Wrapping Up Week One! :)

Wrapping Up Week One

We have had the most amazing first week back at camp!!! We are sad to see the campers go, but we have truly enjoyed every day we have gotten to spend hanging out with them. We hope you enjoy this extra long blog update, and we hope to see you all again soon!

In case you missed them, here are this week's "Hoofprints"... little explanations of what we did in each class this week!

Riding

One of the highlights of each day was the groups’ riding class. We used our wonderful indoor riding arena and

were able accomplish many fun things! Each day, we practiced Hoofbeat’s 5 S’s, which are starting, stopping,

steering, spacing, and “squirreling” off your horse to dismount. We practiced these S’s every class with activities

such as cutting across the middle of our ring, halting our horses, and even asking our horses to trot! Our instructors

noticed a huge improvement in every camper’s confidence and riding ability from Monday to Friday. They’re all

leaving Hoofbeat as true equestrians! All the campers should be very proud of what they learned this week 😊 

Horse Science

This week’s Horse Science was fabulous as well! We started off the week with a proper Hoofbeat horse

introduction, learning how to approach and be safe around horses! The next day, campers got a chance to learn

how to saddle and groom a horse. Wednesday, we learned about breeds and colors. We were even able to name

the colors of some of our favorite Hoofbeat horses! On Thursday, we talked about horse behavior, their social

order, and how they communicate. Campers were able to see this in action by observing the horses in our

Hoofbeat herds! Finally, on Friday, we learned about horse sports such as barrel racing, jumping, and dressage!

We learned so much about horses this week. Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm in horse science!

Horse Fun

What would horse camp be without a little “horse fun”? Our Horse Fun class has been magnificent this week!

We began by doing a little photo shoot with some of our favorite Hoofbeat horses. Check out the blog to see

how these turned out! On the second day of camp, we decorated stall tags for the horses, making our barn aisle

look so colorful and fun! Even our barn director, Isla, was lucky enough to get a stall tag of her own! Wednesday,

we learned about horse advertisements and practiced making some of our own imaginary ads for the horses.

Thursday, we put our grooming skills to the test, making our horses look so beautiful. We know they appreciated

it! To wrap up the week, we went on a super fun barn scavenger hunt! As always, Horse Fun was great this week!

Skill Surprise

We started our “Skill Surprise” class this week by meeting our new Hoofbeat goats and learning some goat trivia.

After the camp voted, we decided the new goats’ names will be Vanilla, Smokey, and Oreo! The next day, we

played a group puzzle game in the lodge, working as a team to figure out how to escape the puzzle. Wednesday,

we went on a very special scavenger hunt around camp, picking up a colorful rock in each location. Each group

spelled out a letter with their rocks, leaving behind a secret message: I 💖 camp! On Thursday, we spent some

time writing letters to our future selves… some can’t be opened until 2033! We ended the week by making

fantasy maps, creating made-up countries, towns, monuments, and oceans on one big sheet of paper!

Arts and Crafts

We had such a creative week in Arts and Crafts! On Monday, we had the chance to decorate real seashells with

paint, string, pipe cleaners, and even googly eyes. Tuesday, we unleashed our creativity by making creatures

out of toilet paper rolls! Campers made everything from ducks to horses to minions. Next, we got to make

underwater scenes in cardboard boxes, using props, making figurines, and decorating the scenery! We had a

blast making videos of our scenes and acting them out. Thursday was our extra-special “tie-dye” day! We were

amazed at all the cool patterns and colors. On Friday, we plan on making some paper plate art using crushed up

sand and shells! Thank you for such a fun, creative week in Arts and Crafts, everyone. We had a blast!

Sports

Sports was fantastic this week! We kicked off the week (quite literally) with a game of giant inflatable soccer.

The next day, we played a British game called “Rounders” brought to us by some of our international staff!

It’s sort of like a mix between baseball and kickball. Wednesday, we took a trip to “Hoofbeat Lanes”: a

makeshift bowling alley set up right here at camp! The next day, we had some fun playing “Just Dance”

in the Lodge! We ended the week strong by visiting our camp store, Trading Post. We know campers look

forward to seeing everything we have in there! After we had our shopping time, campers got to go through an

obstacle course! Thanks for a great week, everyone!