I have been avoiding updating my column as I have some bad news. We had to have Snickers put down in December. He was progressively getting worse and worse, barely able to walk. All the medication was not helping and he was in constant pain. It is always a tough decision, especially the most popular and friendly pony. He taught so many students to ride and was loved by everyone. We will miss him. He is buried on the property where he spent his last 11 years.
More bad news, Tango the awesome jumper pony, died three weeks ago. We found him near the gate, very ill and had the vet come up twice to treat him, but unfortunately were unable to save him. Snickers and Tango surely have gone to heaven.
Now for the rest of the news. Angie bought Mike a puppy for his birthday, a yellow lab, named Kelsey, to add to the collection of Aspengrove Labs. Now we have a black, chocolate and yellow. Should make for some great pictures if I can ever get them to line up and pose. I am puppy sitting each day during the week because Angie is assisting with training horses at Robin Hahn’s (3 time Olympic rider) in Lumby and it is not fair to leave a puppy alone all day. Kelsey is having a great time with all the critters we have here especially Hershey. Its payback time for Hershey for all the annoying behavior and bugging that she used to give Rudy when she was a pup, but with her great nature puts up with it all.
Registrations are coming in daily. It's great to have so many returning campers. We are having a contest again this year. For each new referral that books a session of camp, we are having a draw for a $250 coupon to use for a week of summer camp. Make sure that each camper that you refer puts your name in the space on the registration form which states: “how did you hear of our camp.” Good luck to all of you and we will draw the winner at the beginning of the camp season.
I am advertising on the www.infohorse.com web site. They are offering space for their advertisers on their home page for articles from previous campers who attended Aspengrove. Four times a year they will put up one of the articles on the home page. So if you are interested in having your photo and story on the World Wide Web, just email me the article which should be between 700 and 800 words, and either send a picture or email it and I will send it to the publisher. They basically want a story on your summer camp experience at Aspengrove. You can go online and check out some of the other stories to get some ideas. It's a great web site with a lot of information and a great chance to give us your support.
We hauled Timothy’s (the goat) house to the front of the house, but he prefers to sleep on the deck on the bench under the bay kitchen window. He leaves his droppings for me to clean every morning. I often wonder why I put up with it, but he looks so cute out there, chewing his cud.
Lorne has been busy doing improvements on the barn. He is closing in the back of the barn and we are going to be using it for a classroom. We are also in the process of buying a hot tub for our adult camps. It will be on a flat deck so we can move it to use in the spring and fall at the camp and then to the main house for the winter.
Angie and Mike sold their house in Vernon and are relocating to a home on Park Lane in Lavington at the end of February. Angie will only be about 8 minutes from Aspengrove which is something she has been looking forward to for some time. I always need an extra hand around here even in the winter, so she doesn't have far to travel.
We purchased a new pony. His name was Shilo and since we already have a Shilo we decided to call him Buster. It is ironic but he looks like a smaller version of Snickers. Moose, who is now permanently in the field with the big horses, has really taken to him and they are playing and horsing around all the time.
Midnight is in a paddock this winter as he wasn't doing too well in the field. He gets a mash twice a day as well as special hay which he is able to digest better. We had the dentist look at his teeth and there was not much he could do for him.
We are looking into perhaps having a shuttle service from the lower mainland on Sundays. I have had a lot of customers complain about having to bring their children up for Sunday arrival and then drive back home the same day, or some even come up the day before and spend the night in Vernon. We are looking into the feasibility of this idea. We have a professional school bus driver all lined up. We could do 2 stops, one from somewhere central near downtown Vancouver and perhaps the other stop in Abbotsford so the customers from the Washington area would just have to cross the border. If warranted we could also offer the service going from Aspengrove to Vancouver. We do need your input on this proposal and whether you might use the service if we were to get it going. For all you students that read this, discuss this with your parents and email us if you are interested. We figure the cost would probably run about $100 but if you figure your gas, toll and time, you would still come out ahead.
Once again I sure appreciate all your letters and look forward to seeing you all back again this season.
If you have any good pictures of the staff or any other good ones please send them as we need some changes on the web site. Also please take time to complete our Camp Evaluation . I always like to have your input on what you liked and didn't like.
Later,
Hilda
PS
I would like to thank everyone for all the wonderful Testimonials (link on the Main Menu).