When you have a red mare... go to camp!

 Last week Belle and I headed to GMHA for me to be an instructor at their Junior Horsemanship Clinic. For those of you who don't know what this is... it's a magical place nestled in the Green Mountains where ponies and their kids take over for a little over a week. Honestly, it's pretty amazing! There were 71 campers (and their horses) and 18 staff. Yes, you read that right... there were about 4 kiddos per adult and very few shenanigans.

​​Between 7 instructors, all campers rode twice a day in small groups. So, that means that I got to teach new riders for 6 hours a day. We do our best to match the skill levels in the group but they all come from different backgrounds so we get to focus on slightly more general topics and use exercises that teach their own lessons. At first, the riders were frustrated that their horses weren't being perfect and that they couldn't prove that they were the fanciest riders at camp. But when I (and the other instructors) didn't worry at all about their imperfections, they refocused on the lesson plans and the outcome was remarkable! Things stopped being manufactured, hands and elbows became soft, horses relaxed into a regular rhythm, riders started noticing things in other riders, they helped each other sing the alphabet around the jump course, they started feeling instead of forcing, and they all HAD FUN! 

​This camp is such an amazing experience for many reasons, but I think that my favorite is being able to watch some pretty cool transformations in such a short amount of time. One of the riders in my group had never ridden outside of the arena. She was used to riding well behaved Hunter ponies who wouldn't dream of taking a wrong step and she had borrowed a super awesome eventing pony for this camp. Now, all of us eventers know that our horses love this sport just as much as we do and part of the reason we all do it is to gallop at jumps. This rider not only got to learn to control her eventing machine, but gained the skills and confidence to take her in the field and jump. This rider, along with many others, also started to have more fun with her pony during their down time. Now, I don't know about you but my heart can't help but grow when I see a girl teaching her pony to follow her to jump puddles in the rain. A few of my riders were so serious ((nervous)) at the first lesson that I couldn't tell if they even liked to ride. By the end of the second day they were singing, laughing and cheering each other on and successfully jumping through "The Circle of Death" with one hand on their helmet and both feet out of their stirrups. 

My next favorite part of camp is the group of instructors that all end up moving our horses in to one barn and all living under one roof. So much of the time we are either brushing by each other at shows trying to empower our riders to make it safely through their rounds or riding "against" each other at shows hoping that we get through the rounds. It's really an amazing thing to have such wonderful horsewomen and instructors in one place all focused on the exact same cause and to have time to spend talking about it. There aren't many people in my day to day life who know all of the ins and outs of managing horses, managing their owners, training horses and teaching riders how to feel and handle a living animal. There also aren't many people who eat (microwaveable meals or cereal), sleep and breathe horses with as much passion as me. Not only is it amazing to be able to have "oh yea, me too" moments, it's also amazing that we all have a slightly different way of teaching but are working toward the exact same goal- a happy, healthy, forward and balanced horse. It was so fun for all of us to watch each other teach, hear different phrases and see new exercises.

​​Belle came with me to camp last year and we could barely go for a hack each morning without plenty of friends and lots of spooking. I also could barely jump her over a flower box without having it result in a fiery red explosion. It was also the week when I decided that we were going to event or bust. This week, only one year later, we were going on confident morning walks even over the bridges and through the water all by herself. She jumped all the jumps with such a calm and confident expression. It was so fun to hear the other instructors who were there last year notice how much she has changed and how great she looks. 

The real reason anyone would go to summer horse camp is to have fun. If yours isn't... we can't be friends. I don't care how old you are or how fancy (or not) your pony is, find a way to take some time and have some fun! I know my red mare appreciates it. 

Photo credits to Abby Rowlee Photography!