First day at the barn!

We had a great first day at the barn. The instructors were very patient, fun and got the campers moving. The horses were well behaved, especially having 40 campers invade their world! (...well Daisy had to have her 10 minutes of running, bucking and throwing fits in the round pen before she could behave in the cross ties.) Our wonderful JC's, Molly, Lia and Taehli helped Ellie all morning in our small arena with our beginner camper riders.

Campers in the small arena learned how to lead their horse, mount, hold the reins properly, basic position and weave in and out of cones. Everyone in the large arena received a refresher on all of the above, emergency procedures and then did some trot work. Some even went right into finessing their two point. Out in the jump arena with Amy, Laura and Carly worked on walk, trot, canter, straightening exercises with their horses and waiting patiently for the loose horse, Patience, to be returned to her pen (she got out during pen cleaning...it is never boring at the equestrian center!). Emma and Marissa worked on trotting, bending, and working a figure 8 over poles.

We have to give a shout out to Evie and Alexandria who climbed on a horse for their first time ever! One more shout out to Agnes, who bravely mounted Felix for her lesson even though she was a little afraid. Nobody fell off, everyone had smiles on their faces and the riding staff breathed a sigh of relief.

We had our "specialty group open house" this afternoon where we highlighted the Mighty Minis, Vaulting, CHA Ribbon work, Saddle Club and Barn Rats. The campers will sign up tonight for which ones they want to be in. We watched JJ play with the huge, green ball which is bigger than him and took Jada and Willow for a walk.

A few campers missed their riding evaluations on opening day, so they did this today at 4:00 and they will start their lessons tomorrow.

Phew!