Ekone Ranch Summer Camps

Directors: Shonie Schlotzhauer

At Ekone, campers experience being an important member of an inclusive community, in relationship and service to a place. We believe that this experience is fundamental to our human nature, transformative for those who experience it, and essential to creating a viable, vibrant future on Earth.

And fun! If there's anything Ekone is known for, it's finding the fun in everything.

Our approach to horsemanship emphasizes the special relationship between children and horses. Everyone spends time grooming and caring for the horses, learning safe ground habits, and building relationships with horses from the ground while taking care of their minds and bodies.

As for riding, we ride primarily bareback, especially with beginning riders. 30+ years of experience have taught us that children learn to ride much faster bareback, gain their balance more quickly, develop a more empathetic relationship and better communication with the horse, and are actually safer without the trappings of tack to get tangled in and distracted by. For more advanced riders, we may progress with our wide selection of western and english saddles. We ride primarily in bitless bridles, keep our horses barefoot, and work toward providing the most species-appropriate lifestyle we can for them.

Days at camp are spent almost entirely outside, with a community of between 10-25 children aged 8-18 (session-dependent), and a crew of 10-15 staff and mentors aged 16-80. Together, we engage in play, work, skill-building, and activities designed to connect us to nature, each other, and ourselves. We learn to listen closely to the birds. We stalk the deer at the pond. We create art from found objects. We run wild through the woods. We shed some of the busy-ness of modern life and remember how to make our own fun.

We also care for the needs of our place and community, taking responsibility for ourselves and our shared experience. We cook meals, clean up after them, tend the garden, feed the animals, buck hay, haul firewood, and engage in conservation projects on the land. We learn to listen to each other, speak our truth with kindness, and create the kind of community we want to live in.​

And we simply enjoy life on the ranch. Campers sleep in the beautiful new bunkhouse or under the stars. Our wholesome, delicious meals are cooked from scratch, and most of our produce is from Ekone's own garden. We take a break from screens, mirrors, makeup, competition, and drama. We swim in the pond, swing on the rope swings, catch frogs, and build forts.

• Directors:
  Shonie Schlotzhauer
• Founded:
  1986
• Gender:
  Co-Educational

• Maximum age:
  19
• Minimum age:
  8
• Nearest city:
  Portland, OR

• Season opens:
  June 22, 2024
• Season closes:
  August 12, 2024

Activities

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