving near the horse. Also known as desensitization. While doing these skills the teens came out of their shells and had fun asking questions about their horses and even about life.
Once round pen work was over the group then were asked to lead their horses to the True Blue Animal Rescue riding arena. There, with their special volunteer for the day, the kids were able to pick out a riding helmet and then be led around the arena for riding. A few of the kids were not certain they wanted to ride but with a little cheering on everyone gave it a try! By the end of the day all the teens that came out were cowboys or cowgirls. After the riding the volunteers demonstrated how to take a saddle off a horse the proper way and store it. Next the kids rubbed down the horses and all too soon they had to say good-bye.
True Blue Animal Rescue would like to thank the people that sponsor camp horses and the volunteers that came out on the days that Five Oaks was with us on their visit. Without your help and support, events like this would not be possible. Thank you so much and to the kids from Five Oaks, we hope to see you again.
ABLE Kids Camp Read to Ride: Recap 2014
Our Read to Ride Program was lots of fun this summer! Children aged 6 – 10 who read books over the summer were able to come out and learn about and ride a horse. The kids had lots of fun and so did the volunteers! This program was offered during the month of July and time slots filled quickly.
The kids were excited but apprehensive when they arrived but after brushing, saddling and then riding a horse they had gained confidence and pride in their accomplishment. We plan to extend this program to include children up to 12 years old next summer so watch the web site for announcements in the spring. Those who want to attend more than once can do that for a $20 donation to Tbar.
As another incentive to read we will have a field trip come out from Brenham ISD for all the students at Alton Elementary who read and kept track of the books they read over the summer.
We also have plans for horsemanship classes in the spring so keep watch for updates and announcements on that too.
Press Release: TBAR a Semi-Finalist (help us by voting!)
TBAR Selected as Semi-Finalist for Community Program Improvement Funding
Vote for TBAR to reunite them with Ty Pennington!
Washington, Texas — True Blue Animal Rescue (TBAR) has been chosen as one of 50 semi-finalists in the Ultimate Neighborhood Give Back Challenge hosted by Guaranteed Rate! This is a contest that will award five runner-up prizes of up to $10,000 for their community project, and one Grand Prize Winner will get $50,000 for their Community Project AND help for a day from Ty Pennington!
You may remember that Ty Pennington has helped TBAR in the past – back in 2005 he brought his team from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition to build a new home for the DeAeth family. When Ty, EMHE, and the Community made-over the DeAeth home they increased the capacity that TBAR had for saving animals, and allowed them to make a bigger impact in the area. Since then TBAR has helped save and rehome thousands of animals (including dogs, cats, horses, donkeys, and more).
In the past five years TBAR has branched out in their efforts to decrease animal abuse by starting the Animals Bridge Love and Education (ABLE). These camps allow hands-on experience to develop compassion and empathy in children toward animals to make them better pet owners and future advocates for animals and people. The programs under ABLE include Foster Family Fun Days, Field Trips, Scout Troop Days, Church Groups Days, and Community Service Volunteering.
In order to continue to expand this program we need to make some improvements, including air conditioning and an accessible bathroom in the classroom area, new fencing, and better walking paths. Being one of the six finalists in this competition will allow us to make some of these improvements so we can reach more children and help even more animals than ever before.
Please vote for TBAR by CLICKING HERE and vote for “Educational and therapeutic equine program improvements – Washington, TX”! Don’t forget to share this link with everyone you know so we can advance our animal education program in the Brazos Valley!
This Round 2 of voting closes on July 8th, and the 6 finalists will be announced on July 15.
About True Blue Animal Rescue: TBAR is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and is a no-kill animal rescue located in Brenham, Texas. If you would like to help their cause please consider donating, fostering or adopting. Every little bit helps us to help another animal in need of safety and rehabilitation. Save a life: adopt instead of shop and spay or neuter your pets!
ABLE CAMP: JULY 2014
Reminder: Our Read to Ride ABLE kids camps are filling up fast! Remember to register ahead of time for your kid to get their 30 minute horse experience. AND don’t forget, kids can turn in their read to ride ticket once they complete 5 books this summer for one free horse experience!
You can pick your date and time and register HERE at Eventbrite!
For more information CLICK HERE, call (936) 878-2349 or email [email protected]