Rodeo Camp at Lakeside Stables
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From left, Ellison Wilson, Kendal Gatlin and Alida Nielsen enjoyed learning about the parts of a horse, which they color-coded, then were free to decorate with leftover paint. - Photos courtesy of Lakeside Stables
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Carter Hobson, 12, waits his turn. - Photos courtesy of Lakeside Stables
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Audrey Carmichael, left, helps guide fellow camper Ashlee Weaver as she saddles up blindfolded. - Photos courtesy of Lakeside Stables
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Sophie Carroll completes a roping exercise. - Photos courtesy of Lakeside Stables
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Emmy Grabber, left, and Collette O’Dell enjoy a trail ride. - Photos courtesy of Lakeside Stables
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From left, camp leader Natalie Fletcher, camper Landy Orr and Kyla Matthews, a camp instructor who also performs in rodeos with some of the Lakeside Stables students on weekends. - Photos courtesy of Lakeside Stables
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Ellison Wilson, in front, and rider Emmy Graber on the Lakeside Stables grounds. - Photos courtesy of Lakeside Stables
Extensive safely and sanitary precautions — plus approval from the state advising equestrian activities are considered ‘non-contact’ sports — encouraged Lakeside Stables to host its annual Rodeo Camp this year. With no more than 10 to a group, constant cleaning and daily temperature monitoring, Natalie Fletcher, whose family owns the property, has overseen a chance to socialize, teach and encourage children this summer. Offered skills have included calf roping, pole bending and barrel racing, along with general horse education and riding lessons on the 100-acre lakefront property along Northshore Drive in Concord. Campers also enjoyed trail rides and swimming in Fort Loudoun Lake. Long-time horse and rodeo experts Fletcher and her sister, Lucinda Hefner, started the summer camps years ago, and while both are studying for their careers — Natalie as a veterinarian, Lucinda as a psychiatric nurse practitioner — they also continue to train about 25 young rodeo students throughout the year.
“We just love working with the kids that share our same hobby,” Natalie said.
