Hi Ho Horse Camp...Awaaaay!

I decided I had better try to catch up a bit, my blog is waaay behind our adventures. :) I promised to post some pictures from horse camp!

Me and my girls (and boys!)

We had such a great time. Chena went to horse camp first, to the Advanced Camp, and took our Arab, Duvall. I stayed there, with a friend in an RV. It was neat to see Chena work with Duvall, and to see their teamwork advance throughout the week. They did lots of English equitation, work "on the flat" and some jumping. They even did a cross country jumping course! They also did vaulting sessions, and helped train some beginner vaulters on the vaulting barrel. At the end of the camp, they had a horse show. That Saturday, we took our other horse, Mid Summer Night's Dream, "Summer" to the camp, so that Penelope could show him, and also have him ready for her Junior Camp to start the next day. We took our mini, Mukluk, along too. He was going to do a little trick show for the campers, so he got to come to camp this year too. :)

Its about an hour and a half from our house, to the camp, so we decided to keep our other horse down there too. That also gave me an opportunity to ride him in the evenings, after the campers were done. That's my idea of fun!

The horse show went great, and Chena and Penelope had a good time. Penelope showed Mukluk in Halter Geldings, and got a blue ribbon. She did really well in all her Western classes with Summer too. Chena showed Duvall in both English and Western and placed well also. They mostly enjoyed more hanging out with all of their horse friends, both old ones and new ones!

Penelope and Poppa

After the show, Penelope and I got our horses settled in, and then went to a friend's cabin to spend the night, so we didn't have to run all the way back home, or leave our horses unattended. We stayed about a mile away, so we could check on the horses and be back in the morning. It was a VERY cozy cabin, and we slept great!

Sunday started Penelope's camp, and she could hardly WAIT for everyone to show up. Because we were there so early, we had time to play around, and I took a few pictures of her and Mukluk at camp. She was so excited when the other horse trailers started pulling in. Its always a very fun day, that first day, because everyone gets to meet everyone's horses, and everyone pitches in to help the campers get their horses in their stalls, find their assigned quarters, etc. Nothing better than lots of kids and lots of horses, to me!

Penelope had a wonderful week at camp as well. I especially loved it too, because my mom comes every year to stay with me, and brings her RV. We watch Penelope ride, help at the camp, visit, play cards, go for walks on the beach, and just have GIRLY fun! We park the RV so that we can see the arena from the windows, and we can sit and have our coffee in the morning while Penelope starts her classes. Penelope did all kinds of activities at camp, like trail rides, crafts, gymkhanna events, ground handling classes, ribbon races, horse "soccer", and much more.

Penelope did lots and lots of riding, and she and Summer worked well together. She is ready to move into the Advanced Camp next year. In addition, she had the care and upkeep of her horse and his stall. They really make the campers work hard, and always put their horse first. They have to feed their horses before they can eat themselves. They have to bed down their horses before they can put themselves to bed. Its a wonderful camp for teaching them responsible horse ownership!

Mukluk did a trick show for the campers, and that was a LOT of fun too. It was neat having him there this year, because I could go to his stall anytime and get to see him. The campers loved having him there too.

Penelope's horse show was great too! I was impressed with how calmly she did each of her classes, and memorized her patterns for each class. Summer even got spooked at one point, and bucked a bit..and she stayed on admirably. :)

I already posted about how horse camp ENDED for me this year, with a severe concussion, and a few weeks of recovery, so I won't go into that again. Suffice to say that I'm glad it happened, if it had to happen, after both girls' camps were over for the summer. We sure had FUN! Can't wait for next year!