Pony Camp & Horse Show

Helen Grace started riding horses at Aintree last August, so she just missed this big event called ‘pony camp.’ For a year, Ms. Jody told us about how much fun it was- you ride and groom the horses, then do arts & crafts, eat lunch, and finally ride a truck over to the neighborhood pool to SWIM. She finally talked HG into doing it this summer, and I have to say that it was probably her favorite camp so far. With almost any camp she’s gone to, she’s had a morning or two where she didn’t want to get up and go- she’d rather stay at home with her grandparents- but she was always excited to go to the barn and ride Louie. (She’s graduated to a bigger horse now!) She went without really knowing anyone, but you never would have known it by the way she came home full of silly stories about what she and so-and-so did. And we actually realized that John and I had two friends’ girls in the camp too! Ms. Jody and Ms. Louise both said she was such a trooper and a big helper.
On Friday, they ended the week with a horse show. She rode with four girls in her class, and she tied for 1st in equitation and tied for 2nd in under saddle, which meant she also got a grand champion ribbon. We’ve recently hung a shelf in her room for trophies and ribbons, and she’s already run out of room for her horse show ribbons!

The judge said she had an excellent two-point stance and ‘quiet hands’ (had to ask what that meant- it means your hands are still even when your body is moving) and her walk to trot transition was good.
It’s worth noting that when it was her turn to get on Louie, she started to turn left and walk behind him to go around to the mount, but she caught herself. So she turned right to go around in front of him, and she tripped over a post and literally fell on her face in the dirt and sawdust. GD, Spiffer, and I collectively gasped and held our breath, and that little lady hopped up, brushed off her hands and pants, got on the horse, and looked at us like, ‘What? What’s wrong with you?’ I later asked her if it upset her, and she said, ‘Nope.’ I am amazed by her more strength and grit every day! I would have been a puddle on the floor, especially at that age.

She made this horseshoe stepping stone at camp.Ready for the showOne of the cutest pictures I have ever seenThat cat is always dying to be a part of the show and, of course, gravitates to HG.