girl scouts of the colonial coastUntamed Spirit is a very valuable program that takes place at Forward Motion Farm in Virginia Beach. Untamed Spirit serves special needs children and adults through a partnership with horses and also offers educational workshops to educate the public about equine-assisted programs and activities. Girl Scout Cadettes Allison, Charlotte, Norah, and Riley of Troop 716 recently earned their Silver Award in a project titled, "Operation Halter Boxes," which benefitted the Untamed Spirit program at Forward Motion Farm.
The girls learned from Barb Ford, executive director of Forward Motion Farm, that due to the pandemic, more people than usual were in need of counseling and the services that she offered at her farm. However, because of the difficulties of a nationwide lockdown, the farm was not receiving income or donations which was making it difficult to keep up with the farm and provide the services that her clients needed.
After hearing from Barb Ford, the girls decided this would be a perfect place to complete a project for them because they could combine their desire to help someone in need with their love for horses. Troop 250 visited the farm and during their tour, they discovered that the halter boxes, located outside of each training ring and pasture, were in disrepair. The Girl Scouts agreed to build new halter boxes, eight in total, to replace the old boxes and add new ones where needed on the farm.
To get started, the girls met via Zoom to come up with a halter box design and to make a shopping list. Each girl chose a local building supply store to visit with their parent and priced out the materials. The troop met again to decide which store would be the best value for purchasing their supplies. Following that, they had two meetings where they worked together to build the halter boxes. The girls noted that their project was a good choice because it was completed outdoors and allowed the troop to follow Girl Scout protocols for safely working together.
In the end, the girls chose to put an inspirational message on each halter box to give encouragement to Barb Ford’s clients during their therapy at the farm.
Congratulations, Allison, Charlotte, Norah, and Riley!
