The Lee Family: Horse Camp!

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Horse Camp!

Sofia spent this past week at Ride with Pride's horse camp which was from 9am-1pm. She was so excited to spend the week at camp and every afternoon she would tell Olivia and I all about camp and everything they did. After the kids arrived at 9am, they rode horses, followed by crafts (she painted a little bird house and a horse barn as well as the horse shoe with her picture and wood board with her camp photos, then the kids visited the chickens and tried to catch one. After that they ate lunch and then fed the fish in the pond and road in the paddle boat. That was followed by chores, which included mucking out stalls, sweeping, cleaning and refilling the horse's waters and putting tack away. One day, her friend Ansley said "Do you ever think they have us doing this so they don't have to?" After chores, the kids could get a snow cone while they relaxed and played "rose" and "thorn" which was each kid's chance to say what they liked best and least about the day. Every day, Sofia told me her "rose" was "everything" while she didn't have any "thorns" - even mucking out stalls didn't make the "thorn" category! I think her favorite part must have been the snow cone! She always talked about how good it was at the end of a hot day!

Sofia had such a fun week and rode either Chocolate, Red or her favorite horse from last year, Dolly. The camp's rodeo was held on Friday at 7pm. We arrived a little early so Sofia could switch into the cowboy boots she borrowed every day for camp and so we could visit the horses. Sofia loved showing us around and Olivia was happy to run around and see the horses, although she was a bit timid around Scout and kept saying "He's going to get me!" each time Scout turned his head toward her. They finally reached an understanding. Sofia also took Olivia and a few other campers back to the chicken coop and showed us how she could catch one of them. Then she showed us Chocolate and before long it was time for all the riders to get ready to ride!

Sofia was the 4th rider of the group and was on Dolly. She was so excited before the rodeo and told us how she planned to trot the entire way, just like last year. Unfortunately, Dolly didn't have the same attitude and wasn't in any mood to trod for Sofia! She did manage to get her to trot for a little bit, but otherwise Dolly walked around the barrels. After all the riders were done, the kids ran across the arena to us and then we watched the award ceremony. Sofia was disappointed that Dolly didn't trot for her and I felt bad for her. She got 2nd in her group and also got the "Horsemanship Award." After the awards ceremony and watermelon, we headed to our cars. During camp Sofia also made a new friend, Sydney, who we met and exchanged numbers with her Dad for a future play date. Sofia had such a fun time and the rodeo is just a great way to end a fun week of horses and crafts! CK suggested to Sofia that if she can work on not sucking her thumb, she could do another week of horse camp at the end of July or beginning of August! She was so excited (and hopefully it works!). We enjoyed a great meal at Christina's before heading home to put two dirty and tired girls to bed!

SO excited for her first day of horse camp!