A great end to Small Animal Week 2012!

We had a great time at Peck's Farm Market on Friday afternoon! One of the main attractions was seeing Dolly and Molly (draft horses) and getting to take a wagon ride with them.

There were also lots of animals to feed, pet, and look at such as:

Deer

A Calf

 Goats (including baby goats!)

 Llamas and emus

Plus many more animals like chickens, bison, elk, exotic birds and rabbits!

Everyone also enjoyed the train ride around all the animal pens.

What a great week at camp!

Thanks to everyone who attended this week, we hope to see you again!

Day Camp's 8 tips for staying cool!

#1. Bathe a horse.

#2. Bathe the campers!

#3. Pet Taco the Mule because he's 'cool.'

#4. Braid in the shade!

#5. Let counselors throw buckets of water over you.

#6. Repeat

#7. Repeat

#8. One more time...

Told ya that would work!

As you can see, the heat as not kept the day campers from having lots of fun! We also had a great time this morning going on a trail ride and making awesome tie-dye shirts. Tomorrow everyone is looking forward to going to Peck's to see all sorts of animals.

Jack and Jill are on the hill!

Jack and Jill (miniature horses) visited camp today and were very well recieved!

Mackenzie began the small animal care classes by sharing information about the tallest and shortest horses in the world.

Then everyone got to meet Jill...

...and groom Jack!

The Pintos played 'Toxic River' in sports with their group leader Josh.

The Falabellas and group leader Katherine gave kickball a try.

Riding instructor Annie taught the Quarter Horses about feeds and nutrition in the upper barn lounge.



Sam and the Arabians relax in the shade before horse fun.

The Morgans are all smiles as they head to riding!

Excellent spacing, Morgans!

Thanks for reading our blog! We are busy thinking of ways to stay cool tomorrow and are looking forward to playing water games in the afternoon.

Bring on the Small Animals!

We've just begun another small animal week at Hoofbeat! The staff and campers are looking forward to meeting all our special guests this week. Take a look at these pictures of the guests we've had so far!

Elliot (left) and Mowgli were our special guests on Monday. They were very friendly and helped teach a lesson on dog care.

The Morgans and group leader Michaela listen attentively to Mackenzie as she talks about dogs.

Today we have FOUR special guests!

Orville and Mac (guinea pigs) like to stay in their house!

But Willard likes to be pet!

Huey the hedgehog is back again for his third year visiting Hoofbeat. He is very friendly despite his spines!

Stay tuned for pictures of our other activities and special small animal guests!

End of Horse Lover's Week!

Whew! We have made it to the end of our first week of camp, and what a great week it was! Everyone is looking forward to our pool trip this afternoon.

Here are some pictures from Thursday.

Holly (and Chief) teach the Quarter Horses about parts of the horse.

 Half of the riding lesson was spent riding bareback. It was really cool to feel the horses' muscles move as they walked.

During the other half of riding, the girls got to take a trail ride.

Doesn't 'cowskull' trail look like fun? (It was so much cooler in the woods!)

Along with learning parts of the horse, the girls also got to learn about parts of tack. The Quarter Horses and Arabians had a joint lesson with Holly.

During Nature, the campers put together their 'nature books' using the plants they found on the nature hike earlier in the week.

Water games were a great way to cool off after such hot days.

Thursday is always tie-dye day at hoofbeat!

Beautiful!

Thanks for a great first week, everyone!

Photos from Day 2! (Tuesday, June 19th)

Take a look at what we did yesterday!

The Falabellas and group leader Josh had a horse science lesson on breeds with riding instructor Amanda.

Riding instructor Annie taught the Shetlands and group leader Megan about horse colors in the barn lounge for horse fun.

The Pintos and group leader Leah cool off in the shade of the willow tree.

The Arabians had a great riding lesson after lunch.

Some of the Morgans pose for a photo.

The Quarter Horses and group leader Mackenzie pose in front of the day camp building.

During Nature, each group took part in a 'Mystery Smells' and 'Mystery Animal Tracks' games.

During Arts and Crafts, Laura helped each group make 'paper bag horses.'

Despite the heat, it was a great day at camp!