pony camp

ellie and jack attended pony camp this week.

PONY CAMP!

all of ellie's horse fantasies came true.

she kept a journal each day so she could share her experience with grandma linda, her horse-loving-buddy. it was so sweet, i wanted to make sure we had a copy of it forever so that's why i've put it on the blog.

Day 1:

I rode a horse named Ginger. And after that I rode on two ponies. One of the ponies was black and his name is Chocolate Chip and we call him Chip. The other is white with gray spots and her name is Sky. I got to stand while Sky was trotting and it was so tricky! We used English style saddles instead of Western. Ginger was the biggest horse and is my favorite. I wish she was my horse. I had to use a stool to get on Ginger because she is so tall. We also got to brush the horses and I even got to braid Chip's mane. We painted picture frames with horses on them at the end of the day. I can't wait for tomorrow!

(That's Ginger on the left, Sky in the middle, and Chip on the right)

Day 2:

Today I zigzagged through an obstacle course on my horse named Pintail. I was going really fast, but not too fast. Pintail's mane was light brown and his body was white with big light brown spots. I liked Pintail but I still love Ginger. For our craft, I spray painted a horseshoe pink and light blue. Something funny that happened today was when the goat, Emma, used her horns to push a bucket over while a girl was sitting on it! We fed the horses lots of straw. They also like to eat apples, oats and bread. There are a bunch of dogs, like six, at the farm. I'm glad I'm not afraid of them anymore. My favorite one is small and is white with brown spots.

(ellie and ginger)

(ellie brushing bubbles)

(jack and chip, while chip's being fitted for new shoes)

Day 3:

Today we got to go over a jump! We rode on the white pony, Sky, for the jumps. One of our teacher's daughters rode on the horse with us when we jumped because they know how to do it. I liked it. Jack really liked it and the teacher told him he could try it by himself tomorrow.

Day 4:

I love to feed the horses. I rode on a white horse with blue eyes today. Her name is Haddie. I was scared of her at first because her eyes weren't dark like the other horses, but now I love her. She likes me cause I feed her straw and pet her. When I finished feeding her, she kept following me! It was like she was saying "I want more! Give me more straw to eat!". When she saw that I didn't have more straw she finally stopped following me and blew a loud snort through her nose! We got to paint little bags with horses today and decorate them with jewels. Jack got to do the jumps by himself. He fell off the first time because Sky stopped after she jumped and he flew right off her. But he did it a few more times and told Sky to keep going after the jump so he wouldn't fall again.

(jack jumping with sky)

Day 5:

We got to do races today because it was the last day of pony camp. A girl won a gold medal. I got to trot all by myself on a pony called Daisy. I got to brush her mane too. I like to trot more than jump.  I'm so excited and amazed I got to go to pony camp and I'm sad that it's over. I'm going to miss my favorite dog and also Sky. I wish we could have ridden on Ginger more than just the first two days. I love that horses are so smart. 

she was in complete heaven. jack wasn't too excited in the beginning, but after the first day, he was hooked! at the end of the week, the instructor pulled me aside and asked if we'd be interested in private lessons for jack because "he's built for this and is ready to start competing". 

oh boy! this kid! 

i kept asking about ellie because she's the horse lover here after all, but she told me that ellie just isn't quite strong enough yet. honestly, ellie is more interested in having a horse as a best friend right now to talk to and tell secrets with and brush it and braid its mane. but still. it kind of broke my heart for her. we will just have to wait and see what the future holds i guess. all this talk of jack and horses though reminded me of his preschool graduation, when he announced to the world that he is going to be a jockey when he grows up. so funny and so unexpected. heres the link to the video from june 2012 if you'd like a good laugh!

jack's crazy prediction

as if this week couldn't get any better, all three kids faced their fear of dogs and hopefully have conquered it! 

if only we could conquer all of the horse, dog, and goat poop that has accumulated on our shoes and in our car over the week....