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!