Mounted game ideas! Please Help!

[Aislinn05]

So I am putting on a Halloween party for my local Pony Club. We do a costume class and what not but we also play mounted games afterwards…

Last year I had the kids play “musical stalls” (like musical chairs but with with poles to make stalls big enough for a horse), “Ribbon game” (teams of two, each has to hold one end of a ribbon, last team to still be holding the ribbon wins), “magazine race” (basically a relay race… have to run down to a magazine, get off horse, rip out page number that is called out, get back on and run back to group), and “dizzy race” (another relay but you have to get off spin around a mounting block, get back on and race back to group).

Does anyone have any other ideas?

There are children from age 9-20 and all different riding levels.

Any ideas are welcome!

[chai]

egg and spoon
costume class
red light/green light
obstacle course
sit-a-buck

[MunchingonHay]

egg and spoon
dollar bill WTC ride bare backed and place a dollar under your knee and keep it there, when it falls you are out.
hang donuts on string and eat it while siting on your horse with out using you hands
take of one shoe place it in a pile at one end of the arena, then go back to the other end, ride mount to pile, dismount get shoe, put it on and then mount and ride back. (timed)
key hole race (timed)
Barrel racing (timed)
gambler’s choice: mail boxs, flags in a barrel, walk on tarp, jump a cross rail, etc for points.
pole bending (timed)

Pony Club as a book you can get on gymkhana games.

ETA http://www.amazon.com/Games-Horseback-Betty-Bennett-Talbot/dp/1580171346/ref=pd_cp_b_0

[LisaW-B]

Bucket jumping! Start with a long row of buckets, then take buckets away until there’s only one bucket left to jump.

High-jump! Start with a pole on the ground, and keep raising it in increments.

Trot and run – Trot to the end of the arena, dismount, and then run back leading the horse.

Run, tack and ride – Run leading your horse to the end of the arena, tack up (saddle/girth/bridle would be waiting on the fence), and then ride back.

Walking race – A lot harder to do than you would think without breaking into a trot, LOL. When I’ve played it, if you broke into a jog or trot, you had to circle to the right as a penalty (thus slowing you down).

Bobbing for apples – Ride horse to the end of the arena, dismount, and then the rider has to bob for an apple in a bucket, get back on, and trot back to the other end. This involves a lot of kids getting dripping wet, LOL.

Potato race.

Team ribbon race.

Barrel racing.

Pole bending.

Egg-n-spoon.

Bareback ride-a-buck.

My trainer has an annual 4th of July games day… No whips allowed, no spurs allowed! It’s a blast! Prizes for best costume, youngest rider and naughtiest horse, in addition to winners of each game. The naughtiest horse trophy is actually much coveted, LOL.

[furlong47]

Two barrels, one with an empty container on top and the other with a bucket of water. (For each team.) Riders carry a cup or sponge. Ride down to the bucket of water, fill cup or sponge, ride back and empty into container. Either the same players go back and forth or can be done with relay teams. Whoever fills the container first wins.

Gourd race - two barrels with buckets on top, everyone who isn’t riding stands around the arena holding up a gourd. Two riders competing can get one gourd at a time to take to their bucket and drop in. Whoever gets the most gourds wins. (Start with an odd number so no ties)

[MunchkinsMom]

@LisaW-B;5873543

Bobbing for apples – Ride horse to the end of the arena, dismount, and then the rider has to bob for an apple in a bucket, get back on, and trot back to the other end. This involves a lot of kids getting dripping wet, LOL.

LOL - did that once during a “fun day” show at my boarding barn, and the older riders had to get back on while clenching the apple in their teeth, and had no holder for the horse (the younger riders had horse holders and didn’t need to try to get back on while keeping the apple in their mouth). Did you ever try to say whoa with an apple in your mouth? Or keep your horse from bobbing for the apples with you? It’s a hoot!

We also had a “sock race”. Two boxes full of socks, you grabbed one on the way in, race to the other side of the arena, and dig through the socks to find it’s mate, get back on, and ride back.

Musical Tires - set up tires around the arena, riders ride around, the music stops, the riders dismount and race to get inside a tire. The one without a tire is out, and another tire removed.

[Belg]

Hehehe. SCA Games, in costume

reed chop, dates to saracen horsemanship games from the 11th and 12th century IIRC: go down between two parralel rows of reeds that are progressively shorter, spaced 4 feet apart wide and offset, 10", 8, 6, 4, 2…

Behead the enemy: Like pole bending, but with head on the poles held by magnets… chop the head off the pole with a sword. Put ghoul masks on or something

ring jousting is common enough to describe, quintain is too:)

Of course, for me that’s not “halloween” thats whenever I feel like it…

[LisaW-B]

>LOL - did that once during a “fun day” show at my boarding barn, and the older riders had to get back on while clenching the apple in their teeth, and had no holder for the horse (the younger riders had horse holders and didn’t need to try to get back on while keeping the apple in their mouth). Did you ever try to say whoa with an apple in your mouth? Or keep your horse from bobbing for the apples with you? It’s a hoot!

That’s how we played it, too! No one to help hold your horse, and you had to hold the apple in your teeth. None of the adults usually play that game (we are chickens, LOL). We leave the soaking wet hair and helmets to the kids, even though it’s normally 150 degrees here on the 4th and I’m sure dunking your head in a bucket of water actually feels great.

[Watermark_Farm]

A pony club around here does a great playday. Two classes we love are

Groucho Marx Egg on Spoon (purchase those eyeglasses with nose and mustache attached and have riders wear that while doing an egg on spoon race)

Pleasure Pairs – Pleasure class where a pair rides side by side walk, trot, canter. It’s a fun class.

Another good one is the Ribbon Race. Pairs of riders ride up, around a barrel, and back, with an approx 24" ribbon held between them. If either rider drops the ribbon, the time is not counted.

[Aislinn05]

[QUOTE=LisaW-B;5873543]
Bucket jumping! Start with a long row of buckets, then take buckets away until there’s only one bucket left to jump.[/QUOTE]

So how exactly does this one work??

[Aislinn05]

[QUOTE=Belg;5874378]

reed chop, dates to saracen horsemanship games from the 11th and 12th century IIRC: go down between two parralel rows of reeds that are progressively shorter, spaced 4 feet apart wide and offset, 10", 8, 6, 4, 2…[/QUOTE]

Not sure I understand… How does this game work?

[Brooke]

“Gretna Green” race. Pairs are stationed at opposite ends of the ring. #1 rides horse (bareback) down to #2 who has to clamber up behind #1, they turn and ride double back to the start. (The best way to get #2 up behind is to have #2 grab mane, place left foot on rider’s left foot to use as a ‘stirrup’ and mount.) Lots of fun if horsies will put up with riding double.

[lorilu]

Dressage by the Letters - enter at A and go through “gates” at each letter in alpha order - timed event. Include those letters down the CL.
Callers allowed or not… gates can be as simple as a set of cones or a ground pole about 4 ft off the rail…

L