Farm Camp Updates

[missyfritz]

Hey guys! Hope everyone is having an awesome summer so far. :) Just thought I'd pop by and start an update thread for my camp experiences this summer!

Two and a half weeks ago started staff training. It was an awesome experience. I knew most of the people on staff either from last summer or volunteering at the farm, but there were a couple new guys. Everyone is super fun and a blast to hang out with! I don't see there being any problems with staff drama this year (knock on wood). That lasted 9 days. We got a ton of bonding done in that amount of time. I feel close to everyone, even the people I didn't know at all before. We stayed up nearly all night playing cards, random improv games, and eating delicious burritos from a restaurant close by. ;)

Sunday (June 20th) started first session. The campers (most of them anyway) are great! They're very happy to be here and are having a blast. Each session, there are 4, lasts 12 days. These kids will be here until Friday and then we'll get a new bunch. They're about as behaved as to be expected besides a few frowny stubborn campers, but every group has a few of those!

The horses, on the other hand, have been causing some major issues around the farm. We have some injuries that have kept a few out of work. Lady, one of the horses I was supposed to be using, got beat up pretty good by a horse that got loose in the night. Not good news, but she should be back in a week or so. The biggest problem we have is an Arabian gelding named Jake. He's not doing so hot right now. He foundered in both front legs and it's touch and go for him. :( Vet doesn't know if he'll ever be sound enough to ride, but he's getting plenty of rest and special treatment so hopefully he'll heal up! Then today, I got my foot stomped good by Willow, the mare that is taking Lady's place until she's ready to come back. Ooh it hurt so bad! She is the most awkward and uncoordinated horse I have ever met. I was picking a front hoof and she went to take a step and nearly fell over, but put her foot down right on the middle of mine. :doh: X-rays show a hairline fracture, but there's nothing I can do but let it heal. Hopefully my boots won't bother it tttoooo much!

On a lighter note, we got two new twin Jersey cow calves donated to the farm a few days ago. They're so tiny! Both farm directors say they're the smallest calves they've ever seen. They're just a week old and I get to help bottle feed them. So adorable!

http://i45.tinypic.com/34dhbih.jpg

There's a little boy and a little girl. We, as a staff, are trying to convince one of the farm directors to name them Pebbles and Bambam, but I think they already decided on Spot and Bessy. Not as awesome in my opinion, but whatever.

I'll try and update again soon with more pictures! :)

[CaddoCinnamon]

Great glad that you are having a fun summer.

[Equine_Woman]

Sounds like an eventful summer so far!!! I vote for Pebbles and BamBam too!!!! Adorable! Hope your foot feels better fast!! I was stepped on by a horse and it hurt for a year. . OUCH!!

[mare]

Sounds like good experience and a lot of fun.

I vote Pebbles and BamBam, too.

[jeezitsjacki]

sounds like a lot of fun, and that calf is so cute. sorry about your foot!

[JackieB]

Great to hear from you! The calf is soooo cute!

Sorry your foot was injured. I'll bet that really, really, really hurt.

Hope the horses heal up.

Glad you are enjoying the summer. I want one of those burritos!

[Steelhorserider]

Glad to hear you are enjoying your summer job! Pebbles and Bam Bam is much more fun than Spot and Bessy.

[Dakota Sunrise]

Awe, the calf is so cute! I hope they name them Pebbles and Bambam, those are cute names.:)

Sorry your foot got stomped on- Dakota did that to me yesterday.:rolleyes: But no damage for me, it just kinda hurt at the time.

Hope Jake gets better soon!

[missyfritz]

Well first session is officially over as of this evening. Everything flew by! I have 3 more sessions to go before the end of the summer and at this pace, it will be here sooner than I ever imagined. We had an awesome group of campers. Everyone got along and had tons of fun. Our new group comes on Sunday, but luckily there's the weekend to rest up and recover before then!

My toe is healing a lot quicker than I thought it would. After only a day or two I could wear my cowboy boots around all day without any pain or swelling. I'm super happy because my biggest fear is getting injured and not being allowed back to work.

Anyway, on with the pictures! :)

http://www.baywindfarm.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=1371&pictureid=19236
Our first session staff picture after the camp party. It was a country western theme and so much fun. We have such a perfect staff this year. Everyone gets along amazingly!

http://www.baywindfarm.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=1371&pictureid=19233
The farm camp girls! Everyone with a name tag is a permanent staff member and those without are the CIT (counselor in training) and WIT (wrangler in training). We get new its every session.

http://www.baywindfarm.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=1371&pictureid=19243
Salt, Pepper, and Cinnamon

http://www.baywindfarm.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=1371&pictureid=19245
Archie, little guy is so much fun to play with!

http://www.baywindfarm.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=1371&pictureid=19237
The calves (Spot and Bessy) with a Nalgene water bottle for size comparison. They're growing so fast!

http://www.baywindfarm.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=1371&pictureid=19242
I get to help bottle feed them! Aaawwee, they're so adorable! :)

More pictures in next post!

[missyfritz]

Just a couple pictures of some of my horses for the summer...

http://www.baywindfarm.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=1371&pictureid=19246
This is Sugar. She is the horse I trust the most with the little kids and the new riders. She's great with them and so sweet!

http://www.baywindfarm.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=1371&pictureid=19247
And this is Penny Lane. She makes me laugh every single day, whether it's her awkward cartoon-like proportions or her lip smacking noise she makes...it's always something! I like to convince the campers that she's actually an Arabian/Unicorn cross. I call her an Arabicorn. :)

[3equines]

What a neat place! Those are some lucky kids! Sorry about your foot, that just really puts a damper on fun. Sounds like maybe the uncoordinated horse needs a little extra training in the foot department. It's probably not your place there to 'fix' horse problems, but sometimes tying up a front leg for 5 - 10 minute periods will teach a horse to relax and balance better when their feet are being handled.

[CaddoCinnamon]

Sweet pics. Love the calves.

[sgttibbs521]

those pictures are adorable! :D

[PoniesRock101]

awww! looks like your haiving tons of fun missyfritz! I saw some of your pics on facebook and just thought... AWWW

Hope your staying cool, it's really hot here today! and I know our weather is pretty much the same! :p Hope you have lotsa fun at camp this session.

Your first post makes me really want a burrito! ;p

[missyfritz]

Well 2nd session officially ended yesterday! The whole 12 days of this session was massive craziness. We had a bunch of scary situations, horses and campers included.

It started with Lady (one of my horses campers ride) being chewed up again by the same horse that got loose again. The loose horse was moved to a different part of the barn far away from Lady, so hopefully that won't be an issue again. She was out of work for a couple days with a swollen hock, but is healthy and happy to be back now!

A couple days after that issue Sugar, another one of my horses, threw a shoe and a pretty good chunk of hoof came with it. Poor girl has such weak hooves and the farrier was scheduled to come in 3 days. So Sugar was out of work until then and I was down to a single farm camp horse.

Luckily, Scout came to the rescue! Scout is a horse used for Ranch Camp (the 13 & 14 year old kids who ride trail nearly every day), but wasn't being used for any kids this session. She is a gorgeous bay Paint, but can be a pain to ride sometimes. For farm camp though, she was perfect! I was so happy. She was every kid's favorite horse to ride. I couldn't be more proud of her performance. :)

Then the craziness started with the campers...oh boy! :/ One day we had one boy get hit in the eye in a freak gardening accident. He took a pitchfork to the face and we took him to the hospital to get stitches. Scary situation! Later that same day, we had a girl fall playing duck duck goose and break her arm! It was chaos, such an awful day! Luckily both campers were allowed to return to camp. They both really wanted to, just no riding for the girl with the broken arm.

Besides all that stress, things were awesome! Our staff continues to get along perfectly. It is almost like a dream. It's amazing! This is definitely turning out to be the best summer of my life by far.

We had tons of fun this session! I got the chance to play indoor arena soccer one night with Ranch Camp and SOL (Senior Outdoor Leadership, 15-17 year olds) So I know my toe is better, because I could play soccer without pain. It was madness. We had about 15 campers, me, the farm camp program director, both ranch camp counselors, and both SOL counselors. The ball was ricocheting off the walls and going everywhere! It was super dusty and by the time we were done everyone's socks were completely brown with dust. That was probably the most fun I had all session. I'm definitely playing again next time, and I'm not even a soccer fan! :)

Unfortunately, I do not have pictures from this session, but hopefully my friends will get some up soon so I can share them with you guys!

[missyfritz]

3rd session is over already! I can hardly believe it. These past 2 weeks absolutely flew by. It seems like just yesterday it was beginning.

I had a ton of fun this session! The kids were great, the horses were great, and it was just a generally fun time.

I got the chance to play indoor arena soccer again a couple nights with the 13-17 year old kids and some of the staff. It is so much less scary during the girls sessions than it is the boys sessions! I didn't feel like I was going to have my head crushed at all. :p

Probably the most fun I had this session though was hanging out at the farm at night with Steve and Evan (two of the other counselors and some of my closest camp friends). We walked around a while and then ended up sitting on a hay rack in the indoor arena telling ghost stories at 1am. Evan tells amazing scary stories, but I don't believe the majority of them. The farm is written about in a couple books about haunted places in Illinois, but I always just blew it off. Well Steve and I were listening to Evan tell a story when all of a sudden we heard three loud bangs and a moaning noise on the outside of the arena wall. It was so scary! We ran outside and searched all over, around, everywhere around the arena for what it was, but never found anything. :eek: I don't know what I think it was, but it was perfect timing with the scary story!

We like to tell the campers the story of "The Butcher" and scare them a little. He supposedly haunts the farm and especially one spot, Indian Hill, where his head is said to be buried. :p I found a link to the story online if anyone is interested. The version we tell is slightly different, but this is a pretty good one too.

http://usersites.horrorfind.com/home/ghosts/hauntedus/butcher.htm

I'm working on putting up new pictures! I know I haven't posted any in a while, but I got a new camera and don't know how to get the pictures on my computer yet. Hopefully soon! :)

[missyfritz]

Pictures, finally! I'm aware it's been too long. :)

tiny tree frog
http://i29.tinypic.com/280ig0n.jpg

chubby toad :p
http://i28.tinypic.com/118d0us.jpg

my 2nd session wrangler in training and I waiting for the next cabin to come ride
http://i28.tinypic.com/xm4g37.jpg

an average day for me, watching horses go in circles...but I wouldn't trade it for the world
http://i27.tinypic.com/2cmx6q.jpg