Pony Club Camp

Photo credit : Jennifer Hilaman

As summer speeds on, I fondly look back to summers where I had time to can pickles, and use the dog to push on with my foot and swing the hammock, while my babies curled next to me and we re-read Ferdinand.
This blog is meant to chronicle what life is like at Cowfeathers, and there is no way to do that and actually blog, as sitting in front of the computer is not on the calendar. And as everyone around here now knows; "If it's not on the calendar, it isn't happening."
But there are too many exciting things to not share the highlights with my family and friends- and a handful of strangers from Russia. So, missed highlight of June.....
Pony Club Camp.
12 hours after moving out of The Fair, Middlest and I loaded up Patches, the horse, and headed for Dayton for 5 days of Pony Club Camp. Now, as my oldest friends will know, I was a long term "Pony Clubber." And enjoyed the heck out of it, but we had nothing like this week of camp in my Pony Club experience. It was held at Twin Towers Park, essentially a horse park, with two dressage arenas, a show jumping arena and an excellent and diverse cross country course. They also have a large barn where the " ponies" were put up in style. Across the arenas and down the hill, over yonder,  is a kitchen and an actual bathroom. Kinda a hike in the middle of the night, but our Pony Club had sprung for a porta-potti close to the barn and trailers. For this is where we stayed. The rest of the moms and kids had campers, or horse trailers with "living quarters"- that is to say, a horse trailer/camper. I opted to stay in the  peace and quiet of my horse trailer's tack room. I tricked it out with a fridge and microwave, and a fan, a queen air mattress in the goose neck extention,  and, in the trailer area in back, a clothes drying, face washing, tooth brushing station.  I even, with the magic of Scotch adhesive Velcro, rigged screen over the door to the tack room, so no bugs! In all, not roughing it. Some were worried I'd cook, but with the fan, it was fine. Indeed, for two of the days, the weather was so cool, I was glad for my pajamas and comforter. And, after the busy week of the fair, it was lovely to have down time, reading Shogun by the light of my cellphone. Middlest was invited to share a pull out couch in a deluxe air conditioned camper with her friends, and my set up was not a contender after that. She deserted me immediately. Much of the week, I only waved to her, took her picture and periodically got close enough to grab a hug. The important part was she was learning a lot, and having fun.

Photo credit: Jennifer Hilaman

The instructor for the week was Mimi Combs, Olympic level Eventer, out of Charlottesville. She has come up to instruct our Pony Club camp many times from what I gather, and all the kids were very comfortable with Mimi. My kid only knew her as "Mimi", and in order to minimize any anxiety or unnecessary intimidation, it wasn't until we were driving back to Cowfeathers that I filled Middlest in on Mimi's credentials. This made her feel really great that her week had gone so well.

The accommodations for the ponies.

Mrs. Stalter and her husband had made these awesome kits so each kid could assemble their own groom box. Which they then painted. Clever, useful, an A++ project!

A traditional event at camp is the "Painted Ponies" contest. Each team chooses one of their horses, and decorates him or her up with a theme. Middlest's team chose to decorate Hawkeye with a Buckeye theme. (It's an Ohio State thing...)

This team decorated Mickey with a sunset on one side, and a sunrise on the other. Tropical Paradise!

These girls dressed Zac for bed; "It's Pasture Bedtime"...harhar!

And, Tupelo got lipstick and a crown to become a bedazzled "Miss Hunters Run Pony Club".

Not all just fun and games, they also had just fun! Cross country lessons were Middlest's favorite. Here Anna and Zorro jump down into the dry pond.

Middlest's green body armor vest makes her easier to spot.

Patches and Middlest showed off, jumping the ditch. This is a tricky kind of fence, because, as you can see, it doesn't look like much until you're right on top of it. Then the horse realizes it is a scary chasm into the earth. Only Patches didn't find it too intimidating. Not so for some of the others who saw no reason to go over when you can simply go around!

Young's Dairy is a local Jersey Farm, but it is also the hot spot for evening ice cream! The club journeyed out for sweets, and then to visit our little shut in- one of our team who had suffered a nasty fall (that sounds so passive...a naughty pony bucking until she flipped off is more accurate) earlier in the day and was being held at the hospital overnight.

By the time we had all snuck into the hospital to bolster spirits, it was rather late. Middlest turned out to be a comfy-ish pillow for a zonked out kiddo.

Next morning was more cross country lessons.
Photo credit: Jennifer Hilaman

And, it is a good idea to learn how to fall properly, so Middlest gave it a shot. She did rather well, considering. Did not manage to hold onto the reins, but a cooperative Patches was easily and quickly caught by Middlest and she was back on. The unseating was brought on by a bird flying out of a otherwise inanimate fence. Poor Patch got startled!
Photo credit: Jennifer Hilaman

But it was just a little bump in the road, and they had a wonderful time.

In the heat of the afternoon, a few of us snuck out between lessons for a cool down in the community pool. But not a break from riding. Here the girls play "Kelly and Greatness" their new bucking bronco game.

The bulk of the Pony Club Campers pose on one of the cross country fences. The girls on the top are spelling "HRPC" for Hunters Run Pony Club. This was not a foreign concept for them, as at an early age all Ohio children are well versed in body spelling "OHIO"...it's an Ohio State thing.

I would caption this, but I'm not sure what to say.
Photo credit: Jennifer Hilaman

Camp brings strong friendships. Middlest hugs K.VW. whose post-camp adventure was tripping to Peru on a mission.

My Middlest Fashion Plate, in the belted Ohio State football jersey. The last night of camp.

But not the last lesson! They snuck in one more the next day. Here Mimi is explaining to Middlest (out of lens view to the right) how she wants her to take her corner and apporach the fence. Next to Mimi is the hard working, and now, well tanned fearless leader of the HRPC.

What a great week! We're already looking forward to camp next year. Only, I might not mind if we had more than 12 hours to prepare in 2013...