Up On The Ridge: January 2011

Monday, January 17, 2011

Ride and Slide Day

Monday, January 17th we had our Ride and Slide Day here at Hoofbeat. When the campers arrived we split into three groups and spent some time doing some ice breakers and games to get to know each other. Each group had a chance to roast marshmallows and drink hot chocolate. They also were able to ride horses and participate in a horse care class. After lunch each group was able to ride a second time and work with the horses. There was also an opportunity to go sledding down our large sledding hill.

Thanks to all the campers and staff who were able to join us in our fun filled day!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Christmas Camp Hoofprints

Hoofprints

Christmas Camp

December 28th 2010-January 1st 2011

We had a wonderful time here at Hoofbeat for Christmas Camp! We had a fun filled time with the snow, fuzzy horses, the warm fire, and lots of hot chocolate! We started off the program with some ice breakers with cabin groups. Then we had everyone meet in the indoor arena for some group games. Everyone had a great time meeting each other and seeing friends from the summer again. We ended the evening with a campfire inside lower longbranch and sang some camp songs.

On Wednesday morning everyone was split into four groups that they would stay in for riding and other activities. The groups then went through some fun rotations. There were riding lessons in the indoor arena, a horse science lesson on safety, a rotation to make snowmen, and a rotation to make paper snowflakes. After lunch we took some group photos, which can be viewed on our blog, http://hoofbeatridge.blogspot.com/. During our afternoon rotations we went riding on trails! The trails were beautiful in the snow. Everyone then got their picture taken with a horse, and then enjoyed sledding on our big sledding hill. In the evening we went for a “elf hunt” where everyone went in search of the elf, which left a trail of delicious candy canes for us to collect. Everyone then warmed up in lower longbranch with some hot chocolate, popcorn, and a game of charades by the fire. Everyone then prepared for some much needed sleep.

During Thursday morning rotations everyone went into their groups for a riding lesson. Everyone also had a rotation of grooming, a scavenger hunt, and horse movies. After lunch we headed to the Wisconsin Dells for our trip to the Kalahari Resort. Everyone enjoyed the wave pool, lazy river, and waterslides at the Kalahari. We then headed back to camp to end a very exciting day.

We had a full day of fun on Friday. During morning rotations we had another riding lesson in the indoor arena. There was also a rotation of horse science about feeds and nutrition for horses. Everyone worked on a banner for the New Year’s Eve party. During the afternoon we played mounted games, which are games on horse-back. The girls enjoyed games like red-light green-light, relay races, and even musical cones. There was a rotation of horse science where each group chose which activity to do. Then everyone was able to make more decorations for the New Year’s Eve party and play board games. Friday evening was our New Year’s eve Party, with the theme Toy Story. We started off the night by spending some time going to our camp store, trading post. We then played an all camp game of electricity, and played freeze dance. We took a pizza and soda break, and then ended the night by watching a slide show of all the pictures we took at Christmas camp, while singing camp songs. It was a really exciting day.

Saturday morning we slept in little bit to recover from our New Year’s eve party. The girls stayed in their cabin groups and rode a rotation of bareback, had a grooming contest, had a chance to pack their belongings, and played bingo.

Ted, Mary, Hoofbeat staff, and horses would like to wish you a Happy New Year! We hope you had a wonderful time at Christmas camp, and hope to see you soon!

New Year's Eve At Christmas Camp!

New Year's Eve was a blast here at Hoofbeat, we had fun all day!

This morning we had a little bit of a sleep in day in order to regain our energy from the Kalahari trip. After eating breakfast we had morning rotations. We had a riding rotation in the indoor arena where the girls had a worked on their riding position and other things like trotting. There was a horse science rotation that was about horse feeds and feeding, which was all about a horse's nutritional requirements and what we typically feed our horses at Hoofbeat. We also had an arts and crafts rotation and made some lanyard.
In the afternoon the girls enjoyed mounted games in the indoor, which are various games played on horse-back. We also has a horse science rotation where they were able to decide with their group which activity they would like to do. We then went down to lower camp to make New Year's Eve party decorations to decorate lower longbranch! We also played some board games in lower longbranch to warm up.

The New Year's Eve party started after dinner. The theme for the party was Toy Story. We all returned to our cabins to dress like some of the characters. We had barbies, cowgirls, penguins, aliens, and even Bo Peep with her sheep! Everyone looked fantastic. We opened up our camp store, Trading Post, and the girls were able to visit and buy things. We then went to the lodge for some group games, including an entire camp game of "electricity." We then returned to lower longbranch and had a short dance party, and played a little bit of freeze dance. After dancing for a little bit we had a pizza and soda break. We then returned to the lodge for a slide show which included all of the pictures from our time spent here, the girls even sang camp songs to go with the slide show. After the slide show it was "after midnight" and it was time for bed. What a wonderful day!