The beginning of session 2 here at East Valley Ranch has taken off at a gallop! After all of the girls were dropped off on Sunday we played some name games and started to get to know everyone. After dinner we had our first evening activity, which was OPENING CAMPFIRE! The girls got to make s’mores and write down what their goals were for the two week session. After that the girls were invited to share any goals or talents with the group and it turned into a big sing a long and fun time, especially when one of our staff members, Emma, brought out her guitar and played some summer favorites! One Direction and Call Me Maybe were on the top of that list!

Monday was the real start of the session as the girls woke up in time for flag raising before breakfast! Everyone ate a delicious meal and talked excitedly about what was going to come after breakfast- evaluation rides at the barn! All of the girls did wonderfully. The campers were split up into four groups, by yurt, and rotated through different stations throughout the barn. While one group was riding another group was doing barn rules, or horse introductions, grooming and tacking, and leading and tying.  After everyone had a chance to experience all of the activities, it was time to clean up the barn and head to lunch!

After lunch there was rest hour, where the girls got to hang out in their yurts and write letters or make friendship bracelets. Once everyone was relaxed and ready to go, a big GaGa tournament started only to be interrupted by WATER BALLOONS! The girls each got a partner to play water balloon toss! Every time the balloon was caught and didn’t pop the girls had to take a step back so that the game became harder. Once the balloons were all gone it turned into a big water fight with buckets of water and lots of splashing! All of the girls were laughing and cooling off, it was so much fun! They even teamed up to get a few of their counselors soaked. Shortly after everyone finished drying off and getting changed it was time for dinner where all the girls chatted about the horses they rode and the activities that they had done. After showers it was time for another evening program which was…SUPER SECRET DANCE PARTY! All the girls ran to their yurts to come up with their craziest outfits before coming to the dining hall- which had been transformed into a big dancing area with music speakers! Singing and dancing went on into the night, and it could even be heard across camp! However that night everyone was eager to get to bed because in the morning they would find out who their horses and instructors were!

Tuesday was the first real day of lessons. The girls woke up for flag raising before breakfast which was where they would find out who their horses, instructors and lesson groups were. After that the lesson groups were split in two! So groups 1, 2, 3 and 4 went down to the barn in the morning to have their lessons while groups 5, 6, and 7 went to WATERFRONT! While the girls who went to the barn groomed and tacked their horses before their lessons the others got to take a hay ride down the farm to swim in the swimming hole! It was a nice way to cool off in the heat! After lunch the groups flip flopped, so the girls who were at the barn in the morning went to waterfront and vice versa.  Once the girls finished their lessons at the barn they got to do stable management as well as turn the horses out to the field while the girls who got back from waterfront changed for dinner!

After dinner the girls had a nice surprise because the CAMP STORE came for a visit! Everyone was excited to buy lots of goodies from the store such as Frost Valley t-shirts, water bottles and sunglasses! Once the store left it was time for showers and then the girls surprised everyone by getting together on the lawn and practicing some EVR cheers! Everyone got into the spirit and joined in! Paper Bag skits soon followed, which is always a funny night! A bunch of random items go into bags and the girls team up into groups and must make a skit using all of the items in the bag. The girls loved it!

This morning things were a little different because the girls are now going to start wrangling in the morning! One yurt will wake up a little earlier and help bring the horses in. This morning was Yurt 1′s turn and they did a spectacular job! Once we finished bringing all the horses to the barn we all met at the flag pole for flag raising before breakfast. Half of the girls are now at the barn riding while the other half just now left for waterfront! It is hot, hot, hot but the girls are drinking lots of water and are excited to go swimming! After lunch and rest hour we will flip flop again so everyone gets their turn at the barn and at the swimming hole. Tonight’s evening activity is going to be a big camp wide game of CAPTURE THE FLAG! It’s been a busy first few days but we’re really excited for all of the fun things coming our way!

We <3 EVR!

It’s hard to believe that the second session of Mustang Village has already started.  We are so excited to have a new group of girls who are as excited to learn about horses as the staff are to teach them.  This year we even have two campers who are part of our Chinese partnership.  They are already teaching words and games to some of the girls and it just goes to show how much Frost Valley values diversity.

Yesterday was a whirlwind of activity.  The girls played games, worked on memorizing everyone’s names, and had a great time exploring Frost Valley.  Everyone had a swim check- which is Frost Valley’s way of ensuring everyone is safe in the area they are swimming at waterfront.  All the girls were eager to get in the water and sad to leave at the end of the activity period.  In the afternoon they traveled to the barn.  Again, it was a day of orientations, riding evaluations, learning dozens of horses names, and much more.  At the end of the day the girls were pretty much exhausted but early agreed on a hike to High Falls.  They loved the natural waterfall and it was so much cooler down along the river.

Today is the day the real fun starts!  All the girls were very eager to jump in at waterfront.  It was quite warm today and the chance for a cool down was very exciting.  Girls ventured to the water trampoline, went boating, and simply swam back and fourth to the floating docks.  After waterfront they did some cool and relaxing activities to help keep them from overheating. In the afternoon they headed to the barn and were eager to find out which horse they would be riding for the session.  They learned which ride groups they would be in, and who their instructor for the session would be.  Today was incredibly hot and to help keep all the Mustang girls and their horses from overheating….they went on a trail ride!  All the girls were super excited, especially since they usually don’t have the chance to go on a trail ride until later in the session.  The girls all did a wonderful job, and it was a nice relaxing start to building a strong relationship with their new horse!  It is only 5:15pm here right now, and there will be plenty more going on today.  The girls are slathered in sunscreen, fully hydrated and ready for their next adventure!

Session 1 is coming to a close but this only means that the 4-week girls are that much more excited for the rest of their time here!

Tuesday was trail day for the rest of camp, but the girls chose to have an arena lesson, instead.  All of them are improving every day and their dedication to learning is something everyone should admire.  The day’s ground lesson was breeds and colors, and the girls put on a horse auction!  Each girl was responsible for learning about one breed and auctioning a horse of that breed off to the rest of the group, teaching them about the key characteristics and unique qualities.

The rest of the morning was spent with Peter from main camp!  Peter came to visit us, bring with him lots of games and fun activities for the girls to participate in.  All of the girls who weren’t riding in the morning spent their time together, playing all sorts of games.  There were tons of pictures taken so they should be posted shortly!

The past few days we’ve enforced mandatory rest hour, which means that each girl must be in their own bed resting quietly.  They may read a book, make a bracelet, or take a nap. As the session goes on we emphasize the need for downtime since the girls are so often gogogoing for the rest of the day!

Tuesday’s evening program was an all-camp activity!  The first ever WILD,WILD WEST MURDER MYSTERY NIGHT!  All of the girls dressed up in western get-up and the staff members were each given a role to play.  Some of the 4-week girls joined the staff in the acting, portraying a character in the mystery.  There were four rounds and each round led the girls closer and closer to discovering who the murderer was!  They had the chance to interact with the characters and act as detectives, questioning them to gather evidence.  Even the cast didn’t know who the true murderer among us was, so we had to do some deducing ourselves!  I think it’s safe to say that this is an evening program that will go down in the EVR history books and quickly become tradition.

Wednesday the girls took a wagon ride to Farm Camp after breakfast and spent a nice relaxing morning at waterfront.  The water was a bit chilly, but a few girls braved it and made their counselors go in, too!  The others chose to sunbathe, read, scribble in their journals, or play volleyball or soccer.

Their time at the barn was a bit different for one reason: we did instructor switches!  They got the chance to experience a different teaching style from the one they’ve grown accustomed to over the past two weeks.  It was a fun change of pace for the instructors, too!  After their normal lesson time, everyone hit the trail for a nice cool-out (for the horses and the girls!).  We headed down beside the river on Sheriff’s Shortcut, then headed to the other side of camp, up the mountain on a new trail that we’ve dubbed Cowgirl Circle!

Evening program was another all-camp and a slightly bittersweet moment: closing campfire.  Although it wasn’t the last night, there’s a special activity planned for tonight, so we did the next best thing, and held it last night.  It also happened to be the birthday of one of our counselors, Bex!  The campfire doubled as a birthday party and she received lots of birthday cards that the girls made for her.  I’m sure you can guess a few of the things that were a part of the campfire… s’mores anyone?!  We also started a new tradition called “Remember when…?”  Each girl was given a piece of paper with these words on the top and asked to write down a funny or special moment from this session.  In a few months we’ll send these out so that they can relive these past two weeks and remember all of the wonderful times that they’ve had here at EVR.  We followed this with a devotion, led by Sarah.  Each girl (staff included) went around telling the group their favorite moment, whether it was funny or serious, then we closed our eyes and had a moment to reflect on how we’ve changed because of our time at EVR.  We finished the night standing around the fire, singing any and every song that we all knew the words to, until our voices told us that it was time for bed.

Today is the last full day of Session 1 of East Valley Ranch… tonight is East vs. West, when Mustang Village comes to our home turf and battles us in chants, cheers and general craziness!

We can’t wait for the next two weeks!

We love EVR! <3

Good morning from East Valley Ranch!

We cannot believe that an entire week has already passed!  This weekend was full of all sorts of fun times, starting with a day entirely devoted to bareback riding on Saturday.  The entire camp participated and each girl was able to ride a horse bareback (without a saddle or pad), and really gain a feel for the horse’s natural movements.  When they were not riding there was plenty of face painting to be done!  The campers who did not wish to have their faces painted still asked for a bit of our skilled artwork on their arms or hands.  They were a pretty colorful bunch by the end of the day!

The weather didn’t cooperate for their planned afternoon at waterfront, so we split the camp into two groups and half of them had a show grooming competition while the other half watched a horsey movie, then they switched places.  There were three categories that the girl’s grooming was judged in: Most Professional, Most Creative, and Best Effort!  They worked in teams of two to make their assigned horse as clean and well turned out as they possibly could.  We’ve never seen so many braids and so much yarn in the horse’s manes and tails!

Dinner on Saturday night was an old camp favorite: SPAGHETTI!  Spaghetti means that it was EAT WITH YOUR FACE NIGHT!  The girls dug right into their dinner without any utensils, using only their faces and ending up with sauce alllllllll over!  The counselors also joined in, of course!  The ones who didn’t at first were persuaded when the entire dining hall chanted their names until they each took a messy bite.

Sunday was the day of rest for our horses anddd the first ever EAST VALLEY RANCH FOX HUNT!  All of the girls were divided into three teams: Horses, Riders, and Hounds.  They dressed accordingly and had their faces painted to match, with paper ears on their heads and baling twine tails attached to their jeans.  Each team had to complete five tasks in half an hour to receive the next clue to find the fox (a staff member who ran around wreaking havoc all day long!).  Each task emphasized teamwork, whether it was untangling the human knot or working to sit down/stand up back-t0-back.  Imagine having to do that with ten girls!  Once the girls found the fox, they moved on to water activities.  We brought out the slip-n-slide, EVR bucket drop (who doesn’t like having a bucket of water poured over them when it’s blazing hot outside?), and had a crazy, impromptu water fight!  Evening program was a special fox hunt edition night hike!  Along the trail we played a camp favorite: CAMOUFLAGE!  We emerged from the woods a bit muddier than we started out, with a few more ferns in our hair, and big smiles on our faces.  It’s safe to say that everyone slept well that night!

Yesterday the riding continued with a lesson in the morning and a long trail ride after lunch! The trail took them across the river and up the mountain across the road from camp.  The girls learned about conformation in their morning ground lesson – what is the ideal conformation and how the way a horse is put together effects their movement.  For evening program all ten of the girls went up onto our high ropes course!  This was definitely their favorite part of the day.  Tomorrow brings more riding, more games, and hopefully more swimming!

We love EVR! <3

What an adventure the two week program has been having at East Valley Ranch! Over the weekend the girls got to experience so many new things. Saturday the girls got to try something completely new in their lessons: BAREBACK RIDING. Everyone got a chance to ride a horse without a saddle and see just how different it felt. While those lessons were going on and girls were away from the barn, they were split up into different groups. Half of the girls got to relax out of the sun and chill out, watching a movie, while the other girls got to compete in a show-grooming competition! Awards were given for; the most professional look, best effort and the most creative! The girls also had to work in teams of two so teamwork was key!

Dinner was also a blast later on in the day seeing as silverware was a no-no! Eat with your face night, a Frost Valley tradition, was no stranger to the girls of East Valley Ranch! Food went everywhere as the girls laughed with their friends and counselors and enjoyed their messy dinner. Evening program was a campfire for the girls where a devotion took place! The girls all got to talk to each other about what they were feeling about the horses, camp or anything they wished to share. It was a very rewarding moment, one the girls got to celebrate with BANANA BOATS. They loved stuffing their bananas with marshmallows and chocolate before the staff stuck the bananas in the fire so they would get all warm and gooey!

Sunday was a huge surprise for the girls, an all camp activity also known as EAST VALLEY RANCH’S FOX HUNT. The girls all got to sleep in a bit and rest before brunch was served at eleven! After everyone finished eating the girls were all divided into three teams; the horses, hounds and the riders. A staff member would be the fox and the idea was that the three teams would compete to try and find the fox first! However, it was not just a game of tag and hide and go seek. Five locations on camp were selected and each spot had a clue to get to the next place which in turn got the teams closer and closer to the fox! But there was another part! Before each team could get the next clue once they found the location, they would have to complete a certain task before the ‘Huntsman Official’ would give them the next clue! Each activity focused on the team’s ability to work together and they could not be completed until everyone worked together to solve it! Once they got all the clues they were able to receive the last one, which led them to the fox’s ‘lair’ where they all received a prize.

After everyone finished their scavenger hunt for the fox it was time for some water games! A Slip N Slide was set up for the girls to play after we finished the classic EVR Bucket Drop! After that was all done the girls decided they weren’t quite finished playing water games, and they ended up taking all of the buckets and soaking EVERYONE. It was a lot of fun! Once that was finished everyone helped to clean up East Valley Ranch before heading in for dinner. After dinner we all went on a nice hike and played a some Fox Hunt edition camouflage, where everyone tried to blend in with the woods while the seeker tried to find them! The girls definitely went to bed tired and excited to talk about all of the things they had worked on all day.

Today Yurt 5 got up early to wrangle in all of the horses before flag raising! After breakfast the girls split up, so half of the group got to do their lessons and trail rides while the other girls got to learn all about feed and nutrition and make DREAM CATCHERS! Lunch followed after that and then it was time for rest hour! After that the groups flip flopped again. The dream catchers came out amazing! Just before dinner the girls got to help turn out the horses and do some stable management before eating. Everyone was definitely eager to get to the showers after a full day at the barn and then we played a HUGE game of capture the flag. It was so competitive and the girls wanted to play all night! It’s very quiet on camp now as everyone is tired after a full day at the barn. More fun will come in the morning!

We <3 EVR!

It may be incredibly hot in all the suburban areas – but life in the Catskills is sweet as can be.  Of course it is hot, but a light breeze does wonders to cool everyone down.  Mustang Village spent a little extra time at waterfront today helping everyone to beat the heat.  Don’t worry – we are drinking tons of water, and eating watermelon, and playing water games, and swimming, and enjoying time in the shade.  The girls went on a longer trail ride up into the woods today to have the chance to relax a bit more with their horses.  They are all enjoying themselves and are excited for the all camp event!