Touchstone Farm

Dear Camp Moms and Dads…and any Grandparents out there!

            I hope you have woken up to a glorious day like I have. The sun is shining bright, the breeze is lovely, and the grass is green.  Adding your wonderful, sweet, hardworking and dear children to the farm makes it all complete for me. The months of work and preparation to renew and refresh the farm, get all the horses ready and the jumps painted have come to fruition for sure! I thank you for sharing your ladies with us. Together, we are having a blast!

            I do want to briefly apologize that I have not written more for the Blog.  I am having so much fun and am able to truly be with the girls instead of being sick and having to watch them!!! I simply have not had as much time to sit in my sterile office and write to you! Trust me when I say that I would hugely prefer to be out there doing things together than writing about what other people can do with my ‘Treasures’!

            Having said that, let me now turn to telling you what a terrific time we are all having.  We have had one or two cases of homesickness…which is to be expected…and even that is vanishing as I write this morning.  Despite the weather which has been a little rainy with pretty significant thunderstorms that first full day, we have persevered and have ridden a ton.  I have walked around to see all the lessons each morning and found happy kids on correct mounts and in the right riding level. I hope that you will share this observation with me when you come for either the horse show or the last day’s Parents’ Riding Exhibition.

             I also hope you and your daughters’ teachers will feel like everyone has learned a ton.  We have worked hard on improving the camp instructional staff through weekend trainings. Almost anyone who can ride well can teach a private lesson.  The trick of course at camp is to teach a group of 5 or 6 riders.  With the help of the CITs, I see good solid, encouraging and interesting lessons being taught.  This will continue to be our focus this year so that you will all be pleased with the instruction your children have received here at Pony Farm!

            Adding this good teaching to our lovely new rings with superior ring footing has been thrilling for me to see.  Today we are finalizing the classes that your kids will be riding in on Saturday.  Once we are sure we have correctly entered them, we will then email you as to the approximate time that your child/ren will ride on Saturday.  For those of you who can come, it seems silly to tell you to be here at 9 sharp when she might not be riding until 2PM.  We will do our best to get accurate times but of course it is hard to nail it down to the exact minute.  We never know how many outside riders will come and how quickly the classes will go, but we can approximate it for you. 

            For those of you who cannot come, rest assured that we will be there for your child.  We have tons of coaching staff for the riding piece.  I have no show responsibilities at all…rather I am there to be there for your kids and you!!! So, please come chat with me if you can come and know without a doubt that I will be there for your kiddo to her on if you can not come.  That’s a promise!

            We have also had the kids do lots of fun, silly, happy things at night.  We did group “get to know you games” on Sunday night.  Then, Bag Skits was a hit on Monday night.  You surely have creative characters as daughters.  I am sure you are never bored with them around!  Tuesday night saw Capture the Flag, an all time fav.  Last night, the instructors entered the girls in the right classes with lots of fun show names having been given to the ponies and horses.  Tonight, they will be playing Personal Scavenger Hunt, a huge favorite.  The kids are divided up into teams.  The staff come up with of all kinds of funny shows, songs, movies, books and ask questions.  The team has to figure out the answer and then run to the table and slap it.  Then, they are to either give the answer, sing the song, or dance the dance.  It is lively to say the least!

            Tomorrow, we will finalize getting ready for the show.  Between today and tomorrow, each rider will get to work on the trail class obstacles or the courses she will be doing on Saturday.  We will also practice is larger groups for the flat classes.  Baths o’plenty will be given, tack cleaned and boots polished.  Hair ribbons will be purchased and ponies trimmed.  It is a real three ring production but fun from morning to night.  I can’t wait to write about it all or have you see it in person.

            Mostly, I want to thank you again for entrusting your Treasurers with us.  We take our responsibility to have ‘safe and happy fun’ very seriously.  We are delighted to have these kids and hopefully are creating life long memories of joy and friendship.

                                                                        Happy Day to you! 

                                                                        Most warmly, Boo