Pony Farm Blog

Tuesday afternoon August 11th

Dearest Moms, Dads, Grandparents…and any other Pony Farm Fans!!!!

I am writing you with great glee but also with sweat running down my cheeks. We wished for good hot weather with sunny days, and, boy did we get them. It is so hot but great swimming weather. Everyone loved jumping in this afternoon…but, I am ahead of myself…Let me start from the beginning and catch you up!

First of all, what a sweet, dear and cooperative group of darling girls you have bequeathed us. They are soooo eager to please and ‘do it right’. Kris and I sit at a Community Meeting and all eyes are focused on us so that they can hear each and every direction we give and do what we want. It is just so sweet to have them be so sincere and forthright. You have done a masterful job, all of you good parents, in making them so dear. I love this group!!!

On that first night after you all left on Sunday, we did lots of staff introductions. As the parents’ letter said, the kids all went down to give their ponies and horses their evening feed. Everyone marched right down to their barns, armed with their shiny new buckets and ‘closed toed shoes’! We work so hard to have everyone be safe and not get stepped on….We have a fabulous record so far this summer but those big, tall rain boots have proved to be a good addition to the ‘what to bring list’ for campers. All barn teams, as they are called, worked together to get everyone their evening grain.

The campers who had already been here for a session stayed down with the staff to do the turn out and stall rotation for the evening. Aisles were raked and all horses bedded down for the night. While this was happening at the barn, Kris and I did an orientation for the arriving campers. This includes everything from where to put your wet bathing suit, to how we do meals and the caper chores by room, to Vespers at night, to mail and medications. Kris and I have done this for so many years that it is pretty well sprinkled now with funny stories and silly things which have happened that caused us to make the different procedures that we have adopted all these 38 years of camp. By now, it is a pretty well honed machine….The only PF rule is really “Take care of each other, your pony, the land and the farm.” All else is really just under that umbrella of respect and care. We try hard to run PF just like a big happy family with everyone doing a little of the work, putting their shoes in the right place, and making their bed! I was once told that I was the luckiest person in the world as “I got to live as the world should be while most other people had to live in the world as it is.” I think that just about sums up why I always feel such gratitude for my life and these kids, staff and the farm itself…

We then all chowed down on a yummy chicken dinner with some delectable dessert that I just couldn’t resist. It sure is hard to every try to lose weight here at this camp! We then all gathered again to play the “M&M” Game. I had given them a slip of paper with a question that correlated to a question like what is your favorite animal, who would you most like to have dinner with, what was your favorite present ever…things like that. Each girl got to eat the M&Ms of the color of the question she answered.

I love this game as we do it by rooms. It is a simple and easy way for kids to start getting to know each other. We then all rejoined after about a half an hour and each girl introduced one of her ‘roomies’ to the whole group. We also assigned numbers to each girl so we would always know if we had the whole group…and who was missing. Again, we like to put things in place to keep everyone safe and well accounted for right from the start. We then moved to Vespers and Goodnight Circle….

I love this more peaceful time at camp. The Counselors-In-Training all spoke about what kept them coming back year after year at camp. Several of them had been here for 6, 7 or 8 years….I am always moved by their words and reasoning, not the least of which is their life long friends that they have made. One such combination spoke of only missing talking on the phone three times total for the entire last year…meaning that they spoke all 362 days of the year between the end and the beginning of camp. That is pretty remarkable…they live many states away from each other and that to me is such a great tribute to the friendships that are formed here. Such fun!

We then all joined hands, which we do every night, and spoke of the things that happened during the day for which the girls were thankful. This is not religious in nature but rather just a good habit of gratitude to have….You would be pleased to know that several of the girls were thankful that they had great parents who cared enough to send them to a camp where they could ride and be with horses and other horsey people. I always like to pass this on as its nice to know when us parents are appreciated!

The girls each went to bed after singing a couple of songs. I am happy to say that the girls got tucked in nicely and we did not have one incident of homesickness or tears. I love that. I stayed until “all was quiet on the PF front” and then tumbled down the hill to fall into bed too. I sure do sleep well at night!

The next day dawned bright and clear…but with hot weather predicted. The staff was ready with water for lessons….and all sorts of water bottles came with the girls themselves. This was the first morning of lessons…The girls each got tacked up, some needing a lot of help as they were really new at this part of it all. We added several other staff members to help this process and get everyone ready to try out their proposed horse match. True to form, we did quite a bit of switching. The girls were good about giving the riding staff feedback as to how they felt about their matches. By the end of the morning, with the sun hot on everyone’s head, most of the girls had the right match for this week at least. About 8 girls needed to ride again in the afternoon, but that is a pretty good average for 48 girls.

The staff spent all of their lunch hour and Rest Hour going over the groups and matches, proposing alternate horses. We are lucky to have so many horses because we know how critical the right horse match is to the successful experience for each girl. Armed with the list of re-rides, the staff set off for the afternoon for these girls. The rest of the kids and staff did their swimming tests with our Life Guard…and played non stop with the farm animals. Those goats, sheep, miniature horses and donkey, not to mention the rabbits and chickens sure get a ton of attention here. The obstacle course and jumps provide hours of ‘good clean fun’ for two and four footed folks alike. The pool has been much warmer this summer (and cleaner) because we lost all the beautiful old trees that blocked the sun and let the leaves fall! The pool has sparkled and been such a pleasant relief for all of us.

Following the swim tests, small animals and rerides, the kids had snack time and then began to learn the evening barn chore routine. This is the more complicated time of barn chores as it is when the stalls and rings get cleaned. Water and hay is set up for morning and tack rooms get re-organized for the next day. The kids all work hard in teams with their staff members to get this done as quickly and well as possible, with the ‘carrot on the stick’ of a cool shower and clean clothes!

Dinner then got served, a little frantically, I might add. It was to be hamburgers and veggie burgers…but to our dismay, our Dinner Cook, a good friend of the farm, got in a car accident on her way to cook…She was not hurt, but her car totaled….So, true to form, everyone pitched in to cook…and dinner came off on time…However, with the lag, the dessert did not get made…So, we had our Ice Cream Trough…with is a clean gutter (only used for that purpose, I swear!!!)…We create a 12 foot long ice cream sundae for the girls to enjoy with gusto…and enjoy they do. This always ends in a fun water fight to get clean…Spirits were high and homesickness was no where to be found!

We then went in to do Bag Skits, which is where each room gathers 5 objects from their room and puts them all in a paper bag. These bags are then passed around and another room needs to build a skit around the items in the bag. The kids take great care to put fun and random things in the bags…and the skits are really fun and creative. I love watching them as it is such a good ‘look see’ into the rooms and the make up of the kids in each room. You do have characters!@#$$%% All the kids really got into their skits and it was great fun. We moved from this silliness to the Vespers from Homestead and Goodnight Circle with everyone. We sang some more songs and again, off everyone went to dream of their ponies….No one peep was heard when we called All Quiet at 9:30!

Today, was beautiful again…and a little less hot…Each camper was carefully placed in a riding group by the whole staff at our breakfast meeting. The lesson group assignments are done in great detail. This morning was dedicated to getting the right girl on the right horse in the right lesson. Again, this is no mean feat.

I am happy to report, and I know this is true, as I just asked the girls during their snack time….EVERYONE loves her horse or pony. They feel that they are correctly matched, as does the staff. We will continue to sort out the groups for the final look see tomorrow AM…but, I can safely report that we have happy campers thus far.

This afternoon, we did a combination of trimming for the horse show…portraits of the girls with their horses…swimming, the final swim tests, more running and jumping with the farm animals and generally enjoying a nice, hot, happy summer afternoon. They are all at the barn right now doing their barn chores after they had their snacks.
Everyone is most excited about Chicken Pot Pie, homemade that is…and a certain kind of brownie called Blondes….Where these names come from, I know not…but they are most eager for showers and dinner. Tonight will feature the Fashion Show….where the staff give them a Decade…and they have to create characters and dress and music to go with that decade. It is a riot and the kids love doing this kind of singing, dancing, and acting.

Tomorrow, the teachers will again assess riding groups and begin placing kids in the right show classes. We will also have some of the fun camp activities like carriage driving, vaulting, bareback, Catch riding and some trail rides tomorrow afternoon. We are going to go camping tomorrow night and hope to catch the Meteor shower at midnight. I won’t wake them up if it is not brilliant as I am mindful of how young they are and the coming show, plus the heat….

So, that is my update to you for now. I hope you enjoy all my meanderings of what we do each day. I think probably your kiddos don’t tell you as much as they are too busy having fun. Everyone sure seems to be getting along well and the love of their ponies and horses is evident everywhere…

Thank you again for choosing PF…We are working hard to accomplish our mission of making this the best week or two of your daughters’ summers…if not their year. That is a tall order, but that is what we shoot for….Thanks for giving us the opportunity.

Happy Evening and all my best,

Boo