Boy & Girl Scouts

Scouting Group Discount

We love to support scouts, and offer special rates to our Boy & Girl scout groups.  Bring a group of up to 6 scouts (including an adult) and receive a special scouting discount on your ride at Big River Ranch.

1-hour Ride:  $30 each* 

2-hour Ride:  $40 each* 

*Please review our Booking information carefully.  Riders must be at least 8 years old, weigh less than 250 pounds, and must wear a helmet (provided).

Horsemanship Merit Badge

Show-Me Trail Ride Outfitter can help your scouting group meet the requirements for the HORSEMANSHIP MERIT BADGE.

The Scouts Horsemanship Course is an all-day course, and we always wish we could have covered more and spent more time!  See past scouting events with Show-Me Trail HERE.

Cost:  $100 per scout for merit badge certification. 

 This cost includes:

  • the fees for camping at Big River Ranch
  • the class for caring for horses, including all handouts and worksheets
  • instruction in trimming and shoeing horses
  • parts of horse, saddle, and bridle
  • hands-on lesson in grooming a horse
  • guided instruction in tacking
  • practice leading a horse
  • a guide to care and maintain of stalls
  • basic horseback riding instruction
  • minimum 1-hour guided trail ride at the ranch for each scout
  • Certificate of Achievement for the scouts that complete the course

Big River Ranch also offers scouts the opportunity to roam over 2100 acres of farmland and wilderness, with 6 miles of Missouri River frontage.  The ranch also offers hiking, fishing, swimming in the lake or a farm pond, and watching popcorn and a movie in the barn is always a fun evening event!

There are showers and restrooms available at the ranch.

Close location to Battle of Lexington State Historical Site and Anderson House tours.

The requirements for the Horsemanship Merit Badge are as follows:

In addition to learning how to safely ride and care for horses, Scouts who earn this merit badge will gain an understanding of the instincts and behaviors of horses and humane and effective methods for training horses.

  1. Do the following:
    1. Describe the safety precautions you should take when handling and caring for a horse.
    2. Explain and demonstrate how to approach and lead a horse safely from a stall, corral, or field and how to tie the horse securely.
    3. Demonstrate how to safely mount and ride a horse and how to safely dismount the horse after your ride.
  2. Name 15 main parts of a horse.
  3. Name four leading breeds of horses. Explain the special features for which each breed is known.
  4. Show how to care for a Western and English saddle and bridle. Name10 parts of the saddle and bridle that you will use.
  5. Show how to groom, pick out hooves, prepare a horse for a ride, and care for a horse after a ride.
  6. Describe the symptoms of colic. Describe four other horse health problems.
  7. Name three main conformation faults of the feet and legs, and explain how to detect them. Explain the difference between lameness and unsoundness.
  8. Explain how to trim and shoe a horse’s foot and how to make adjustments according to its conformation, the season of the year, and the riding conditions.
  9. Demonstrate the correct way to feed a horse. Explain how you determined what and how much to feed the horse and why the amount and kind of feed will be changed according to activity level and the kind of horse it is.
  10. Show how to saddle and bridle a horse.
  11. On level ground, continuously do the following movements. Do them correctly, at ease, and in harmony with the horse:
    1. Mount the horse.
    2. Walk the horse in a straight line for 60 feet.
    3. Make a half circle of not more than 16 feet in radius.
    4. Trot or jog in a straight line for at least 60 feet.
    5. Make a half circle of not more than 30 feet in radius at a jog or trot.
    6. Halt straight.
    7. Back up straight four paces.
    8. Halt and dismount.

Sited from Boy Scout Requirements, 2011 Edition (BSA Supply No. 34765)

 

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