Harness Horse Youth Foundation Summer Programs
Darke County Fairgrounds, 2711 Friar Tuck Rd, Anderson, IN 46013
About
Harness Horse Youth Foundation Summer Programs offer interactive learning experiences with race horses that focus on harness racing. Participants spend time learning about driving, Standardbred horses, horsemanship, animal care, and racing fundamentals. The programs are structured as intensive 5-day overnight events that combine hands-on work with horses and related educational activities.
• Schedule: Intensive 5-day overnight events
Since 1976, the Harness Horse Youth Foundation (HHYF) has dedicated efforts and resources to projects that enable young people to learn more about harness racing, and more than four decades later HHYF continues to educate young people about the sport. The organization began as a subcommittee of the Ohio Standardbred Breeders Association in the early 1970s, and in 1976 David Dolezal completed the not-for-profit paperwork making HHYF an independent national organization. HHYF operates under the leadership of a 15-member board of trustees and states its mission as “TO PROVIDE YOUNG PEOPLE AND THEIR FAMILIES INFORMATION AND EXPERIENCES WITH HARNESS HORSES IN ORDER TO FOSTER THE NEXT GENERATION OF FANS AND PARTICIPANTS.”
HHYF maintains a stable of Trottingbreds along with their equipment and teaching materials, and staff and horses travel many miles to work with young fans and their families. HHYF’s itinerary is multi-seasonal (spring, summer, fall) with a variety of programs and many locations, and the organization has traveled more than 500,000 miles since 1999. Its programs also include equine scholarship administration, creation and distribution of educational materials related to harness racing, activity workbooks filled with educational materials, games, and crafts, and Harness Heroes trading cards celebrating the legends of harness racing with a new collection released each year. HHYF has awarded and/or administered scholarship awards totaling over $1,000,000 and has created new or increased awareness of harness racing for thousands of young people.
HHYF began as part of the Ohio Standardbred Breeders Association and now travels extensively each spring, summer, and fall sharing harness racing with students across the United States, with support from donors, volunteers, and partners. HHYF has received the American Youth Horse Council’s Partnership Award and the US Harness Writers Association Proximity Award in recognition of its efforts. In a recent survey, HHYF received 100% endorsement (“excellent” or “very good”) from parents on overall satisfaction with their child’s camp experience, how well the camp met expectations, the positive impact of camp for their child, and the expectation that camp will increase family involvement in harness racing. One parent wrote that the program made their child “the happiest he has ever been,” described the child’s “endless” desire to continue in harness racing, and called Harness Horse Youth Foundation Summer Programs “one of the best” programs they had seen.
Last updated June 29, 2026.
• Schedule: Intensive 5-day overnight events
Since 1976, the Harness Horse Youth Foundation (HHYF) has dedicated efforts and resources to projects that enable young people to learn more about harness racing, and more than four decades later HHYF continues to educate young people about the sport. The organization began as a subcommittee of the Ohio Standardbred Breeders Association in the early 1970s, and in 1976 David Dolezal completed the not-for-profit paperwork making HHYF an independent national organization. HHYF operates under the leadership of a 15-member board of trustees and states its mission as “TO PROVIDE YOUNG PEOPLE AND THEIR FAMILIES INFORMATION AND EXPERIENCES WITH HARNESS HORSES IN ORDER TO FOSTER THE NEXT GENERATION OF FANS AND PARTICIPANTS.”
HHYF maintains a stable of Trottingbreds along with their equipment and teaching materials, and staff and horses travel many miles to work with young fans and their families. HHYF’s itinerary is multi-seasonal (spring, summer, fall) with a variety of programs and many locations, and the organization has traveled more than 500,000 miles since 1999. Its programs also include equine scholarship administration, creation and distribution of educational materials related to harness racing, activity workbooks filled with educational materials, games, and crafts, and Harness Heroes trading cards celebrating the legends of harness racing with a new collection released each year. HHYF has awarded and/or administered scholarship awards totaling over $1,000,000 and has created new or increased awareness of harness racing for thousands of young people.
HHYF began as part of the Ohio Standardbred Breeders Association and now travels extensively each spring, summer, and fall sharing harness racing with students across the United States, with support from donors, volunteers, and partners. HHYF has received the American Youth Horse Council’s Partnership Award and the US Harness Writers Association Proximity Award in recognition of its efforts. In a recent survey, HHYF received 100% endorsement (“excellent” or “very good”) from parents on overall satisfaction with their child’s camp experience, how well the camp met expectations, the positive impact of camp for their child, and the expectation that camp will increase family involvement in harness racing. One parent wrote that the program made their child “the happiest he has ever been,” described the child’s “endless” desire to continue in harness racing, and called Harness Horse Youth Foundation Summer Programs “one of the best” programs they had seen.
Last updated June 29, 2026.
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