ARABIAN lovers ARRIVE AT MIDWEST
....by the bus loads!
2010 Kids Day

Midwest Training Centre introduced the Arabian horse to bus loads of future Arabian lovers on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 18th and 19th. With the helpful coordination of teacher Janine Ahrens, the farm hosted their annual field trip for the kindergarten children of the Otsego and Twin Lakes Public Schools along with their teachers and parents. This "hands-on" event provided education, entertainment and a bus load of fun with some 300 children visiting the farm during the two days.

The ultimate field trip opened in the arena with David and Terry Anne greeting their young guests. The youngest showman at Midwest, Master Jake Boggs, charmed the young crowd with his presentation of the ever present Trigger, his mini-palomino. These two are an opening act guaranteed to warm up any crowd.

David told the story of the origin of the Arabian horse and told the children about all the day to day activity that takes place at the horse farm named Midwest. He might have been a little upstaged by the show-stealing foals, however, as the beautiful babies brought squeals of delight from the entire attendance.

As you’ll note from the photos, Team Midwest even “mounted up” for a little riding demonstration. Get ready Grand Nationals or National Finals Rodeo or Dressage Championships – or who knows – this group looks pretty sharp...

 From the arena the group split into three groups for a rotation through each of three activities. One section began with a barn walk with Terry Anne Boggs and informational tour, while the second section began “hands-on grooming" with the farm’s Sicilian donkey herd time. Standing only 28-38 inches tall at the withers these stoic little guys are always favorites with youngsters. The third section enjoyed a “make up session” of face painting to inspire their imaginations and offer great photo opts.

As would be expected, the kids had a host of questions about how things are done in a horse barn. They asked about the things around the horses necks (throat latch sweats) and wanted to know about feeding and how one gets those coats so shiny. Some children in the group had been around horses, others were touching an Arabian horse for the first time.

“This was a great opportunity for our family to give back to the Elk River community,” says David. “Terry Anne and I had a great time with the kids and their parents and teachers. We enjoy an opportunity to show the kids just what it is that makes the Arabian so special to us and give them that chance to spend time here on the farm. It was a special event for us as well as our visitors and we’re honored to have been invited to host the field trip.”

Two hours later, happy, smiling, painted faces had ridden beautiful miniature ponies, played with Arabian foals and learned all about Arabian horse farms. No doubt most of them boarded the buses; with farm brochures in hand to leave determined that they, too, would one day own Arabian horses.

Midwest Training Centre, where the dreams begin!