It looked like we might get some sprinkles this morning, but by the time the bus arrived we could tell it was going to be a great day to be outside at camp! Todays activities included a scavenger hunt in nature, making sock horses in arts and crafts, and playing capture the flag in sports.

In horse fun, campers learned about horses' teeth in an interesting and tasty way-- using marshmallows and chocolate syrup. They learned that horses have grooves in their teeth that turn brown as a horse ages, and that the surface of the tooth becomes smoother as it is ground down through chewing. After all this learning they got to eat their "teeth". Mmm, who knew teeth were so tasty?

Jenna the riding instructor finishes teaching the Shetlands group about teeth.

Making marshmallow horse teeth models.

Tuesday

Today was a warm one! Our groups practiced more steering and stopping during riding, played 500 during sports, made watercolor silhouette pictures in arts and crafts, and went on a hike to see a pond full of frogs and tadpoles for nature. One lucky group got to help us put flower seeds in the planter behind the day camp barn.

Horse Lover's Week July 26-30

The first day of Horse Lover's week was a perfect summer day! This morning our groups got to know eachother and their group leaders, and participated in a variety of activities including arts and crafts, sports, nature, horse fun, horse science, and of course, riding. In nature, groups went looking for "gold" on a scavenger hunt in the woods, while in arts and crafts they made mosaic pictures. Many more fun activities are planned for the rest of the week, and many will be featured here on the blog, so keep watching!

Here are our groups for the week!

Falabellas

Group leader- Josh

Shetlands

Group Leader- Lindsey

Pintos

Group Leader- Nina

Arabians

Group Leader- Leah

Morgans

Group Leader- Mackenzie

Quarter Horses

Group Leader- Leah

Thursday

We had to run a rain schedule today due to severe weather. This is what camp looked like around 8:30 am-- before campers arrived:

Normally we don't have a river running down the hill, nor a lake in the arena.

The rain eventually cleared up, and after lunch we were able to ride and resume our normal activities for the day. Tie-dye had to be postponed til Friday, but other than that we still accomplished everything we planned to do today. One of the highlight activities was learning to rope. Campers used lariats to lasso the fence up by the barn. Some of them thought it would be a better idea to rope the counselors, but that proved to be much trickier.

Jenna, one of the Day Camp riding staff, demonstrates how to throw a lasso.

Rachel has great aim!

Wednesday

Riding was a blast on Wednesday! By now most of the groups have had learned enough riding skills to try trotting. All the horses line up so that we have more space for everyone to do their individual trot-work. Trotting is fun, but it can be very bouncy!

Holly, one of the Day Camp riding staff, instructs the Shetlands group on how to trot.

Individual trotting-- Quincy has a nice trot.

Slammer the miniature horse was a special guest in sports again today. Here he is in action, demonstrating the clover leaf pattern with our sports activity leader, Bridget:

Tuesday

Horse science on Tuesday included a hands-on lesson about the horse skeletal system. Campers got to handle the bones of an actual horse and learn about where each bone was located and what its function was. Campers used this knowledge to create noodle horse skeleton pictures in horse fun (for some, the temptation to eat the noodles was hard to resist!). Here's how the finished products turned out:

Western Horsemanship Week

Yesterday was the beginning of a new theme week at Day Camp-- Western Horsemanship Week. This special week focuses on exploring the many different events that require western riding skills. Even most of our sports activities this week are centered around western events. On Monday, Slammer the miniature horse demonstrated the speed event of polebending, where horse and rider compete to get the fastest time weaving between tall flexible poles. Slammer is too small to be ridden of course, but he did an excellent job showing the kids how to weave through the pattern. After this demonstration, kids in each group broke into teams and did relay races through the poles. To make it a little more interesting, on the way back they had to balance cups of water on their heads. It was super fun! Kids also competed against their group members for the fastest time, with the winners in each group getting small prizes.

The Pinto group prepares to hand-off the styrofoam cup during a polebending relay race.

Adopt A Horse Presentations

This week was Adopt A Horse week at Day Camp, and on Friday the campers had the opportunity to show their parents just how much they loved the horses their groups adopted during an afternoon presentation. Throughout the week they had learned how to care for these horses; how to groom them, feed them, and of course, ride them. They also made up cheers and created banners to celebrate their adopted horses. It was a warm and windy day, but we had a lot of parents turn out for the presentations, and all the groups did very well! It was hard to believe they came up with some of those songs in just two days!

The Falabella group performing their song for Minnie Mouse.

The Shetlands practice their song for Chloe.

The Pintos performing for parents.

The Arabians lining up to do their dance for Ladd.

The Morgans group braided BJ's Tail and decorated him with flowers.

The Quarter Horses memorized an impressively long song for their adopted horse, Zoe.