Greetings from Camp!!

June 17th, 2008

Dearest Pony Farm Families, Moms & Dads, Brothers & Sisters, and other Family Folk,

It is with a smile on my face and a happy heart that I write this, the first Blog of the season. I love telling you about camp and I hope that it brings a similar smile to your face! I also hope it finds you well and enjoying the start of summer. I certainly am!!!

Camp has gotten off the ground with ease and happiness. After you left your Treasures with us and started your drive home, we started our summer adventure together. And…what fun we are having….First, let me tell you what terrific daughters you have. To the last one, they are just dear. We do not had a complainer in the group. They are all getting along beautifully and have thrown themselves into camp. Thank you for ‘loaning’ them to us for a week. We are surely enjoying sharing the farm with them!

On the Opening Night we called a Community Meeting of all the girls and staff. We did staff introductions and some Orientation to the camp during that first meeting. Every girl sat there with peaceful attention. Kris and I then kept on telling them about how the time at camp would go for their week while the staff went down to do the first night of horse care. We don’t like to have the kids do that first night of turn out because we want to make sure everyone knows what to do and how to do it. Safety is first and foremost on our mind!!!

Following a good solid intro to Pony Farm, the kids and we sat around just chatting while we waiting for dinner. Everyone seemed to be getting along famously! As the staff arrived back from evening feed and turnout, we all gathered for dinner. Everyone went through the food line and took good helpings. Carrie, the dinner cook, whom you met on Opening Day was there to greet each camper as she went through the line. Staff and kids gathered around the dinner tables amid great chatting and getting to ‘know you’ fanfare.

After dinner and dessert were devoured, we went on to have each child introduce herself as part of her room. We also gathered up all the girls and staff ideas as to what they most wanted to do during their week with us. We told the kids that our goal for the week was to have this be their best week of the summer. We now are working hard at making this come true!!!!!

After some more introductions to bedtime routines and explanations of safety procedures in the night, we sang some favorite camp songs. The Counselors in Training had prepared their “Vespers”, telling the girls why they had come back to camp year after year. It is always such a sweet and lovely time for me because it makes me realize a new just how much camp means to the kids. It sure makes it worth me getting up each morning for these 37 years of summer camp at Pony Farm!!!! After “Good Night Circle”, which is when we all hold hands and chime in about what we were most grateful for during the day, off the kids went to get ready to go to bed. Staff room counselors went in to say good night to “their” girls once everyone was changed and ready to crawl in between the sheets…or sleeping bag, whichever is the case.

With no homesickness the first night, it was ‘All Quiet on the Pony Farm Front”….With the lights turned down and the candles extinguished from the Vesper Log, the staff finally found their way to their pillow….ready for a good night’s sleep to prepare for the first big day.

You should have been a ‘fly on the wall’ to see all the girls spilling down the hill from the lodge some semblance of dress..mostly in their PJ’s with knee high boots. I was right there to take pictures of their first time doing barn chores for their ponies! I am compiling lots of pictures of this week. We will then put these pictures on a disk for you all to see…It will chronicle their whole week of activities. We will send it to you this fall when we have more time…but, it should be a great remembrance of camp and their riding and horsey friends….I love doing it and it gives me an excuse to go and see the riding groups through out the week.

After feeding both ponies and girls, we then proceeded to room cleanup and our morning Community Meeting. At the Staff Breakfast Table, we had divided up the girls into tentative riding groups. Each staff member was assigned a group and a ring. We announced this arrangement to the girls and explained how to tack up and what the riding safety procedures were here at the farm. Again, they each listened so well, asking only good questions. It was a pleasure to get them oriented to how we do things here.

With everyone dressed in their riding duds, off we went to the barn. Most of the girls were pros at grooming and tacking up. The staff concentrated on those who needed more help and they were ready to mount up in short order. However….the rain started…With “Raindrops Falling on our Heads” off we went anyway…with not one complaint or whine! This is why I am telling you what great, gung ho kids you h ave!!!!

We made a few quick changes of mounts and checked out the saddle fit for both the girls and their horses. We also organized them into the right riding groups. With Jessy (the Head of Riding whom you did not meet on Opening Day as she was off at a family wedding) and I going around to look at each group, we quickly formed the riding groups from least to most experienced.

The girls helped us by telling us if they were happy with their mount. We told them that we did not want to “scare them to death, bore them to death or work them to death”!!!! We also said how important it was for them to tell us what they felt about their horse because we had plenty of horses!!!! We said that it was so hard for us to hear on a Camp Evaluation Form that a camper did not like her horse or was in the wrong group. In September we can not do any thing about it…but we sure can now. They were great about asking for a change in an appropriate way.

After lunch and a nice Rest Hour, the girls learned of their riding group placement. We then went and rode again with the girls all correctly placed. With a few ‘tweaks’, I believe we have the right groups and the right mounts for each and every girl.

The girls by this time had learned how to feed their ponies and prepare for evening Barn Chores. After doing the grain, it was time to go to the lodge to have an afternoon snack and break into Barn teams. Again, everyone was great about listening to their staff…Following turnout, we had the girls quickly come back to the lodge due to thunder and lightening….Arghhh, I HATE a thunder storm….It is just plain scary for the kids and even the staff!!!! So, with some games and chatting, the kids weathered the storm at the lodge….The Blessed Staff did the basics of horse care and then joined the kids for dinner.

After seeing everyone tucked in for the evening at the lodge, I have to admit I went home. I was flat tired getting everything ready. I figured that the kids and staff could eat dinner and play Bag Skits without me. I fell into bed after dinner and slept all the way to morning…eager to write this missive to YOU! In my next Blog, I will let you know how Bag Skits went!

Today has dawned with beautiful blue skies and a refreshing breeze….It is perfect riding weather. I hope it stays that way all day. Our camping trip is planned for Thursday night so please keep your fingers crossed for good weather. I surely would not have wanted to be out in the woods with girls and ponies last night…

Today, we will be riding in the morning to finalize the horse matches and riding groups. This afternoon we will be doing Camper Portraits, Swim Tests and playing with the Small Farm Animals with me. I love doing this with the girls. They are so gentle and seem to love the chickens, ducks, bunnies, guinea pigs, goats and miniature horses. I love that they love them…In this day and age of computer games, Face Book, high pressure and the temptations we all know about, it delights my soul to see them sitting on the grass and totally focused on a furry or feathery animal of some type. Such fun!!!

So, I end as I began, by thanking you for sharing your daughters with us. We love camp and all that we do together. We hope that this Blog helps you ‘be a fly on the wall’ of camp. We surely have fun. We hope you are well and are resting easy, knowing your kids are in caring, hard working and competent hands.

Have a great day.

Most warmly,

Boo and the whole staff!