Spring Break Horse Camp

March 22-26 was Spring Break here for the public school children. For the past two years, Miss Ky has participated in the Spring Break Horse Camp at Sac River Stables, and wanted to do so again this year. Reed joined her for the first time this year, and loved it!
Fortunately, they are all about safety, and take great measures to ensure the children have been properly trained before turning them loose on the horses. That meant that with Reed being the newby on the block, he never rode without a counselor directly with him. And they were always required to wear riding helmets.
A couple of days it rained, one day most of the day, so the campers rode in the inside arena. This didn't excuse them from their daily chores, however, of feeding the animals and scooping poop. I thought perhaps Ky would have grown tired of that but, if so, it failed to "disenthuse" her from participating. (I coined a new word and kindof like it, don't you? I'll bet you know what I mean, anyway!)

Because Ky is older and has had some experience "under her belt," she was allowed to ride solo this year in the indoor arena. She still had a counselor with her on the trail ride. (Not surprising what with the litigious society we live in, yes?)



As evidenced by the following photos, Ky has grown considerably over the three years that she has participated in spring break horse camp.


My d-in-law Sara told me that after I dropped Reed off on Friday (the final day of the camp), he said, "Mommy, I'm kindof sad." She asked why and he answered, "Because I think I'm really going to miss horse camp tomorrow." The camp is thirty minutes one way from our home, so I spent two hours every day just driving them to and from camp. It would not have been worth it had they not enjoyed it so much.

Having grown up on a cattle ranch/farm in WY, and having learned to ride a horse almost before I learned to walk, I truly love horses, so our grandchildren come by it honestly, even if their horse-riding experiences are, from necessity, slightly more conjured or artificial. I thought this would be a good place to include some of my favorite people/equine photos. Pictured in this first photo are my sister Lynda and me (with the straw hat). We look pretty happy to be on our horse, don't we? See what I meant when I stated earlier that I learned to ride almost before I learned to walk?
In this next photo are my Mother and my sisters Donna (L) and Sharon (R). They both still love to ride and, in fact, Donna has spent many hours (and, I'm afraid, a few bones) breaking horses. I think we've all convinced her to stick to her horse-whispering and riding for the rest of her life. We like having her around too much for the risky stuff!
These next three photos feature three of my favorite cowboys: my brothers, Mike, Joel, and Bobby. They elicit many fond memories!


Finally, the cowboy featured in these last two paintings (yes! paintings, not photographs!) is my cousin Steve. The artist is Steve's wife, western artist Ann Hanson. I love Ann's artwork as it also stirs many fond memories of life on the ranch.
It has been fun to see my love for all things equine being shared by our grandchildren. Gingersnap also loves to ride but I guess has outgrown Spring Break Horse Camp and is on to preparing to take her driver's test. Go Britt!