Knowledge, excitement, bumps, bruises and a some great laughs!

New Movement taught by Debbie McDonald - Shoulder In Mouth!

Wow - What a place!

Some Action Shots

SMILE

On the Flat ->

Camp was a HUGE success. How we got 42 riders/horses into 84 ride times per day, I will never know. It was an awesome sight to see 6 clinicians teaching all at the same time. horses going and coming from every direction. It looked like an event in the making.
The mornings started with the clinicians stopping by my trailer to pick up their teaching schedules and to discuss with each other the strategy of the day. We were very fortunate to have not only 6 clinicians of this caliber (5 were 4* riders and Jean Moyer is the dressage wizard), but 6 individuals who were not ego maniacs and were more interested in making this experience the best possible for all the riders.

On Monday and Tuesday, the lessons were centered on flat work and stadium jumping. I loved the look on Mark's face when I handed him his list of 7 dressage lessons for the morning!!! As he would sigh, I would mention that they were only 45 mins and he could fake it!! Amy Barrington was extremely creative with her jumping area out in the hay field. . Surrounded by a galloping track and newly baled hay, she went about using the hay bales along with her poles and standards to create skinnys and other obstacles to amuse and confuse horse and rider. The Brits, Mark, Tanya and their good friend Jeremy Spring, took over the large arena and divided it into three working areas. Jean had her own "dressage land" of a very large round pen and Nina worked either in the small indoor or found another spot outside. After lunch, all the clinicians rotated around (except for Jean) and Mark was quite happy with a roast beef sandwich and NO MORE flat lessons.

Tuesday was much of the same. The only major difference was the British team was much more rested than the previous day. Let me explain. I left my car for them in Salt Lake. The Rothwells were kind enough to get them from the airport and in my car for the trip to Sun Valley. Hank's last words were, get on I-15 and go north. So, they did. Tanya fell asleep in the back seat, while the two guys in the front (who never ask directions or apparently stop for fuel) continued on until they reached DILLON, MONTANA around 1 am.... Tanya woke up and said, Where are we?? They finally found a gas station open and with new directions headed south. Still able to get lost a second time they finally resorted to calling 911 and asking for help. They finally pulled into Swiftsure Ranch at 5 am, grabbed 2 hours of sleep and began the clinic on time at 7am. Oh and they had had a flat tire by Brigham City, so this whole XC experience of 500 miles was done on the little spare tire, probably going around 100mph!!! They were amazing and lasted the entire day, only to crash into bed early.

The pace picked up on the last two days with XC fences added to the program. Two minor crashes left two of our riders bumped and bruised with Kim Henneman getting a few stitches to take home with her. But we were very fortunate that we had no horse injuries of any significance.

Our evenings were spent with a little liquid refreshement and two evenings of incredible lectures along with dinner. One evening a Tour of River Grove was offered and many riders particiapeted in that. It is an incredible facility and home of Brentina and Debbie McDonald. If you ever have the opportunity to visit in the future, don't miss it.

The other aspect of camp which was again totally amazing, was the huge number of dogs that accompanied the riders and how wonderful they all got along. Everyone seemed to have a pair of matching pooches. It was quite comical.

So Camp #1 ended with smiles on everyone's faces. The clinicians reported to me several times what a wonderful times they were having and what an incredible group of riders were here. They were very impressed on our desire to learn, ability to adapt to new techniques and our ability to down margaritas. Amy Barrington said she has never had so much fun at a clinic. So much infact, we were able to talk her into staying for camp #2 along with Mark and Tanya. Nina left for Colorado and a YR camp, Jeremy left for the UK after spending 7 months traveling the world away from horses (along with a tour of southern Montana in the dark) and Jean headed off to the Area 7 Young Riders.

Camp #2 lasted 3 days and was very similar to the first camp. We had 21 riders, which to the relief of the scheduler (me) was much easier to organize. Mark however, still had 7 dressage lessons and was quite impressed with Amy's ability to get out of her 7 lessons when she said "These four girls need jumping lessons instead, they don"t need anymore flat" I won't be surprised when Mark uses that line next time!