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My Time at Summer Horse Camp
by Lauren (age 12)
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Less than a year ago, I went to a horse camp named Camp Marydale near Baton Rouge, La. It was great there; you did games, activities, and crafts. Of course, I couldn't do any of that because I was there for the horse-camp along with my cousin, Kathryn!
Kathryn has been riding horses a little longer than me, but I've been riding for at least two years. We were excited about the riding, but it was a little different when we saw our cabin.
Our cabin was a mess! Kathryn, Kendall (best friend), and I got in our cabin; the first thing we did was clean, then clean some more, then more cleaning, then finally a little bit of cleaning! That night, we slept with so many bugs -- top top it off, there were two spiders and I'm allergic to spiders!
But ... we were really excited to see the horses! That night the counselers told us which horse we would be riding. When Mac said I was riding Silver, everyone looked at me just like the waitress looked at my mom when she ordered the "Codfish Bomb" in England (like, "are you sure you want to do that?!?!?!). That made me a little nervous.
The next day I met Silver. I also found out why everyone looked so funny the night before. When I was putting on Silver's tack (his riding gear), he stepped on my foot really hard! I couldn't scream because you can't make sudden loud noises around horses. I swear there is still a mark on my foot to this day!
Later that day, we rode our assigned horses and Silver took off at a gallop and I almost fell off. I was thinking "only two more weeks of Silver", then I could go home, bit it didn't help. During the week, I got kicked by Geronimo (a wild, green stallion), stepped on by Angel (the tallest, fattest, heaviest horse you can imagine), plus Silver kept trying to buck me off.
Once, we were trail riding and there was a horse behind Silver. I guess that horse didn't like Silver (can't imagine why!) because that horse bit Silver on the butt. Silver took off like a shot! He found a tree with low hanging branches and ran under it. The branches all hit me in the face! Silver kept trying to buck me off, but I held on and made him stop.
That was it! I went straight to our counselor, Mac, and said "I want to ride a different horse!" I guess Mac saw all the scratch marks on my face, because she said they'd switch me to Ariel.
Ariel was a fat, stubborn pony, but we got along okay. The day I first rode Ariel, there was a horse behind Ariel. Ariel didn't like that, so she backed up and kicked him in the face!
Ariel didn't really like other horses, except for Apache (the horse Kathryn was riding). Apache and Ariel were lovebirds ... well, lovehorses! They did everything together.
Anyway, the next week everything was fine except that Ariel bit me a lot. Still, it was okay because at least I wasn't riding Silver!
Horse-wise, everything was okay. Camp-wise, it was a little rocky. That week, Kathryn threw up (and I was there), plus another girl threw up (and I was sitting right next to her!) I hate throw up! Kathryn also yelled at us because out cabin was so dirty. Another girl saw a big, huge snake and she passed out and broke her leg! I have to admit that the snake was kind of cool looking, though. Oh yeah, Kendall had a big stomach ache, too!
When we got to the last three days of camp, we had this huge rodeo and I was in it. Well, everyone who was at horse camp was in it, but I still felt special! Once the rodeo started, seven other girls rode before I did. I took my turn and I wasn't nervous; in fact, it wasn't quite as exciting as I thought it would be. The next day was fun, though, because we went swimming and I love swimming!
Finally, it was the last day of camp. Unfortunately, that night I got bit by a spider and my face was purple and bumpy and swollen as big as a cow! My aunt picked us up and I stayed with my cousin for about four days until my parents could come get me and bring me home to Texas.
Camp was over ... and I had a lot of fun there! It wasn't so much fun when I got home, because I had to clean my room. We don't have horses at home, but I do have cats and they had left me a lot of little "presents" that I had to clean up! Weren't they thoughtful!
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