Here at Colne Valley we decided to try something different this summer, in response to suggestions made at last year's AGM, and so we hosted our first ever Summer Camp at Poplar Park between the 6th and 8th of July. We've had some great feedback; it seems everyone had a fantastic time.
Photos now online here
Dawn Pegrum and Maia Wright have been the first of our members to put their experiences down in writing and here is their report:
Having taken just the one wrong turn we bowled up at Poplar Park with more than a few butterflies and high expectations of a fab time. From the word go we were not disappointed!!
Having parked the boxes in a cosy array around the main marquee (or should I say watering hole) we settled our horses in comfortably and acquainted ourselves with our fellow members. Everyone was so friendly and we got to know who was who and who rode what fairly quickly.
After a pleasant first evening, a bit to eat and a glass or two of vino we retired fairly early in anticipation of an action packed day...and what a right move that turned out to be.
Most of us, having been rudely awakened by a very vocal flock of sea gulls, were met by glorious sunshine as we emerged to feed our neddies. Absolutely no sign of gale force winds, pouring rain or worse, so we gingerly made our way to the cross country course feeling somewhat absolutely terrified. Some of us managed to put on brave faces, some of us not!! Speaking for ourselves, neither of our horses have seen a cross country fence with us on board and with the past 20 years of abstinence foremost in our minds, no back protectors (having not found the need for one until this point) and a feeling of foreboding larger than the A Frame monster of a fence we witnessed Addie clear with ease on an heroic Bazil, we waited for Jonathan feeling quite frankly, nauseous.
However, our nerves abated when he took complete control and made it clear from the start that we were there to have fun and do exactly as we were told!!!(At least it came in the right order) And despite making us laugh continually, usually at the expense of one of our many faux pas, we learned loads.
After popping over an innocent looking log, we were lulled into a false sense of security and whisked towards a very scary looking drop fence consisting of four steep steps down an even steeper bank. And then I heard the words I dreaded hearing, “Dawn – you can go first”. To cut a long story short we ALL tackled the fence bravely with the help of Jonathan’s encouraging remarks, e.g. “what the heck was that” and “some time this week would be nice”, bless him. Furthermore, we all managed to do it without mishap and made our way towards the water complex with renewed enthusiasm.
This turned out to be a great favourite for Christine with the aptly named Angel who liked it so much that they spent the best part of half an hour staring at it from the bank. Angel did however tear herself away having been through it and proved her worth by taking the plunge again and again. What a sweetie.
Our confidence grew by the minute and we were going from strength to strength. So thanks Jonathan, not only are you very handsome, but a incredibly good instructor to boot and you made us all laugh!!!
Next came flat work with Carol and again we learned loads, for myself my left hand will never be the same again!! We do however owe a word of thanks to Carol and our long suffering horses, who despite the only bit of bad weather, which consisted of 20 minutes of almost hail stones descending upon us, bravely carried on regardless. Not so a certain someone who emerged as soon as the sun came out, bone dry with a smile on her face and an excuse consisting of, “Hi guys. It took me a little longer to tack up than I thought”. Yeah right!! Ever heard of the expression ‘fair weather rider’?!
Tired but happy we returned to camp for a super duper take away, magnificently organised by Addie with the help of her dad.
We then intended partying on through the night armed with bottles of wine and nibbles but sadly by 9.30 pm we were so pooped we crawled into our beds and were out like lights, despite trying to stay awake to answer some of the quiz questions. We didn’t even hear Carol’s midnight giggling fit when she fell down the horse box steps armed with the remains of a large home made chocolate cake!!
Bright and early and another glorious sunny day took us to meet Jane at the show jumping field. And boy did we learn loads from her, from a novice’s perspective. Not only do we now have an idea about related distances, we actually learned that our dear horses will actually jump with or without our bumbling assistance and not attempt to throw us off at the soonest opportunity.
They were all absolute stars and jumped round the course clear, and to hear the clap and cheer from the other members supporting us on the ground made it all seem extra fantastic.
So what can we say other than a big thank you to one and all for the setting up of a blinding weekend that provided fun, fellowship and a complete break from our usual routines. A real education and a confidence boost to go forwards with our beloved four legged friends to greater heights and to confirm that it is certainly possible to leave the ground and return intact with a big grin on our faces.
Happy Landings.........