Camp Day 5

[Sorry about the huge space after the pictures - I couldn't get rid of it!] Today was the last day of camp. I'm both happy about it and sad about it. On the bright side I won't have to wake up early, pack my lunch, or be in the sun all day, but I also won't get to ride as much, swim in a pool, or be around everyone at the barn anymore. I'm definitely planning on coming back for next year's camp though.

Annie was barely grumpy at all today. She wasn't kicking or biting or screeching or anything! I was so happy about that. Annie is much more pleasant to work with when she isn't cranky. We again started out riding today with a game. Each of us got an ice cube that we had to hold. Then the barn owner would tell us to do something, like a walk or trot or canter, and we had to do all that with the ice cube in our hand. Some people were eliminated when their ice cube melted completely, but most of us (including me) had an ice cube until the very end, at which point we ate them.

Then all the riders got in a line and we took turns doing different jumps (they were all low ones so that everyone could jump them). If you look in the picture of me riding at the top you can see part of a jump in the corner. That was the height of our jumps, if you can imagine another rail crossing the other way. Like I said, they were low enough so everyone could jump them - even me! This time when I tried to jump Annie didn't shy away from them. But she kept kind of stopping in front of them and then trotting over them. I did some good jumps over poles, but most of them were just okay. I'm still a little confused about what a half seat is, which is what we sometimes used to go over jumps, so I'll have to ask about it in my next lesson. Luckily we mostly had to jump them while posting, which was a little more clear to me. I'm just glad I made some progress by getting Annie to actually go over the jumps. I will work more on me and my body position later, hopefully at future lessons.

After jumping we got to switch around to any horses we wanted to ride to experiment with them a little, and after that we went on a little trail ride, which I think Annie enjoyed because she managed to sneak in a few leafy snacks along the way. The trail ride was a nice little cool down, both for me and I think for Annie.

When we were done feeding the horse's and eating our lunch, we headed up to the garage to get started on the posters for our contest. But before I explain that, I'd like to explain my group's costume. As you can see, I posted some pictures of our horse, Lionel, who we painted. Notice the scuba mask on his head, the oxygen tanks on his back, and the floaties around his front legs. We also put a lei around his neck. I painted all the seaweed that is running up Lionel's legs, while the other people in my group worked on the fish and the blue-green water (the fish are kind of funny, I know). I think it turned out really good! My group and I were all dressed up in bathing suits, towels, flip flops, and goggles to match Lionel. When we were all ready the barn owner took us outside and took pictures of us as a group and with Lionel. Later she printed some of the pictures out and gave them to us, which is how I got these.

So about the posters: Today each group got to make one of those tri-fold posters to promote our costumes. One of the people in my group had to leave early to take her horse back to her barn, so it was just me and one other girl. The day before she had made these cool paper bubble letters, alternating blue and green, and she made squiggly lines for sand and seaweed. She also cut out cute orange fish that looked like Goldfish. We glued those on and a ton of pictures showing different aspects of our costume, Lionel, and us. I think it looked really nice when it was done. Maybe I can take a picture of it sometime - it's standing in the barn right now. Everyone else kept saying that we would definitely win. But we won't find out until the October Fun Show. I'll probably forget about it by then!

So overall I though this was probably the best day at camp, even though painting Lionel was really fun. I'll definitely miss seeing all the campers and talking to other horsey people. I already can't wait to come back next year! Oh, and I'll let you know in October which group won. :)