Superheroes, bareback riding and trails at 2-week EVR!
What a busy last few days it has been, here at East Valley Ranch! In the past few days alone Superheroes have taken over camp and the girls have gotten the chance to ride some of the horses bareback!
On Thursday Yurt 2 woke up early to wrangle the horses, bringing them in from the field to the barn. We met the rest of camp at flag raising where we celebrated some kind acts that the girls had done in the previous day before hearing a “Pearl of Wisdom” our inspirational quote of the day! We then went to eat a delicious breakfast before we split into our usual two groups. Half of the girls went down to the barn for a trail day up through the mountains while the other half did their ground lessons on Breeds and Colors of the horse! We met up for lunch before a well deserved rest hour, and after that all of the girls switched so the girls who were on the trail did their ground lessons and vice versa!
Once everyone had finished with their trails and ground lessons we met back at the barn to do stable management and clean up after our horses as well as help with turnout, bringing the ponies back down to the field! Soon after that it was time for dinner followed by shower and yurt time so the girls could get ready for their evening program. Thursday night was a special evening program, which was a staff demonstration! The staff members demonstrated certain riding techniques and activities that you could do on horseback once a person got to a certain skill level. The girls got to see some drill team exercises which showed how communication between rider/rider and rider/horse is key! After that everyone got together for a huge sing along and played some games before it was time for bed.
Friday Yurt 3 got to wrangle before flag raising and breakfast! After breakfast the girls got to do some fun arts & crafts as well as play some games. The counselors set up the dining hall and transformed it into a huge PING PONG TOURNAMENT! The girls loved it! Our make-shift ping pong tournament was a first ever for East Valley Ranch and the girls keep asking when we can do it again. After that the girls went down to the barn to do a ground lesson on Parts of the Horse! The girls got to learn all of the different parts before their knowledge was put to the test! A staff member would call out the name of a part and one of the girls would have to take a bit of paint on their finger and put a dot on the part that was called out! We then had lunch and rest hour with the girls before it was time for a MOVIE! The girls were so excited and they all got dressed in pajamas before getting comfortable in the couch room where we watched SPIRIT!
Later on the girls got to turn the horses out before dinner, and after that it was planning time. All of the campers got together in groups and planned something to share with the rest of camp at our TALENT SHOW! Everyone was amazing, and they shared so much. Whether it was singing, dancing or gymnastics everyone had a blast watching the other acts before preforming.
Saturday was a bit of a different schedule for the girls, as the two week girls only had to meet at flag raising instead of getting up early! We had a delicious breakfast before heading down to the barn where the girls were met with a special treat. Bareback riding lessons were planned for the day, so all of the girls got the opportunity to ride without a saddle! It was done yurt by yurt, so everyone had a chance and when they weren’t doing their lesson they were doing other fun activities such as horse washing and horse painting! (And yes, by horse painting we really mean they painted the horses!) Lunch followed the girls’ time at the barn and after rest hour it was time to play and cool off with some water games! One of our staff members put a jumping course together on the lawn so the girls could also have a “Horseless Horse Show!” The girls liked it so much that it is still set up on the lawn and even now we’ll see a few girls jumping over it!
Dinner was hilarious, as it is a continued East Valley Ranch tradition! It was spaghetti and meatballs for dinner which meant that it was EAT WITH YOUR FACE NIGHT. Sauce was everywhere as silverware was a ‘no-no’! Showers were a definite must before our evening program which was EVR challenge night! The girls were split up into teams where they had to compete in various challenges and activities and whoever got the most points won. After the competition ended the girls got to eat BANANA BOATS! It was a nice treat before bed.
Sunday was our East Valley theme day of; SUPERHEROES!
The girls got to sleep in a bit before brunch which was at 11:30! After everyone ate it was time to forget our secret identities and make some capes and masks to take on our alter-egos! Two superhero teams were made, the blue team and the red team and the costumes came together really nicely! After everyone was ready to go it was time for our Superhero activities and games, not to mention a serious game of Superhero Capture the Flag (with the four week girls as villains!).  After running around in the sun everyone cooled off with some water games, such as the EVR Bucket Drop, before a huge water fight! Dinner followed after the girls changed into dry clothes before evening program- which was a bareback demo! The girls got to see that with a lot of practice riding bareback could be so much fun.
Right now all the girls are doing their ground lessons for the day, which is HORSE CAREERS. All of the girls were given facts about a certain career and acted them out for the other girls to guess! I can hear all of the girls asking questions and really getting into it from here! Everyone is getting really excited and pumped up for tonight’s evening program which is MURDER MYSTERY NIGHT! We can’t wait to see ‘whodunit?!’
We <3 EVR
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