New Beginnings Youth Ranch

In January 2009, the Eckerd Academy at Deer Lodge began working in conjunction with Cedar Creek Cattle Company to facilitate a horsemanship program.  The program consists of a twelve week “passive training” structure.  Each week the students spend a morning working with a two year old horse.  The challenge is to teach the previously unsocialized horses to follow basic commands and complete such tasks as loading on and off a trailer and backing into a stall. After twelve weeks of work the difference in both the horses and the students was evident.  Smaller, quieter students in group were often able to control their 800 lb horse better than their older, larger peers.  The success with the horses inspired the students to take the chance and challenge themselves in other areas of their own life, such as school.  Since working with the horsemanship program, student test scores have increased, with all students passing their state required tests for promotion / graduation.  In addition to working with the horses, the students have also begun construction on a primitive campsite on the “Ranch”.  The students designed the campsite layout and are building tents, similar to those used at Eckerd Wilderness Camps.  The students are completing the campsite as part of their weekly vocational education class.

This fall eight very lucky kids from the Eckerd Academy at Deer Lodge have the chance of a lifetime . . . the opportunity to train a wild Mustang.  Working with the Bureau of Land Management and Cedar Creek Cattle Company, the academy was able to enroll 8 students in an intense horsemanship program.  The EADL students were issued a horse in a random drawing on Saturday July 18^th.  The students will work with the horse a minimum of 9 hours per week, training the wild mustang to follow basic commands, thus making it a marketable horse.  The students will then compete with other youth from Eastern Tennessee in mid October for the opportunity to win a $2000 hand tooled saddle.  During the competition, the students must lead their horses through or over a set of ground obstacles, including walking on a bridge and through water.  The students must also be able to load the horse on and off a trailer and back it into a chute. 

Three of the students enrolled completed the basic horsemanship program in the spring with a two year old horse.  The horses the students are working with now are yearlings that were captured in the wild on a range in Nevada .  The training will be similar to what the students in the first horsemanship program were able to accomplish.  The difference is that the mustangs have previously roamed free and are completely unfamiliar with people or fences. 

The challenge is huge, but the Deer Lodge students are up to it.  Within three hours one of the female students has already reached milestones with her horse that normally take trained professionals days to accomplish.