Megan's Horse Camp: July 9-13

Yes, I continue to fall behind in my postings. I take so many photos that it takes forever to sort through them, choose the best, and edit them. Sorry for the delay! I am happy that I am ready to post about my trip to Jacksonville, Florida. My seven-year-old niece, Megan, attended horse camp at Hidden Fields. This was her second year to go to horse camp, and she was excited! I got to go on the first morning to drop her off and see Hidden Fields. My younger niece, Kathleen, who is only 3 /12, was very sad that she could not go to horse camp with Megan.  I must admit that I was pretty jealous, too!  

On Wednesday morning, I got to stay for a couple of hours so that I could see all the things Megan got to do with the horses in the morning. Each day, they went to four stations. Three of them were about horses (the other was a craft).

Megan's first station was riding. She got to ride a really pretty horse named Rain. Rain was a new horse that Debbie, the lady who owns Hidden Fields, had recently bought. Even though Rain was only five years old, she was a very calm and gentle horse.

Helmet on and anxious to ride!  

Riding Rain in the arena practicing "patterns" for the show on Friday. 

 Her second station was Barn Chores.

 Learning how to clean stalls--not one of Megan's favorite  tasks!

The third station was learning about horses.

The campers learned about parts of the horse.
They studied the diagram and then pointed
out the parts on a real horse.  

 They also learned about grooming. Megan is practicing using a curry comb.

Friday was the big show! All the campers' parents and family members arrived at 1:00. Each camper got to ride in the arena individually and perform the "pattern" they had been working on all week. There were several parts to the pattern:

The campers had to put rings on several poles. This helped them
practice balance and control of the horse. 

This is Megan guiding Rain through two poles. 

Megan had to make Rain walk over a series of poles. 

After making Rain stop in the square, Megan received her ribbon. 

Megan was very proud of her ribbon. 

Megan's mom, dad, and sister, Kathleen, were proud of her, too. 

After the show, Megan took some time to say goodbye to all the horses
she spent the week with at camp. 

I am so glad that I had the chance to see Megan's horse camp. I was really proud of her and how well she did at the show. I also love that Megan likes horses so much and it is a hobby we share. I hope it is something we will be able to enjoy together for a long time!