Last August, BSA released its new Outdoor awards. These awards recognize Scouts BSA and Varsity Scouts who really get into outdoor activities. The five badges are for camping, hiking, aquatics, riding, and adventure. There is a center badge which is earned when the first badge is earned also. There are also gold and silver devices which can be attached to the badges for additional achievements.
I wrote previous posts about the camping award and the hiking award. Today I am promoting the riding award. When I first looked at this badge, I didn’t realize that riding covers both horseback riding and bike riding, So hopefully your troop program incorporates one or both of those activities. Springtime is a perfect time of year for both.
I think this series of badges offers a challenge to older scouts who might be getting a little bored. Present the information to your youth leadership and let them think about if they want to incorporate it into their program.
You can learn more about this program at the BSA website.
National Outdoor Badges – Riding
- Earn the First Class rank.
- Complete at least one of the following:
- Cycling merit badge and 100 miles of cycling; or
- Horsemanship merit badge and 50 miles of horseback riding.
- Complete 200 miles of riding activities, either on a non-motorized bike or a stock animal, under the auspices of the Boy Scouts of America, including the miles in requirement 2.
A gold device may be earned for each additional 100 miles of riding. A silver device is earned for each additional 400 miles of riding. The Scout may wear any combination of devices totaling his current number of miles of riding.
