Horse Camp

Three days after school was out, S, N and our neighbor girl A loaded up our horses and headed to: UW River Falls Youth Horse Camp

We got off to a rocky start when the hitch on our truck was set higher than the trailer hitch, and then the brake line broke. A's parents brought over their truck and we loaded up. We left about 2 hours late, so had to really rush to make it in time for registration. Construction was stop and go for awhile, but we arrived with about 15 minutes to spare. lol. ( I can laugh now)

The camp was one of the most incredible expereinces I have ever had. Having grown up dreaming of horses, but never owning one, it was a dream come true. I didn't get to ride but my girls and A certainly did. Most days they were on their horses for about 5 hours.

Each morning started with a run to the barn to feed the horses, then back to campus for our breakfast. By 8 AM we were back at the barn tacking up to ride. The morning session consisted of english riding. None of my kids had ridden english before, but with their years of riding expereince you really couldn't tell after the first day. In the english sessions they learned to post correctly, 2 point, stride lengths, jumping (yes jumping) and on and on. All three girls knew how to post already, because despite the fact that they ride western, a lot of our conditioning is done at trot. They've been taught to sit to slow down the trot. S usually posts because her horse is very bouncy and she has a difficult time sitting the trot. I chuckled when they did so much posting, because her trainer and I have been working quite hard at getting her to sit down and back.

By around 11:00 the girls would untack, rinse their horses off and stable them. We then would meet for an educational session. The educational sessions ranged from bitting, leg wraps, conformation, health assesments, hoof and teeth analysis, etc etc. I know I am leaving some out. We also got to watch the ultrasound of a pregnant mare.

At high noon we were back to campus to eat our lunch. I usually hurried the girls along because by 1:00 they were back tacked and riding western. The western riding sessions were more finese work with the horses. The emphasis at UW Riverfalls is reining, therefore a lot of the work the girls did was letting the horse relax at a trot and lope. They worked on controlling their horses four corners. They learned where and how to cue their horses to move. Starting first at walk and working up to a trot. They learned lots of exercises to work on here at home and they even did some drill team that was awesome. My girls got grouped together so of course they looked great, they've been riding together for years.

Four O'clock saw us in another educational session and by 5:00 we were released for supper. Each evening they set up an optional session for us. One night our instructor did a reining demonstration, one night was showmanship and one night was barrel racing. Two of the three nights my girls saddled up again and rode more. It was really that exciting. You would have thought they would want to go back to the dorms, but instead they would ride bareback and just relax on their horses.

The horses were real troopers. Classy and N worked hard at getting together. There were some tears at the end of the western session on the first day due to frustration. The instructors encouraged her a LOT to just trust her horse and relax. By the end of the week, she was being complimented left and right on how far the two of them had come. Kelzon also was really a doll at camp. He was exhausted most nights, but the one time S slipped out of her english saddle when she lost her iron at a lope, he just stopped and waited for her to climb back on. A' s horse Sasha is known for her misbehaving, but all the work really showed what a great horse she can be when given a job. She has a busy mind, and needs to be challenged all the time. To see the two together one has to be reminded of the HOURS A put in last year just having the horse move forward at a walk. We were all quite suprised at her good attitude (and I was secretly relieved).

The last day I had planned on loading up and skipping the afternoon session, as it was a good four hour trip for us. Instead I decided to let the girls relax and enjoy their time. They played lots of games. S and A got put together for a ribbon type race where they had to move around the arena with a piece of toilet paper stretched between them. They both ride bay half arabs, so they looked like a team, and the horses moved the same. They of course won. N got paired with a pony, so she had a difficult time with most of the team work. They really had a blast though no matter who won.

Again, I can't seem to say enough about our experience, and I had to edit a lot out. It was fantastic - worth every penny.

Since the camp we have been busy preparing for fair. N and I spent four days at the state 4H confrence, and we spent four days up at my parents for the Fourth of July. Our push right now is to get our cows ready. Fair is two weeks away and we have a long ways to go. I will try to get some pictures of our morning sessions with the cows. It's pretty entertaining.

So that's where we've been and what we've been doing. Keeping very busy as the summer progresses!