Thursday July 8th, 2010

Thursday July 8th, 2010

Dearest Camp Families and Friends,

A hearty good morning to you all….I am delighted to tell you that the heat is starting to break….none of the kids or horses have been broken….spirits are high and lots of fun has happened. We are happily expecting a rain tonight to cool things off…and my asthma is already a ton better….so we are all in great shape.

What a great group of kids…Despite truly record heat and 100% humidity, they have not complained once. They have not fussed, whined or been hard to please. They are just truly a great group of girls. I hate the thought that they are leaving us on Saturday…at least some of them. I could happily keep the whole crew here for the rest of the summer. They are a delight.

The session however does end on this Saturday. Plan to arrive at the lodge between 9:30 and 10AM. They will be dressed and pressed to ride, with their luggage on their beds ready for you to load up. For those staying for next session, they will not need to be packed so you won’t have to come if you don’t want. They most often will switch rooms but we can help them accomplish that. The Parents ’Exhibition will begin at 10AM with each lesson group demonstrating what they have learned while they were here. The Counselors’-In-Training will conduct the lesson while the Riding Instructors will speak with you about your child’s riding. We will then split into Specialities which will include driving, vaulting, the high jump, courses, games and dressage. The kids are signing up for their specialties today and beginning their practice. The whole thing concludes about noon. The kids will hay and water their ponies….at that time, we ask that you really help them to collect things from the barn. It is so easy to leave a hat, boots, saddle or grooming kit….and then we are faced with mailing a really bulky package. Your help will be greatly appreciated at this time….

We will then all eat lunch together and share stories of camp….We will provide desserts and refreshments, but we ask that you bring the lunch part for your family. In the past, we tried to do the whole thing. We either had tooo much food and wasted it…or not enough and felt embarrassed….This seems like the right middle ground.

The picnic time gives us a great opportunity to share camp moments with you. We will also settle up for your daughters’ laundry and showing expenses. You can also see her camp photo with her horse. They will be available for purchase if you wish. Donnie, our camp nurse, is a truly gifted photographer. I bet you will love these camp keepsakes.

For your travel plans, we usually wrap up things by 1 or 1:30…..We begin cleaning for the next crew so that we are all ready for their arrival. The kids that are staying over will swim and have a movie night….and extra TLC! We are also going to hook up the new Welsh Cob driving ponies…so they will not be bored…

Let me go back to yesterday so that you can know what we did to survive the heat wave. My thermometer on my Cottage, mind you it was in full sun, read 120 degrees….It has never been this hot in all the years of camp….all 39 of them! But, onward we went…We did bareback rides in the indoor and the shade so that they did get to ride, as we know that is what they love best. We had water in the rings and drenched them in sunscreen….

We also moved room clean up to rest hour so that we could get riding as quickly as possible for it to be as cool as possible. All the morning rides ended well, with the favorites being the trail rides, of course. We are so lucky to have such good tree/shade cover to be able to ride in the woods and dirt roads all around Pony Farm.

The much awaited camping trip with the ponies was scheduled for last night….We went up to check the usual spot on the mountain brook, only to find that the stream which is usually rushing cold, was a mere trickle…..we would not have had water to swim or water for the horses who were to spend the night. We were also foiled by the fact that we could not get a burn permit for the camp fire for singing or cooking….thus, not to be daunted, Kris and crew decided to have the camping trip on the front lawn, right by the pool to swim….and the small animals…and to use my fire pit for cooking….all made much sense to me and to the girls. We hate to cancel the camping trip as it is such a high light for so many.

Nineteen of the kids signed up to camp…The rest of us split into more swimming groups with games in the pool, a training session of Natural Horsemanship, and driving. I do love carriage driving and a whole gang worked with me to create a poster to explain the steps of harnessing and unharnessing. We got the ponies ready for the driving part of the exhibition for you…and the numbers and the carriages…so it was a great afternoon. We drove down the shady road with the girls at the reins. I do love seeing how much they enjoy this quiet, peaceful, ‘old fashioned’ mode of transportation. It really does take us all back to those ‘olden days’….

The camping trip ended this morning as a hit….I bet the kids will actually snooze at rest hour today. This morning all the groups had lessons, modified again for the heat, for the well being of both kids and horses….and staff too ! They rode well…..and again, not a complaint was heard….Bless their hearts!

This afternoon they will be doing vaulting, training the greener horses, doing catch riding of each other’s horses, team jumping, pony dress up, a trail ride, and “Time with their Horses”.

Tonight, in the cooler part of the day, they will be doing Counselor Quest….this is a long time camp favorite as the counselors each receive a point value, depending on how long they have been here….They then go hide and the kids try in teams to amass the most points by finding the most counselors and with the highest points. To my amazement, the staff love this every bit as much as the kids!!!!

Tomorrow is the final time to school for the Exhibition and to swim with the horses. We divide the camp into half….so your child will ride in a lesson in the morning and swim with the horses in the afternoon, or visa versa….It is a great time and one of my personal favorites. They do love it!!! I promise that I work hard to keep it safe for both kids and ponies. We also never use personally owned horses, so worry not.

Tomorrow night, we will gather at my little Pavillion with torch lights, twinkling lights, my little water fountain, and all the song books for our closing ceremony, called Candlelight. By the light of the candles…and hopefully a moon shining bright, each member of camp will express what their camp experience was. The staff and kids, not to mention, me…really get into this. We sing all our favorite songs and have such a lovely time together before the session officially ends for this year. I promise you that you would love to be a fly on that wall. It is just a beautiful evening, filled with love, joy and bright & smiling faces.

So, that my friends, is my version of the happenings’ at Pony Farm. It has been a great session and I will be sad to see it end. Thank you for sharing your wonderful daughters with us. Do look at our website to see the You Tube pictures that will be posted after the Exhibition. We think this is a fun new feature of our camp!!!

Stay cool and know that we are smiling just thinking of YOU.

Fondly and with a big smile, Boo