Need some suggestions for School visit again

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minie812

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Well, one thing I have learned with having 10 grandkids is we are becoming more in demand for the school functions with our Minis. This will be our third year and I travel to the grandkiddies school that is in Park City (around the corner from where they just had th Central Show here in Kansas.) It is 120 miles round trip for us. This has become a BIG deal for the school and I would like more suggestions on what I can do to KICK it UP a NOTCH...I will be taking three yearling and a weanling (all little girls) as last year my weanling colt decided to show his appendage for 60 some kids
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...LOL. One teacher is going to show a CD I made up of our farm a day prior to our arrival and we have a question and answer session and petting-feeding-more petting etc. I am doing up a drawing of a mini and they are going to run copies off so the little ones can color their own mini and take that home to show their parents. Anymore suggestions? There are 80 plus kids this year
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Wow that is super! And very brave! Go Willow Roc!

OK a couple things come to mind. Seems that people are always astounded at the transformation when a horse is shaved off. If you are bringing a hairy one, you might bring some clippers just to show the kids that the fat little fur ball ponies can transform right before their eyes into slick gorgeous horses.

Another thing would be pictures. I'm thinking a class / school picture with all the horses that they can frame and display in their hallway or classroom or media room; maybe include in their yearbook . And encourage them all to bring their cameras if the parents will allow it. Local newspaper would be nice if they were called.

The coloring pictures are the icing on the cake. Kids love to take home stuff.

You are terrific.
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First that is just great you're doing that! I wanted to at out here - but in lawyer happy/lawsuits awaiting California - the insurance requirement . . .

Have you contacted the registries with any 'free' handouts they could give you? They use to be quite generous in encouraging more youth.

If the teachers wanted to make it more educational how about - a parts of the horse game with a small prize? There were some good sources for this on the internet in the past (teaching daughter once apon a time!)
 
I have taken my miniatures to school and once to the public library. I brought in show halters so the children could see those. You could bring in a harness and cart if you had those. I also brought in grain and hay to show not only what they eat but the quantity they eat. I had a tiny saddle and took pictures of each child on it and gave them to the children when I was done. I also brought in a few Miniature Horse World magazines that were passed around the room during my talk.

I hope this helps.
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I've seen people learn the hard way not to bring yearlings/weanlings to public events. Stick to the adults! They have more people-sense and aren't as unpredictable.

And its good that the colt showed off... kids need to get their parents talking about the stallions and the mares (birds and bees? why birds and bees? they don't breed with each other....) before the porn sites do it for them.
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What about bringing samples of hay and grain, as well as maybe some other different every day horse stuff... brushes, hoof picks, articles of tack, horse show pictures and ribbons etc. I bet the younger kids would have a ball playing with some shovels in a big bucket of non-molasses (too sticky LOL) horse feed! And I bet they would be fascinated to see the flakes in a bale of hay and to learn how it is grown and cut and baled before being fed.

I'm not sure how long the timeframe you will be there is, but for the older kids I bet they would enjoy a "mock stall" (think mock jail) to put their teachers and chaperones in! Set up an area with panels, boxes, rope or something with a water bucket and maybe a pile of hay and the kids can make donations towards a charity (maybe CMHR?) to put a teacher or friend in the stall for a certian length of time (say 5 minuites) or the person can pay a fee to get out or maybe set an action they have to do to get out, like the person has to whinny like a horse before he can come out, or has to name 3 things horses like to eat. You can appoint a "wrangler" to fetch the next "pony" with a lead line to take them to the stall to do their time.

With that many kids, and if time and number of helpers allows, it might be best to split up into 3 or 4 groups by age and have a couple of activities going on at once. One group can be seeing the horses while another does a relay race around some "mini jumps" and another group is looking at the horse feed, tack, pictures etc for example.
 
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last year my weanling colt decided to show his appendage for 60 some kids
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...LOL.
How do you get the little boys NOT to do this? My girls will be showing Image at the fair next week and he is known to do this frequently.

I think what you are doing sounds like so much fun. We hope to be able to take Image to my daughter's school one of these days for show and tell.
 
I do lots of farm tours here.(I always ask for a donation for an rescue group mostly chanchesmini horse rescue).)I show the kids horse teeth that I have found in buckets and fields.It fascinates them that horses lose their teeth just like kids do.I pass them around so kids can have a closer look.I also save hoof clippings so they can see them closehand and I explain foot structure.I also tell about the prehistoric horse with 3 toes and explain the small size etc.You can contact the school beforehand and maybe some teachers would be interested in doing a science lesson on the history of the horse.I also show feed(explain that it looks much like many of the cereals the kids eat.)Take some hay samples to show.Explain why we feed hay.This is a great time to interact with the kids by asking 1 why we feed hay in the winter.Most know that grass won't grow in the winter and they love being able for figure things out.Take some manure in a bag and get into recycling.I explain that horses have been recycling for years.Grass and hay goes in one end-fertilizer out the other end.On the farm we also get into gears etc.Since we have a ground driven manure spreader.Also you can explain the history of the Minis-many were used in mines years ago.STRESS that they are horses and need companionship and are not dogs.Tell them they must be fed 2 times daily 365 days a year and can overeat and kill themselves.I also explain to them that if they have a Mini or any pet their eyes are the best thing they have for caring for the animal.I relate that their mom knows just be looking at them that they don't feel well or something is not right.Same thing with the animals. Good luck and have fun.I know the kids will be so excited to see you and your Minis.It is such fun sharing them.
 
How do you get the little boys NOT to do this? My girls will be showing Image at the fair next week and he is known to do this frequently.
Smear some Vick's VapoRub into your colt's nostrils before his classes. If he drops anyway, apply some pressure to either side of the bars in his mouth (fleshy part on the bottom sides between the front and back teeth). You might have to dig your nails in, but doing so is way less obvious, confrontational and "exciting" than having the horse back up or swatting at parts.
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Practice not allowing your colt to drop when you're working with him at home so you both know what's going on.
 
I went to Walmart and a hobby shop and bought the business card magnets and printed off a pic of the minis and put on it and I also used my business card to. The kids liked both. Then I also have several different coloring pages, puzzle games, and word searches then put together as a packet for them. Then we made like baseball cards and laminated them with the info of the horse, birthdate, what the horse likes to do and so on. I love to make up stuff for the kids its awesome.
 
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