Riding Camp: It’s More Than Just Horses!

The Equestrian Program at Camp Friendship is unrivaled by any other because it offers not only a well-rounded camp experience for girls ages 10-16 and a taste of international equine culture, but it also offers quality instruction in all levels of Hunt Seat riding. From the Beginner, riding for the very first time, to girls that ride and show regularly, there is something here for everyone at Camp Friendship.

Camp Friendship Equestrian Center has approximately 90 horses that are stabled here year-round. We take great pride in having such a wonderful group of kind, kid-friendly, and athletic horses. Our riding director Skye Ackenbom, daughter of owner and founder Chuck Ackenbom, believes that, “Having the opportunity to work with these horses year-round allows us to know our horses ‘inside and out.’” At Camp Friendship, each Riding Camper is assigned her own horse to ride and take care of for the duration of the camp session. Having such a large, diverse herd ensures a good horse and rider match—matching each horse’s innate personality with the different needs of our campers. Owning and maintaining such a large herd throughout the year allows for continuous training, and ensures that our horses know exactly what their “job” is each summer, offering a safe riding experience for campers.

Our state-of-the-art equestrian facility aids the Camp Friendship Equestrian Program’s success in running a program of this magnitude. The 2005 stable complex has 88 stalls equipped with an indoor ring to handle wet weather conditions. We also have a large show ring and three additional outdoor rings to accommodate concurrent lessons for all levels of riding.

The Equestrian Program’s riding instructors are also the riding campers’ counselors and stay with the campers at all times. The Riding Camp and stable staff are carefully chosen from different equine colleges and programs all over the world. We believe that this creates a diverse atmosphere, blending different equine cultures for the campers to experience and learn about. In addition to our international staff, we have many former campers that return to become counselors and staff—a true testament to the quality program that we stand behind. Before summer sessions begin, our Riding Camp staff participates in an intense two-week training program to learn Camp Friendship’s individual philosophy and style of Hunt Seat instruction and horse care, as well as our distinctive counselor philosophy and practice in meeting the needs of our campers.

The Equestrian Program offers one-week and two-week sessions to allow for different experiences for campers. The one-week sessions are great for campers trying out Camp Friendship for the first time, while the two-week sessions are usually packed with horse-crazy girls that continue to come back year after year. The two-week sessions offer a horse show at the end of the session, a perfect culmination for the campers’ ultimate equestrian experience.

Campers are housed in the lodge or cabin adjacent to the stable complex. Riding Campers room with girls of the same age, but are put into riding groups for lessons based on experience and ability. The campers’ daily schedule allows for two riding lessons a day. Where the first lesson is based mainly on riding fundamentals and equitation, the second lesson is aimed at having fun on horseback. We offer our campers unique experiences with horses, such as taking ponies to the river, riding up our Jumper’s Lane trail, participating in bareback lessons and playing relay games on horseback. The girls also participate in a daily theory lesson—verbal instruction or lectures on equine genres, from basic horse care to in-depth demonstrations on equine medicine. Campers put this theory to practice and are expected to complete barn chores, as we strongly believe that basic horse care and stable maintenance is an important part of any true equestrian’s agenda.

When not with the horses, it is important to us that Riding Campers participate in general camp activities. As part of their well-rounded camp experience, campers attend the Camp Dance, group campfires and other fun activities, such as our Mock Olympics and Slip-N-Slide. Riding Campers also enjoy a daily swim at the pool or lake to keep cool during hot Virginia summers.

Please note our other riding programs—Recreational Riding and Junior Girls with Riding. Recreational Riding is a co-ed beginner program for campers in our general camp who would like to choose riding as one of their activities. We also offer a Jr. Girls with Riding Program, which is for girls 8-12, beginner-intermediate riders, who would like to participate in Riding Camp for half of their day and choose general camp activities for the other half. We hope you will come join us at Camp Friendship for the summer sessions of 2009. Let your little horse-lover indulge in a summer of fun, friends and horses!

I wanted to share the above article here, for all who are interested in our riding programs. Our Riding Director explains in great detail the philosophy and goals of Camp Friendship’s Riding Programs. This article was original printed on our 2008 Fall Newsletter. If you would like to learn more about this program visit our website or call us at 1.800.873.3223.

See you soon

Cris

Week 7 – We Waterski Too!

Week seven marked the end our final two week session of the summer but we still have two full weeks of camp left full of fabulous activities. This week we had some fun highlights such as the final Horse Show of the season. Our riding campers have been working very hard the past two weeks for the show and they all did beautifully. I had the pleasure of watching the show for about an hour and got some great photos of our riders during the show. Camp also had two Challenge Adventure Trips go out this week to West Virginia for our Horseback Trail Riding and Combo Challenges.

During the week our campers participated in many activities such as, fencing, dance, low & high ropes, mountain biking, mountain boarding, water polo, and so much more. One of our archery classes had a friendly little challenge going on when I visited them this week. I believe the boys vs girls archery challenge was a pretty close race by the time I left the range. The boys may have been ahead by a few points, but don’t tell the girls I told you that.

Our canoe class this week were practicing rescue procedures on the lake during my visit. It seemed like a wise lesson to cover to me. During the two canoe periods I visited, first the older campers were volunteering to be rescued while the campers/counselors in the canoe would perform the proper rescue procedures. Earlier Mini Camp had also enjoyed a similar volunteer session with their counselors.

Well that’s a small taste of what went on this week during some of our activities and as always there’s tons of photos on our site if you want to know more. However this week I finally got to go on our Waterskiing/Wakeboarding Sports Clinic on Lake Ana. I got to sit on the boat for a few hours, take some photos and watch our campers waterski and wakeboard to their hearts content.

It was great fun! I was very impressed with the campers skills on the water. We did have a couple of successful jumps on the wakeboard and a few wipeouts, but that’s all part of the challenge. We all had a great time on the lake, had a bit of sun and a few clouds but that didn’t stop us. I hope to join them again for some tubing in the coming weeks, if I’m lucky that is.

Well that takes care of this week, next week is our big soccer match against our neighbor camp TripleC camp and everyone is very excited. I unfortunately will not be able to attend so no photos from me but I’m sure I can round some up from all the other cameras that will undoubtedly be snapping away during the game.

See you next week.

Cris

Note: The week of August 3-9 we will only have one photo update on Wednesday the 6th and no update on Friday. We may have more photos for the session upon my return but they will not be uploaded until the following Monday. I’m sorry for the inconvenience and I hope you can understand.

Week 5 – A Beautiful Week!

As our second 2-week session comes a close we are happy to look back on another great week. This past week we enjoyed some very beautiful weather. There’s not much more one can ask for at camp than great weather. Last week we enjoyed great activities, evening activities, challenge adventure trips, and more. Some of the great activities enjoyed by all this week were, fencing, fishing, kayaking, dance, canoeing, archery, wilderness survival, pottery, and more.

Our Junior Villages this past week enjoyed some great evening activities. Slip ‘n’ Slide was the activity to beat for Junior Boys and Mini Camp this week. This evening activity was wet, soapy and lots of fun. I got to take a few photos of the event and it looked like a blast. My son tells me it was all kinds of fun.

Later in the week our Senior Villagers enjoyed nice cook-out on the beach on Friendship Lake. The Senior Villagers seemed to have a great time and a great meal created by our Senior Village counselors. It was a special concoction I did not have time to try myself. It seemed like a nice mixture of cheese beans, vegetables and corn chips. Now that’s a well balanced dinner!

A Basketball Tournament for the Junior Boys and a Pool Party for Riding Camp, Mini Camp, and Junior Girls was the evening activity on Thursday evening.

Just another great close to the day’s activities. Some great photos of these activities are on our site. I can absolutely attest to our campers love for jumping of the diving board.

Now the really highlight of the week was all-day Friday. We enjoyed our usual great variety of activities but we also had our second Horse Show of the season. Some of our parents stopped by to visit and watch the show. Our riding campers performed wonderfully. The tennis courts were enjoying a little tournament to real test the skills they’d learned all week. Campers enjoyed some one on one matches as well as some doubles against the counselors.

The Friday Night Dance themed “Jail House Rock” was great fun for all who attended. I got to see some interesting takes on the theme from all who dressed up. I have to say the most , umm, interesting were the Prison Bars costume. Just check out some of the photos to see them in action. Later on we headed to the Council Fire to close out the week and the session with a Camp Fire. We enjoyed some songs, skits, and a great time together.

We’ll see you next week.

Cris