Hope, Horses & Kids

10/31/2024

🎃Happy Halloween from our herd to yours🎃

Our horses love the attention of getting dressed up and parading around the barn! What were you for Halloween this year?!

10/28/2024

We were honored to host the California Rodeo Salinas Golden Circle of Champions at our barn on Saturday. The CA rodeo and GCOC raises awareness and provides funds to help those children who are battling cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. You can learn more about the GCOC at the link below, but this was a special day to unite families who have all been facing these traumatic and stressful times, to bring them together and enjoy a day of fun family bonding.
The kids decorated pumpkins, went fishing, took part in EAL activities and enjoyed some horseback riding. Lunch was provided by Salinas City BBQ, cookies were supplied by the incredible Chef EJ and his culinary team from Rancho Cielo Youth Campus.
This is hopefully the first of many more events hosting these incredible, inspiring kids and their families.

https://www.carodeo.com/p/about-us/community/golden-circle-of-champions

10/28/2024

HHK, helping raise confident kids since 2010 💥

10/25/2024

That priceless moment when what you’ve been asking for for so long, finally becomes understood and completed ✔️ 🙌🏻
This was a lesson in pressure, patience and release.
Honey wasn’t sure it was safe to put her feet on the sand filled tire, but the connection 🧬 and trust she’s built with her human partner assured her it was ok to do so. Our student left beaming, feeling accomplished, connected, and understood. 🤝
These attributes are so important in today’s world of instant gratification. Having the resilience to work through something until you get the job done is a rewarding experience and one we hope our students take with them into their daily lives. Quitting is not an option 🙅🏻

10/23/2024

The yo-yo activity has the student asking the horse to move their feet either towards or away from them using a loose rope as the only connection. This teaches about how horses move away from pressure without having to touch them.
It also is a great exercise in assertiveness. If a ‘lazy’ horse doesn’t listen to a whisper, some students find it hard to find their inner warrior and ask that horse to step back. Intentions have to be set and outcomes met.

10/18/2024

10/18/2024

We are creating a group session for home school teenagers.
This will take place during the weekday hours and will include activities that boost self-confidence, assertiveness, self-motivation, communication and team work. If you know of anyone who would be interested in joining such a group, please share this with them, we can be relatively flexible on the schedule to try and fit everyone’s needs.
Cost is $35 an hour for group session, but if you are home schooled through Ocean Grove or Yosemite you can talk with your ES and get it paid as part of your home school curriculum.

10/14/2024

📣 🔊 Due to popular demand of our Pony Express Equine Escape Rooms course, we are offering a mini-camp the week of Thanksgiving. 🍁
This would be 10am-2pm 11/25, 11/26, 11/27, and Saturday 11/30 and cost $250.
Kids would complete the four equine escape rooms 🔏 along with horsemanship and life skill lessons. Please send us a message if you are interested in signing your kids up for this exciting opportunity 💫

10/03/2024

This year has been a tough one on our herd. We recently lost another of our legendary horses, Tommy, aka Mr Wonderful. One thing we are proud of at HHK is that we are able to give our horses the best of life, living in comfort up to their very last day. We honor their lives the best way we can. We are grateful to Sterling Reverie for the recent photo shoot with Tommy, we’ll cherish these photos forever 🫶🏻

09/29/2024

Pony Express Escape Room part 3. This one was a lot of fun! There were so many teaching moments in this one, not just academically but also how to push through when you are feeling frustrated and defeated, 💪🏻 and communication 🔊 with your teammates was a big one today. I don’t know who has more fun doing these, the kids or the facilitators 😂

09/24/2024

HHK took some of our teen saddle club riders to their first ever gymkhana at the Monterey County Sheriff’s Posse Grounds this past weekend and they absolutely rocked it 🤘🏻. It has been an amazing journey watching them work together as a team, overcome their fears and obstacles (metaphorical and literal!) and get out there and show up for themselves and each other. We are sure this will be the first of many, well done girls! 🙌🏻🫶🏻💯

09/22/2024

The second of our Pony Express escape rooms was a huge success yesterday! We love watching the kids get the ‘a-ha!’ moment when they figure out how to complete the next clue. This one included Lego word deciphering, creative writing and homophones. The beautify of kinesthetic learning is that the kids have so much fun with it! The teamwork and communication between this group is 💯 also.

09/16/2024

UPDATE: One of our very kind supporters has donated the goat shelter to HHK! Thank you so much 🙏🏻, we have the best friends 🤗

🆘 Dutch & Crunch need your help! 🙏🏻

Their nighttime enclosure has disintegrated and can no longer keep them safe from predators at night. If anyone has, or knows of an outdoor dog kennel or similar enclosure (with a door and roof) that is not being used then please consider donating it to HHK. Alternatively if you would like to purchase one to donate we would be forever grateful! 🥹 🙏🏻
The goats are a really fun addition to our horse program and we do our best to keep all our animals as safe as possible.

09/14/2024

Our HPR®️ Pony Express escape room course has begun! This has taken a lot of time and effort to put into place but it has been worth every second. 🤩 The kids loved it and can’t wait to come back next week for number 2 ✌🏻. They had to read, comprehend and critically think 🧐 to solve all the clues today, and they improved by the end of the session! 💯 We love watching them learn and work as a team 🎯

09/11/2024

This moment right here is what we live for 🫶🏻

🌿 Today at Rancho Cielo, one of our students spent time with Stuart, a gentle horse who helps us learn much more than just riding skills. 🐴 It’s about trust, patience and understanding – building bonds that heal and inspire.

Here's to Stuart, one of Hope, Horses & Kids' wise four-legged teachers, and to every student discovering new strengths through equine therapy. 💙
Hope, Horses & Kids

09/10/2024

Our first Horse Powered Reading®️ session started with a classic game of horse body part labels to introduce the kids to horses last Saturday. This game shows us the child’s reading ability and letter identification skills all while teaching them about the body parts of a horse. Peach enjoyed the attention and pets while the labels were applied. Have we said we have the best horses?! 🤗
The Pony Express escape rooms start this Saturday!!

09/07/2024

Miss Honey saw the teens enter the arena for their lesson and promptly laid down for a nap. This heat has us all beat 😅. What are you doing to keep cool today?? ☀️
(Note: no horses were harmed in the making of this post! 😂)

09/05/2024

Did we mention we LOVE the human horse connection? ♾️
Leroy enjoyed his morning staying in tune and side by side with these kiddos. And their bodies remained calm while their inner confidence soared 🦅

09/04/2024

Beaujack meets Buffalo Bill (and proceeded to knock him over and take off his bucket head 😂) and gets his first ride from one of the culinary school kids today. This horse truly is one of a kind!

Buffalo Bill will be in residence at HHK for the upcoming weeks as he will be center stage in our equine escape room Horse Powered Reading®️ program starting this Saturday!

09/02/2024

Our Horse Powered Reading®️Pony Express equine escape room series starts THIS SATURDAY 10am-12pm at Rancho Cielo Youth Campus. Our facilitators have been working hard to get this program off the ground and we are so excited to share it with you!

There are so many benefits to HPR, kids learn in a FUN 🤩 and ENGAGING 🧬 environment, they get so involved they don’t even realize they are working on their reading 📖 and comprehension skills. Studies show that when kids are engaged, learning is exponential.

We only have limited space available so please DM us if you have any questions or would like to sign your child up for this experience.

08/28/2024

Our Leadership to Work Readiness teen program is back in full swing. Seeing these teens show up, open up and be willing to try new and hard things is our jam! Our motto - ‘connection is everything!’ 🙌🏻

08/20/2024

When little met large 👀
Puzzle, our OG miniature horse got to meet BeauJack , our newest, and largest, herd member today. Adorable is an understatement 🫶🏻😍

08/19/2024

Our Horse Powered Reading®️ 5 week course starting September 3rd is filling up fast, only 3 spots left! This course consists of 4 equine escape rooms that will help your child with basic reading skills, phonemes, fluency and comprehension. It will also encourage creative thinking, social skills and teamwork, it’s an all around brilliant course for any child age 5-10.

Email [email protected] to sign up now!