Our mission here is to use transformational outdoor experiences—both with people and the created world—to develop youth, emerging adults, and those who work with them to be contributors to God’s mission. The barn plays an integral role in that. With their particularities, personalities, and herd dynamics, horses provide a powerful teaching tool for every age HoneyRock serves. Our barn, along with wilderness, youth programming, gap year, college student leadership development, and college transition programming, is one of our areas of specialty and expertise. We’re developing exceptional emerging and established professionals through this work while providing transformational experiences for campers and young adults.

This is the beauty of the work on our Equestrian Center—all programs benefit. Campers, Vanguard Gap Year students, Passage participants, graduate students, and even our retreat and cabin guests. Let me share some examples. 

At the summer camp level, campers engage with horses as an activity and pursue the activity progression through their Basics, Intermediates, and Masters. We just opened summer camp registration, and within about 15 minutes, we had a waiting list for horsemanship. But the impact goes beyond those directly involved in the activity area. Beyond that, I’ve seen cabin leaders use trail rides and even the feeding facility as grounds for powerful Cabin Impacts.

For Vanguard, we recently grew our gap year to include an equestrian track. Vanguards who choose this track spend three days a week fully involved down at the Equestrian Center. They’re seeing all sides of the equestrian industry—from equestrian care and training to site upkeep to how we can work can with horses to learn about our relationship with God and facilitate that for others. 

We will continue to offer an undergraduate Wheaton College course in ministry skills using the Equestrian Center as the context. Passage: The Orientation Experience of Wheaton College, features an Equestrian track to introduce incoming students to life at Wheaton.

Finally, our graduate students who are getting an M.A. in Outdoor and Adventure Leadership have the opportunity to specialize in equestrian training. They’re equipped to lead equestrian programs and facilities in other camps and similar organizations when they graduate. They’re the ones leading—under the guidance of our Equestrian Program Manager— the programs I just listed.

All in all, our horses and people who work with them are serving the mission on a year-round basis. We need to give them the facilities to fulfill their calling and purpose.

We’re currently in the construction phase of our new hay storage and feeding facility for the facilities work. For programming, we launched Vanguard Gap Year’s Equestrian Track, hired our full-time Equestrian Center Manager, and accepted two equestrian-focused graduate assistants.

 That was Phase One and Two. Now, we’re launching Phase Three, which on the facility side, looks to design and build an indoor riding arena, classroom, office, tack storage, box stalls, and equipment storage. We’re raising $950,000 to fund the extensive site and facilities work required. To date, about $220,000 has been raised. We hope to begin construction in Fall 2022 but need full funding by that time to start work.

As far as the programming work, we’re landing the plane on an equestrian program leadership concentration for our M.A. in Outdoor and Adventure and looking to develop partnerships with colleges and organizations for student recruitment and placement.