BY KAITLYN YOURKOSKI

Halloween is a very popular holiday in the equestrian community. It allows riders a break from a busy show season, and is also a very great time to bound with your barn family.

Apple Bobbing

This is a great game that is typically played during the fall season. It’s also a great one to include your horse in! Instead of playing against your friend, you can play against your horse. This only makes the game harder because your horse is probably more motivated to grab the apple then you are. Take two buckets. One for the horses and one for the humans, fill them up with apples and begin!

Costume Contest

Halloween is a great time to show off your creativity and have friendly competition between barn mates. A way to set up the parade is to have your trainer judge while your friends circle around the ring. You could also get everyone’s family involved and invite them to vote for the best costume. There could be three categories such as; creativity, funniest and cutest.

Pumpkin Carving Contest

Even though this does not seem horse related it is easy to make it horsey. Barn mates and you could carve horse related pictures into the pumpkins. We’ve even got some hunter/jumper themed pumpkin carving templates to get you started!

Stall Decorating

Many around the country decorate their houses during Halloween season. Since your horses stall is their house, why not decorate it? Even if you have a spooky horse, you can decorate the outside of their stall so they can’t spook at the decorations or eat the decorations. Amazon, Target, Walmart and many other stores are great places to get spooky or cute decorations.

Above all, enjoy Halloween safely with all your barn friends!