Gymkhana games?

[hoggie]

OK - the language/culture barriers might let us down here, but let's give this a try

Do you have gymkhana games/mounted games over there? This weekend we are meant to be havign a Christmas themed riding club event - we have fancy dress (costume?), clear round jumping, and handy pony. Unfortunately the weather is forecast to be foul, and as we have had to cancel our last two events due to weather, we are determined that this won't have to be cancelled altogether. So if we get "weathered off" we are going to have an indoor gymkhana

So far we have space hopper showjumping (do you have space hoppers?)

blindfold apple ducking. Putting a bridle together blindfolded (with instructions from team-mates)

Can you think of any other gyymkhana type games that can be adapted to being run, indoors with no ponies LOL. We are talking kids 6 - 14 yos

TIA

hoggie

[Molly Mckee]

Egg race on a stick horse?

[2horses]

Have them run cloverleaf and straightaway barrels. They can do pole-bending too!

[Harmony_Meadows]

Don't see why you can't adapt all the gymkahana games to a stick horse or modified broomstick!
Barrels and Poles and Keyhole would work well.
You could do a horse themed scavenger hunt.
A different take on bobbing for apples is tying carrots on string and hanging them from a broom stuck across two chairs....no hands, only mouths....trust me it is MUCH harder than it sounds!! Especially if you use fat garden carrots!!
How about a piggyback flag race...older kids piggyback the younger or lighter kids?
We did a version of musical chairs ON horses using little blocks (about 8 inch long colorfully painted 2x4 blocks) They had to run, jump off their horse and put a foot on the block while keeping hold of their horse....you can imagine how that went! :smiley-laughing013: It was WILD!! But I am proud to say not a single casualty!! But you could adapt it to the kids...stick horses or piggy back or if you could get ahold of a bunch of rolling chairs or dollies or even skateboards.
Yeah...maybe you should NOT listen to me....LOL....it might be safer!!

Good luck! Have fun!! We want updates!!!

[hoggie]

Molly - that's an idea - might do it with potatoes just in case

2horses - can you describe those for me please? I'm not sure what they are - sorry

Harmony-meadows - we sometimes do scavenger hunts where we send the kids out on their horses all over the island I like the carrots on strings idea - will ahve to work on that one. piggyback!! piggyback ANYTHING would be funny - an dif they are in teams, they have to choose a "horse" and a "jockey" for each race

Had to laugh about being safe - I was telling a friend about the spacehopper showjumping - we decided that we will probably have more injuries with this than we would with the real thing LOL

Updates we will do - although if the weather holds then this event will go on hold until we get bad weather again

Thanks again - keep 'em coming

hoggie

[saanengirl]

Cloverleaf: three barrels (you could use cones or other objects if you want) in a triangle pattern. This is a timed event. On horseback you race to the first barrel, circle it, run to the second, circle it, then run to the third circle it, and gallop back to the start. You can find sketches of the pattern online that will help you understand which direction you are circling. This is the pattern commonly used in the "barrel race." It would be very easy to race a small cloverleaf pattern on a stick horse or on foot.

Straightaway barrels are more commonly known as "Texas Barrels." With this pattern you have three barrels in a straight line. You weave through the first two barrels and turn around the third then weave back.

Pole bending involves six erect poles (may be 6' pvc pipes set in concrete inside of a commercial food-sized can). Traditionally the poles are set 21' apart in a straight line, but may be closer for your uses. You run to the end of the poles, weave through, weave back, and then run back as fast as you can. On foot you could use cones in place of poles.

[jill.costello]

egg-n-spoon piggy back! I like!

[hoggie]

: - well, indoor gymkhana it is - the weather forecast is awful

on our list of events we have

Blindfold bending race - one person is blindfolded - the rest of the team have to "talk them through" the bending poles

Carrots on a string

Apple ducking, with jelly babies in icing sugar straight after

Space hopper show jumping - accumulator, puissance, and possible straight showjumping if we have too much time on our hands

Pairs dressage - kids will have to pair up and show off their paces pantomime horse style ie one kid is front legs and one kid is back legs and they have to get their feet in the right order for the relevant paces

space hopper egg and spoon relay - have to space hop up the room with your spud and spoon, back to the team hand over the space hpper and spud and spoon for the next rider

Bridle race - bridle is taken apart and left at far end of hall - one team member is blindfolded. The other team members have to space hopper up the hall and collect one bridle piece at a time in the correct order, take it back to the team who must direct the blindfolded team member to get the bridle put back together LOL

Last race we aren't sure what to call it - each team will have six boxes, in each box will be an object, they have to space hop up, identify the object by touch alone, hop back and tell their team. Once they have identified all the objects, the first letters of all the objects will spell a horsey related word - first team to get their word wins. Our objects to be identified range from carrots and apples to eggs (minus their shells) cooked pasta, oil and toffee

That'll keep the little pets out of mischief for the morning

hoggie

[EasyDay]

Originally Posted by hoggie

: - well, indoor gymkhana it is - the weather forecast is awful

on our list of events we have

Blindfold bending race - one person is blindfolded - the rest of the team have to "talk them through" the bending poles

Carrots on a string

Apple ducking, with jelly babies in icing sugar straight after

Space hopper show jumping - accumulator, puissance, and possible straight showjumping if we have too much time on our hands

Pairs dressage - kids will have to pair up and show off their paces pantomime horse style ie one kid is front legs and one kid is back legs and they have to get their feet in the right order for the relevant paces

space hopper egg and spoon relay - have to space hop up the room with your spud and spoon, back to the team hand over the space hpper and spud and spoon for the next rider

Bridle race - bridle is taken apart and left at far end of hall - one team member is blindfolded. The other team members have to space hopper up the hall and collect one bridle piece at a time in the correct order, take it back to the team who must direct the blindfolded team member to get the bridle put back together LOL

Last race we aren't sure what to call it - each team will have six boxes, in each box will be an object, they have to space hop up, identify the object by touch alone, hop back and tell their team. Once they have identified all the objects, the first letters of all the objects will spell a horsey related word - first team to get their word wins. Our objects to be identified range from carrots and apples to eggs (minus their shells) cooked pasta, oil and toffee

That'll keep the little pets out of mischief for the morning

hoggie

Sound like you have a plan, and a FUN one! I'd love to watch the kids. I'm sure a good time will be had by all.

[Harmony_Meadows]

Hope everyone had a great time!!