The April school holidays have again come and gone, but not without the excitement of the annual Zone 16 Pony Club camp.
Riders have been busy all year preparing for this one week, some even counting down from last year’s camp, a week full of meeting new friends, catching up with old ones, having fun and learning heaps.
Day 1 dawned beautiful, sunny with a hint of warmth and no wind. A perfect way to start our week! That was of course until the riders saddled up and headed off to their only lesson for the day.
In came the icy cold rain with the famous Bungendore wind and a bit of lightning to add to the excitement!
Monday started the official program with riders aging from 5 to 25 participating in 4 lessons a day which included Cross Country, Showjumping, Dressage, Flatwork, Sporting, Polocrosse, Polo, Horse Soccer, Orienteering, Theory, Horse Massage, Musical Troop Drill and Horseball.
This year’s instructor line up included the wonderful Andrew Haddad, Trevor Morris, George Johnson, Fiona Gruen, Sarah Venamore, Hayley Smith, Bec Lindwall, Kim Sillis, Andrew Williams, Kate O’Connor & all the club volunteer instructors who freely gave their time to help make camp an awesome experience.
At the end of a hard days riding, learning & teaching there are yards to clean and horses to feed (thanks to the efficient feed team) before heading to a camp fire to toast marshmallows and regale your family and friends of the days program. Then it’s time for dinner and night entertainment, before falling exhausted into bed.
This year’s entertainment included a bush dance, bingo, and the famous Friday night disco – a not to be missed event.
Thursday night we were entertained with the hotly contested skit night. Troops, clubs, friends and individuals choreographed, practiced and performed a skit for the camp. This year’s highlights included the led troop performing to the song “going on a bear hunt”, the Canberra Lakes Pony Club instructors performing “The Ferals” – a funny look at a not so typical troop lesson at camp, and who could forget Ben & Tom signing We will instruct you to the tune of we will rock you, getting the whole camp involved and clapping along.
Sadly the week came to a close and riders were able to put their new skills to the test in a small gymkhana, followed by the award ceremony.
During the week our wonderful head chef, Mike, together with his sous chef’s Peter & Steve provided everyone with amazing breakfasts, morning teas, lunches, afternoon teas, dinners and desserts every day. Camp really would not be the same without this team.
Lastly I would like to thank one last team of organisers.
Nat, Toni, Judy, Mark, Barry & Roger – we thank you for all you hard work in making this year’s Pony Club another great week of fun, learning and riding.
365, 364, 363, 362….. day’s until the 2016 Zone 16 Pony Club Camp