Pippa's Christmas Party

Hello from Hoofbeat!
This past Saturday, we had Pippa's Christmas Party - it felt more like a spring camp than a Christmas Party! There was no snow to be found and the temperatures were really warm. The LongBranch was festive with Christmas lights and stockings and campers did go on a candy cane hunt. If not for that, you might not have known it's December! Not that we are complaining - the warmer temperatures made riding much easier. It gets chilly in the indoor riding arena this time of year!
Campers enjoyed a riding lesson, mounted games, grooming the horses, hot cocoa by the fire, and arts and crafts.
Pippa (Hoofbeat's one and only Clydesdale) made an appearance for group photos. She was a little muddy to say the least!

No one seemed to mind though - Pippa is always a hit with the campers!
Some of the other horses that we had in for riding were, Teko, Zoe, Chief, Linus, King, Rex, Chloe, Dolly, JB, Buster Brown, Shadow, Reba, and Jazz.
Thanks to the staff that came out to help and to all of the campers too! Have a Merry Christmas and lets hope we get some snow so it's white!!!

More Fall Photos!

Hello again!
Here are more photos from some of our fall programs. Thanks for everyone that joined us for the Horse Lover's Day and Horse Lover's Weekend!

Meech was ready for his close - up!

Ground driving Pippa!

Arts and crafts time!

costume contest!

Chloe forgot to smile for this one!

It's December!

Greetings from Hoofbeat!

We hope that you and your family enjoyed Thanksgiving!

With the rainy weather we've had, the horses have been in the barn quite a bit the last couple of weeks! If it rains a lot and the temperatures get cool enough, we bring them in for the night so they don't get cold. Even though they seem to be glad to come in, they are always ready to get back outside once the weather clears up.

(Stormy looking for a snack!)

(Gypsy)

(Fresno & Mocha)

(These three are new horses! Left to right are Rocky, Roscoe, and Toby)

We are busy getting ready for Pippa's Christmas Party on December 12. Campers will be riding, doing horse science, arts and crafts, a candy cane hunt, and sledding (if we have snow - no one wants to sled in mud!!!).A bunch of our summer staff will be here and we have a great group of campers signed up. It should be a fun day!

Christmas Camp is coming up also. It runs from December 28 - January 1. It's been full for a while now and there's a long waiting list!

We're going to be doing lots of riding, horse science, Christmas arts and crafts, going to the Kalahari Water Park in Wisconsin Dells, campfires, our yearly New Year's Eve Party, and lots more! The LongBranch has been decorated with Christmas lights, candy canes, and stockings and it's looking pretty festive!

Ted and the maintenance crew have been hard at work with several projects over the last few weeks. They built a shed outside the barn to store machinery and are working on a new gate for the main camp entrance. Never a dull moment - even this time of year!

                                 (Roscoe looks like he'd rather be outside!)

(Whoopi, right before she clawed her way up the photographer's leg! She's always looking for someone to pet her!)

Camp enrollment is in full swing. Resident Camp is filling much more quickly than it has in the past. The June 26 to July 9 session is getting close to being full and all the other sessions are half full or more. Day Camp still has quite a bit of space at this point.

We hope that you enjoy what is left of 2015 and have a Merry Christmas!

-Ted, Mary, all the Hoofbeat staff and horses 

Hi from Hoofbeat!

Hello!
We wanted to give everyone a few camp updates.
We are having our fall Horse Lover's Day on Saturday and we're busy mapping out treasure hunts, getting arts and crafts projects set up, and getting ready for a great day!
Last weekend was our Horse Lover's Weekend - thanks to everyone that joined us! We had some pretty tired campers after a full day of riding, horse science, grooming, arts and crafts, and even bareback (riding without a saddle) after dinner. We're pretty sure it must have been a quite ride home for everyone - we packed lots into the weekend!
We have added some new horses to the Hoofbeat herd. Whoopi was spotted making friends with them this morning. We had a few of them in the indoor arena they came over to sniff her when she was sitting on the wall. Whoopi must not have minded too much, since she just sat there. We will try to post more pictures of the new horses soon.
In the mean time, here is Petra enjoying the sunshine and grass a few weeks ago. (Wouldn't it be nice if was this sunny right now?!)

Fall is project time at camp and Ted and Tom were busy working on making the driveway a little more spiffy. See if you notice anything different the next time you're at camp.
Fall is flying by - it's hard to believe that it's almost November already.
We've got Pippa's Christmas Party coming up on December 12 - it just filled up this morning, but so far there is no one on the waiting list.
Christmas Camp has 2 spots left, so that's nearly full also! It's going to be lots of fun with the great group of campers and staff that are coming this year.

 We are in the process of getting the 2016 Intro to Sleep - Over Camp application ready. We should have it done in the next week, so check the website soon!
We're also getting the dates for 2016 Day Camp sessions set, so keep an eye open for the application on the website.
The 2016 early bird application for Resident Camp is available on the website now. The rates are good until November 30, 2015.
We hope everyone is having a great week!

Happy fall, Y'all!!

Hello Everyone!

We hope you've had a chance to get out and enjoy the beautiful fall colors!

It's been really busy here at Hoofbeat for the last month or so. We have had after school riding lessons for the Madison middle schools for four weeks. Each night we have several different schools that bus students out for an about an hour of riding and an hour of horse science. We've been going on trail rides and enjoying the cool, fall weather.

We also finished up our fall Mother/Daughter Weekends. Thanks to all of the moms, daughters and Hoofbeat staff for spending the weekend with us. We had nice weather - no rain! We enjoyed the trails, some mounted games, campfires, hayrides, arts and crafts, and ground driving everyone's favorite Clydesdale, Pippa!

Our weekends are booked with Boy Scouts earning their merit badges, Able Trek Tours, a Horse Lover's Weekend for girls, and our fall Horse Lover's Day for girls. We also have week night riding programs with girl scout troops. Whew! It's a busy time of year for us!

We've had several people email and ask if we're having any programs for boys as well as girls. Pippa's Christmas Party is open to boys ages 7 to 9 and girls ages 7 to 13. This day program is on December 12th and there is bus service provided from 2 locations. See our website for more info.

There is a new addition to the Hoofbeat herd! Kirby is a really cute pinto that we got a month or so ago. He is already a favorite with the staff and we're pretty sure all of the campers will love him too. He is one of the first horses to come to the gate to say "hi" and he just loves people! Kirby is living with Rex, Dante, Midnight, and Montana in the Middle Pen for now.

Stay tuned for more horse updates and photos!

Hello From Hoofbeat!                                 

We hope everyone is enjoying what's left of summer.

We want to say a big thank you to everyone of the campers, staff, and horses - it was another great summer at Hoofbeat!

Whoopi the barn cat is really missing all of the campers and staff. She walks around the barn looking for anyone that will stop and pet her. Today she came down the barn hill and was looking in the office windows, hoping someone would come out and say hi to her!

We are transitioning to our fall programs at camp now. We have some UW groups coming to do planning sessions and our after school riding lessons with the Madison middle schools starts in a couple of weeks.

We also have our fall Mother/Daughter Weekends on September 25 - 27 and October 2 - 4. Both weekends are full, but we do have waiting lists. Our spring Mother/Daughter Weekend dates are May 6 - 8, May 13 - 15, and May 20 - 22. The registration information should be up on our website soon!

On October 23 - 25, we have our Horse Lover's Weekend for girls ages 8 - 15. It's a fun way to enjoy camp in the off season, with riding lessons, horse care classes, mounted games, trail rides (weather permitting), and lots of other fun activities.

We have a Horse Lover's Day for girls ages 7 - 13 on October 31. Campers will have riding lessons, horse care classes, grooming, arts and crafts, a costume contest, and lots of other activities. There is bus service provided from two locations and the program ends in time for campers to be home to go trick - or - treating in the evening!

Pippa is hosting our annual Christmas Party this year! The date is December 12 and the program is for boys ages 7 - 9 and girls ages 7 - 13. There will be riding lessons, horse care classes, a candy cane hunt, Christmas crafts, and sledding if we have enough snow! Bus transportation is available from two locations. We are working on the registration for this program and it should be up on our website in a couple of weeks.

Christmas Camp is December 28 - January 1. You won't recognize the horses in their long, winter coats! Girls ages 8 - 16, can enjoy hot cocoa in the LongBranch, sledding, a trip to a water park, riding lessons, horse care classes, mounted games,  arts and crafts, a New Year's Eve party, and lots more! See our website for registration information.

Check the website for early bird registration for 2016. It will be ready in the next couple of months!

We hope you have a great school year and hope to see everyone back at Hoofbeat soon!

-Ted, Mary, and all of the Hoofbeat staff, horses, and Whoopi the barn cat

Another summer been and gone

Well, it truly has been a wonderful summer. The campers had a great time, and so both us and the horses! Thank you so much for joining us for a fantastic time, we loved having you! We won't forget the mystery trips. riding lessons, hayrides and campfires! We hope to see you all next summer!

Please enjoy some our favorite pictures from the summer.