Every year our pony club has an awesome 4 day camp at Woodhill Forest, about 30 mins from Auckland. We pack up our horses, tents and a couple of dogs and go camping on the grounds of Woodhill Endurance Club. Its truly an amazing time. When I first took Red last year he wen't nuts at being out of the pony club. I had a hard time controlling him the first day, all he wanted to do was GO GO GO! Needless to say I wanted him to just lumber along with the rest of the horses. The next day my friend Kate helped me do some work with him in the round pen and after that he was an angel!
So this year off we went off to another time of fun. Most of my friends have their C+ so we were allowed to go off without instructors or adults provided we had a map. We went on a lot of rides but one will always stick in my mind. It was the day before the last day of camp, the last day we could ride. I was going on a ride with Kelly, Jo, Chelsea and Emily. Kelly had to be back by 11 because her mum was taking her horse home a little bit early. So off we set. We didn't pay much attention to the trail markings along the way and soon we became helplessly lost. We had no idea where we were, or where to go next. We had no cellphone coverage and even if we did we couldn't tell anyone where we were. So we just kept riding. Eventually we found a large deer fence, the boarder of the forest. When we saw that we realised we were a long, long way from camp. And to make matters worse the horses were going crazy, it seemed everyone of them had a bad race brain. They were galloping anytime we gave them a little head, we had almost no control.
Jo was having trouble with her girth too, so we got the horses to slow down a little so she could fix it. One foot was out of the stirrup and she was bending down to fix the girth when the horses took off again. I was last in line, and Jo was directly in front of me. As soon as her horse went, the saddle started slipping so she sat up and put her leg out to the side trying to keep her balance. I could see she was almost falling so I tried calling to the others to slow down but alas it didn't work. Jo managed to keep her balance a bit longer when suddenly I saw the saddle slip to the side and suddenly Jo and Inky (her horse) dissapared down a bank. "Holy Crap! Guys come back!" I yelled as I slowed Red down a bit and jumped off him mid stride. I turned around just in time to grab Inky who came galloping towards me. I ran down towards the place I had seen Jo fall, I was really worried Inky had fallen on her. She was climbing the bank when I got there, laughing loudly. Apparently when they had gone off the bank Inky had missed her completely but she had fallen into a massive patch of cutty grass and had cuts all up her arms and on her face. Other then that she was fine. Jo was putting her saddle right, and had almost got on when the others finally arrived back. She told her story and off we went again trying to find a way home.
By now it was 12.00 and we were a bit worried about the wrath of Kellys mum. We finally ended up in a clearing, and we stood contemplating what to do next when suddnely an endurance rider appeard out of nowhere! We fell on her with shouts of glee and thankfulness, and after hearing our horrowing tale she told us we were about 2km away from the camp and if we took the path she showed us we'd be there in no time! We quickly set off and soon we were back in camp. Surprisngly Kellys mum was nowhere to be seen, but Kellys truck was still there. Someone told us she was still on a ride! So at least we weren't in trouble. Oh what an adventure that was.
So now I am impatiently awaiting next years camp! They are always great fun and I promise to keep you informed during it next time! But for now I'll just be waiting for the PC season to start!
This is Brooke, myself and Simone at camp. Observe my wild fringe, I didn't have access to a hair straightner at camp. Also observe my weird expression, I think that is the result of too much sun and little sleep. I would also like to add that I am actually not THAT short compared to Simone. She is tip toeing in that picture!
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