Angie and 3 other girls are keeping very busy schooling and conditioning the horses. Each girl rides about 4 – 5 horses each day so conditioning is going quickly this year. We finally finished painting all the jumps. What a job! They sure look good when they are finished.
Lorne has been keeping busy as well. It seems when he is needed around here, they also need him at his paying job. He fixed up the back of the barn, closed it in so now we will have a nicer place to do some of the theory lessons. He made boxes to put all the boots in and they also serve as seats. The small pasture has been cross fenced to make a pony pen. The grass is so rich in the spring that we will be putting the ponies and the overweight horses in there so we can monitor the feed. In the winter we can use it to feed the horses that require extra food.
I have been looking for critters to improve my petting zoo. We will be getting some pocket bunnies to add to the collection. They are apparently so small that you can put them in a pocket, hence the name pocket bunny. We are also getting a couple of lambs. They will be on loan from a farm until the end of the camp season. Still looking for a pig and with Timmy the goat that should round out the animal farm.
We bought another new pony the other day. He is a 12.2 hand pinto pony named Navaho. He also is trained to drive, so we are hoping to maybe find a wagon and some harness and perhaps do some wagon rides. That of course, depends if we can find some at a reasonable price and get someone to teach us how to drive.
We still have space in our summer camp weeks. The only totally full weeks are July 20 – 25 and July 27 – Aug. 1. All the weekend camps for the spring are totally full, although we still have some space available in the fall for the women’s weekend getaway and parent/child weekend camps.
The shuttle bus idea which was discussed in the last news letter is still in consideration. If we get enough interest it is going to be a go. Once the weeks near capacity, I will be contacting everyone to see who might be interested. The other idea is to have someone ride the Greyhound to the city and accompany those children requiring transportation on the Greyhound bus. Let me know what you think of that idea. It would certainly be a time and money saver for the parents.
Jessie has decided to continue her schooling this summer and is unavailable to teach. Angela Kendall, who has worked for me off and on during the last few years, will take on the instructor job as well as Angie. Jenn Smart will be teaching stable management this year. Hannah will be returning. I do not have all my staff selected yet, and will let you know soon. Alisha will be returning as barn manager, as she did such a great job last year.
Keep on riding and see you all again soon.
Hilda
It's great to read all the positive feedback we have been receiving. If you attended camp and have not yet filled out our Camp Evaluation please do so as we want your comments and ideas so we can make sure everyone has had the best experience and goes home with a more knowledge and many fond memories.