Not every school field trip has to end at a zoo or a national museum.

There are great places for schools to visit; if you think a little outside of the box. If you are a student in Borrego Springs, one of the field trips the school offers is a two or three day trip to the Borrego Valley Ranch (BVR). Dr. Silvia Caldwell and David Farley invite the students, starting in grade three through six, to visit their five horses on their ranch as part of an ‘Intro to Horses.’ BVR offers students the opportunity to come by and learn about these amazing animals.

Mrs. Catherine Paredes, Food Services Manager at Borrego Springs Unified, leads the trips out to BVR and explains that, “The first visit was a tour of the Ranch; which included information on how to be safe around horses, how to greet a horse, the history of horses and the breed of horses bred and raised at BVR (American Quarter Horse).

On the second visit the students learned about the colors of horses, how to measure the height of a horse, saw a demonstration on training a horse, learned about the various grooming equipment used on a horse, and then actually groomed some of the horses. After the third-grade students attended, the fourth- and fifth-grade students participated. Dr. Caldwell asked if any of the fifth-grade students would want to come back and learn how to halter and lead a horse – they did!

So a few more trips were made to BVR (just three to four students) for that awesome opportunity. Mrs. Paredes continues to state that, “The benefit for the students, or for the majority of the students, is their experience with horses are very limited or non-existent; the students gained confidence and knowledge and, for a few, a strong desire to continue further into the world of horses.”

The field trips started in October 2015 and continued until late May of this year. Mrs. Paredes plans on offering the same trips to students next year.