Horsing Around

I thought I was prepared for horse camp since I had my wilderness kit, hiking whistle, and can of bear spray but I'm not sure there is any survival equipment for spending a week with a bunch of middle school girls who are crazy about horses.  If there is any repellent for constant giggling I could have use it this week- not for myself but for my campers just in case anyone was confused.  Horse camp is located a mile away from base camp and the cabins and dinning hall look like an old western town with a hotel, bank, and jail- including hitching posts out front.  All of our meals were cooked over the camp fire for the most part- nothing beats sitting around the fire chowing down on grub after a long, hard day.  Most of the time we hung out around the barn at base camp where the girls learned to brush, tack, and ride horses.  I think the girls were slightly shocked I couldn't memorize or identify all 27 horses by the end of the week.  In the evenings at base camp we ate dinner, had chapel and devotions and then spent time around the fire eating smores or playing games.  Of course swarms of the Alaskan state bird, the mosquito, usually joined us in these activities. (I guess this could be an improvement over the horse flies at the barn).  Camp ended with trail ride on the last day.  My horse's name was Blaze- a classic horse name in the same category as Dusty or Lightning.  (Although I've always wanted to ride on a horse with no name).  We forded across the creek just like in the movies and rode across meadows of wildflowers.  As we came over a hill the mountains and ocean cam into view- it was absolutely spectacular.  We ate our sack lunches on the beach.  Blaze wanted to share but there was no way I was splitting my granola bar with a horse.  On the way back we rode along where tree line meets the beach back into camp.  It was an incredible way to end the week.