Pony camp

It all started innocently enough.  Our friends KD and DM were asking about FABJ's summer camps.  They mentioned a pony camp where their goddaughter had a great experience in a previous summer.  Then, they asked if FABJ might be interested in joining their goddaughter at pony camp.  They even made the very generous offer of transporting her to and from camp (about 30 minutes' drive each way).

We knew that FABJ would love pony camp, so we agreed.  Alas, the goddaughter was unable to make the camp, but KD and DM still offered to help with transportation - again, very generous.

FABJ, DM, and I went off to camp on Tuesday morning (it's only a four day camp).  FABJ was very shy, as she often is at the beginning of a camp.  But we were worried that she might be too shy and scared to participate - she was the only one in the beginner camp who had not ridden before.  We stuck around for a while until she was a bit more settled.  She enjoyed brushing the ponies:

FABJ taking care of Oscar

FABJ did just fine at camp.  The instructor explained that she was fearless on the horses.  She wanted to do everything that the other girls did, even if they had been riding horses for years.

The weather was glorious all week.  In fact, it was probably too hot for pony camp with the warm pants (apparently called jodhpurs).  We always had a change of clothes with shorts or a skirt and sandals.

On the last day, the class did some "show jumping" where the girls got to ride the horses through a tiny obstacle course.  The obstacles were set very low to the ground for the little kids (like FABJ) and at higher heights for the bigger girls.  FABJ had a great time doing the course (with the instructor holding the reins for the jumps), although she didn't really have the patience to watch the other girls do their jumps.  She even got a pink rosette for jumping - she was very excited about that.

Champion horse jumper and her proud father

Note that I'm wearing shorts and a short sleeve shirt in Ireland.  I haven't worn pants in over a week!

Action shot of FABJ and Dancer