Ponokamita Youth & Culture Program
Honoring Our Heritage
Ponokamita Academy is our year-round youth and cultural program, connecting Indigenous youth and families to traditional horse culture through land-based learning rooted in Amskapi Pikuni ways of life. Through mentorship, horsemanship, and cultural teachings, participants build relationships with horses while developing responsibility, language, leadership, and community connection.
Each summer, this work culminates in Ponokamita Camp—an immersive cultural horse camp at Sikapiyohkitoopi “White Rider” Healing Ranch in Two Medicine—where youth, mentors, and Elders gather for hands-on learning, cultural practice, and shared experiences that deepen connection to land and identity.
Youth & Culture
Ponokamita Academy is grounded in a relational framework that brings together youth development, cultural knowledge, and connection to land and horses.
Horsemanship & Responsibility
Youth build relationships with their horses through daily care, riding, and hands-on learning. This work teaches responsibility, patience, and connection grounded in respect for all living beings.
Intergenerational Learning
Youth learn alongside mentors, families, and Elders, carrying forward knowledge through shared experience, storytelling, and practice.
Land-Based
Learning
Through time on the land, youth engage in seasonal practices, food systems, and cultural teachings that reconnect them to place, identity, and responsibility.
Leadership &
Identity
Through mentorship and participation, youth grow in confidence, purpose, and identity—stepping into leadership grounded in community and cultural values.
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