Friday Morning July 17th, 2009

Good Morning to you ALL,

I hope your week has gone well…Our’s surely has. It is finally and truly summer here at Pony Farm. The sun has been glorious, a slight breeze has kept us cool, and no rain at all. What a treat after the month we just had. Your kids must be bringing us good luck! They are also bringing us a lot of smiles, hugs and fun. What a great group!

The kids have truly worked hard this week, along side our fabulous staff, to get ready for the show. They have been terrific. I hope and think you will be pleased with their riding. As today dawns, all the manes have been pulled, the bridle paths and chins have been clipped and the tack scrubbed. They have worked on lines of jumps, hacking in a group, their equitation (or form) and their transitions…..They put whole courses together yesterday. Today is the final school over the actual courses which they will be competing in tomorrow. That is a pleasant advantage of being a home show. However, it is no mean feat to get all the kids on the right horses and then get them ready to compete in 5 short days. They sleep well at night, as do the horses.

This week has been devoted to show prep, thus has not had some of the extra camp activities like trail rides, the Hunter Pace, the camping trip, vaulting, small animals, etc. We really concentrated on their lessons. We also worked hard to get each girl in the right riding group. We don’t want to have anyone bored or scared…that is no fun and is an easy way to have a fall off. We did get to swim twice this week! The pool with its new pump looks better than every and the kids do enjoy it on a hot summer day. This is the first session we have been able to swim, if you can believe that!

Many of your kids also volunteered one morning or afternoon to paint. We love to get all the rings and jumps touched up and looking sharp. The kids had the opportunity on Tuesday to do a variety of horse related things either morning or afternoon while some of the staff was scheduled to paint with me and the farm team. To my surprise and delight, they begged, truly begged, to be able to paint. They did a great job. I hope you will notice how spiffy things look and tell they what a great job they did.

Today, the sun is bright and shining again. It was a glorious morning with the mist rising up out of the fields. The birds were singing their hearts out and it was a great start to a good day. We will do the final school over the courses today to make sure that the kids are entered in the right class. Also, we want to get the horses over some of the new jumps we made. We will then spend the afternoon bathing all the horses, finishing pictures and polishing boots. The hair nets and ribbons are at the ready and all show clothes have been picked. We have loaned as many things as we had. So the tents will go up and the announcing system will be ready for tomorrow….Everyone will go to bed a little early as we will be getting up very early tomorrow morning. What fun! I do love the horse shows especially when we have all the kids riding. Yipee.

For those of you who are not able to come, please rest assured that we will take excellent care of your kiddos. Several of you have written asking if there are pictures of the day. The answer is YES…We have a show photographer coming who was a former camper and is now doing this as a profession. Her name is Jenna Leigh Teti and her website is www.jennaleighteti.com . You could look up the website and contact her is you wish to have an official show picture. She is terrific and could surely hone in on your daughter to make sure she gets her picture. For the parents who will be here, you can find her and ask her to take a picture of your child/ren. We have given her a list of the horse and ponies for sale or lease so she can take their pictures too….so she will have lots to do. It makes such a fun remembrance of the day.

For the parents who can come, we have a restaurant chart with a map for your decision making process if you want to take your kiddo out to dinner. It is hanging on the wall in the living room at the lodge. We also ask that you sign out your daughter and let us know approximately when you will be returning to camp. We like to keep track of our little chickens, you know!

We will also look at the permission slips as many parents take out the kids whose parents are not able to come due to being so far away. For those who are here, we have a yummy dinner and then a fun movie that is appropriate. My guess is that they will mostly fall asleep before it is over anyway!

The next day, Sunday, we will let everyone sleep in late. The staff does barn chores so it is really a ‘day off’ for the campers. They will do a good room clean up, gather their laundry, then we will have a full Brunch. This will be followed by swimming, playing with the small animals, doing some gardening, arts and crafts, and planning for the Talent Show on Sunday night. This should be a hum dinger show judging from the girls imagination and creativity!

Next week will feature all the other campy horsey things possible at Pony Farm…the Hunter Pace will start out the week. Then, I am taking two groups camping with the ponies as so many want to camp that it can’t be done in one night. We will also be vaulting, driving, trail riding and going on several field trips. The dear horses’ legs will get a break from so much jumping. It is a nice balance for both two and four footed critters. I can not believe that this session has gone by so quickly…We are half way through and it feels like we could keep these kids forever!

Thus, as we reach the half way point of our summer, let me again thank you for choosing Pony Farm for your daughters. We truly enjoy them….The staff and Kris & I are not even tired. We are having a blast and I think your kids are too. So, we look forward to seeing you tomorrow if you are coming…and next Saturday for the Parents’ Riding Demo and Specialties. We are proud of your girls accomplishments. We want to show you all they have learned! So, stay well until then!

Most warmly, Boo