What a Fantastic Week!

Friday June 26th, 2009


Dearest Pony Farm Families…Parents, Grandparents, Sisters, Brothers, Friends….

I smile as I think of you all. I sure hope you read these as I think it helps you be a ‘fly on the wall’ with your kids/sister or granddaughters. We sure are having a great time and love for you to know the happenings at the farm. We also hope you are well and have had a good week yourselves. We all think of you often and miss you…but just a little! It has been non stop action here and let me tell you all about it!

First and foremost, WHAT FANTASTIC KIDS YOU HAVE GIVEN US FOR A WEEK!!!! I swear you have done a fabulous job of raising great kids….not one single tear of homesickness, not one fuss, not one whine, not one complaint…it is a total treat to be with them, to the last one of them. Thank you for making the world a better place because of these children…They will grow up to do great things I know for certain. What an A+ you should get on your parenting report card. We are really going to be sad to say goodbye to the kids that are leaving tomorrow.

Secondly, despite the rainy weather and the mud, we have surprisingly been able to ride every single day and do lots of great outdoorsy, farm things both in the afternoon and the evening. The weather, while not great, has not been a damper on the spirits or the activities. We are grateful for the indoor and a dry bed. I truly don’t know how the tent and canoe camps do it with this kind of weather.

The riding has gone very well. We are excited to have you see the demonstration tomorrow. The kids have all worked really hard learning new skills. I have been so thrilled with the quality of the teaching that has gone on this week. Prior to Staff Orientation week, we hosted a national Certified Horsemanship Certification Clinic here. Five of our riding/teaching staff attended the whole week and became certified. The increase in their lesson planning, task analysis, skill building and teaching is really significant. I am very proud of the teaching that your children have gotten. I hope that you share my feeling when you come tomorrow. I also hope that you enjoy the quality of camp/lesson horses and ponies that we have. We are really proud of our string of mounts for a camp program. We like to think its “top drawer”!

Speaking of the Riding Exhibition and Demo Lesson tomorrow, we would love it if you could try to arrive by 9:30 to 9:45AM. We will have our Community Meeting and review with the kids what they will each be doing. Kris and I will then make some general remarks to you all while the kids are tacking up. We try not to have parents and visiting siblings in the barn while the kids are tacking up as it makes it too crowded. We can show you the week’s schedule and tell you a little about the week. We are also happy to answer any questions you might have. Following this, we invite you to go to see your daughter(s) ride. The Counselors-In-Training will conduct the actual lesson while you gather around the Senior Instructor. She will tell you all about what they have worked on during the week. She can also point out things to look for to parents who might not be ‘horsey’ in their own lives. We think the more you know, the more impressed you will be by the progress your child has made during only one week.

Following the group lessons, the kids will then regroup and do carriage driving, vaulting or jumping in specialty groups. They have had such fun doing the different things of camp that we love to give you a taste of what they have learned other than on the horse! We expect the whole Exhibition to end about noonish. We ask that you bring a picnic lunch to share with your child(ren). We will all have a picnic together on the front lawn, hopefully with sun shining on us! We will provide food for any and all kids staying over for next session so do not worry if you are not coming as we will take good care of your kiddo. (We even plan to have a Pizza Night tomorrow with everyone getting her favorite kind of pizza.) I think it is a safe bet to plan to leave by 1ish….Although, we sure won’t be glad to see you and your daughter leave. It has been such fun!!!

Speaking of fun, the Treasure Hunt/Hunter Pace was very well received by all. I actually was in NYC for a night to help my daughter move from the Upper East Side to Gramercy Park. The troops here set up a fun Treasure Hunt with clues to go to the next station. The kids were divided into 6 teams. They got all the clues with a little ‘help from their friends’…resulting in everyone getting a treasure trove of ice cream from the lovely dairy farm right down the road. After a fun trail ride, they all came back for lunch and to get geared up for the camping trip.

I had a crew of kids that were dying to go on this trip. Due to the threat of thunderstorms and lightening, Kris and I both thought it best to camp nearby instead of up on the mountain. We also checked out our usual site and the gentle little mountain stream over which we cross with all of our stuff, was a raging river. We would have washed whole children down the mountain side if we had gone there!

So, we ended up happily camping on the front lawn of the Homestead. We put up the tents in jig time and moved all our sleeping gear in. The food was ready for us and that too got set up ready for the campfire. We left the farm for our adventure and started by getting afternoon treats at the local little store. We then went to the Wilton Falls, a great big waterfall with fun swimming hole. This is a favorite of all of us ‘locals’ and a spectacular sight when it has rained a lot. Munching our snacks, we then ventured out onto the spray of the rocks in front of the water fall and helped each other cross the rushing water. The kids then jumped off a little rock outcropping and had a fun quick swim across the little pool. It was mighty cold so they didn’t stay in long! Following this little hike and swim, we came back to our camp site and started playing with all the farm animals. The kids brushed, hugged, grazed, and generally loved on the baby donkey, the lambs, the goats and the minis. We didn’t even get to the rabbits they had such fun!

After a long and leisurely time doing this, we started our camp fire and roasting our hotdogs and dinner. Much munching later, everyone was filled to the gills and ready to do the obstacle courses with the animals. They jumped, ran, went over a bridge and generally had a blast with the miniature horses. As darkness descended, we put all the animals away except for the one favorite goat. It was then S’More time…Curiously, the goat that was with us loves graham crackers. I don’t know who ate more of them, the goat or the kids!

Once everyone had eaten her fill, we all sat around the fire and the kids told massive stories, minus any ones filled with Ghosts…I don’t allow ghost stories in the dark!!! You surely have characters for children! They were great stories and well told, complete with accents. Several songs rounded up the night which was finished up with a lovely Good Night Circle with all of us holding hands around the fire and remembering all that we were thankful for in our lives.

Amid shooting stars, the fire flies and quiet whispering, the kids quickly fell asleep. I sat and watched the fire burning and reflected on how lucky I was…I too fell immediately asleep upon hitting my sleeping bag, flanked by staff and dogs!

As it turned out, it was good we were not up on the mountainside. The lightening and thunder struck about 2AM…Luckily, I got all the kids right into the Homestead, my old house, and we all went right back to sleep on the floor and the couches…so, I felt lucky not to be 2 miles away from camp with a bunch of ponies tied to a tree in the dark!

Meanwhile, ‘back at the ranch’ the kids had lessons and horse activities all afternoon and then did barn chores in good order. They had a nice dinner and then played all sorts of games for Cascino Night. This was preceeded by the Chocolate Game which is a fun game with dice, hat and mittens…Each person gets to eat as much chocolate as she can with a fork and knife….until someone else gets doubles on the dice. It is a real camp fav, for obvious reasons.

Today, the kids have done their morning lessons to prepare for their Exhibition for you tomorrow. They have also written their Candlelight message to read around the Bonfire tonight. We will do this with torches burning and as a great way to begin to end our time together. I always look forward to Candlelight as it is sooo sweet how much they come to love each other, their ponies and being here. It makes all the work, planning, care, energy…even sleeping on the hard ground well worth it!

This afternoon, we will be practicing the Specialties for the Exhibition. This will include carriage driving, vaulting, and jumping, lots of jumping….Showers will follow barn chores and our delicious last dinner together will start with all of us dressed up.

We will then greet you with open arms tomorrow, despite wishing our week was just beginning instead of just ending. We will be sad to see our first troopers leave… We really have enjoyed them…However, I would like to mention that we have had a zero minute cancellation from an incoming camper who has gotten “cold feet”. We would like to replace her if one of your kiddos would like to stay on. Let us know by emailing Kris at krisatpf@hotmail.com. Hopes this works out for somebody!

I can’t wait to see you tomorrow. Hurry up and get here with your picnic. We have lots of fun things to show you. I hope you will be impressed. Until then, stay well.

Most warmly,
Boo