My first Senior Camp Because I turned 11 this year it meant that I could finally go to Senior Camp. Yippee! I had been dying to go for ages as my big sister kept telling me how much fun it was. So on the Saturday before camp started we went to set up, this meant putting down our horses’ beds and pitching tents. Eventually Sunday arrived and so we loaded up all of our stuff and the horses and set off for Cottenham racecourse. When we arrived we had to tack the horses up and go and trot the horses up for Claire (Chief Instructor). Once we had completed the trot up we got our horses settled into their stables and then went to unpack. After we’d unpacked we had a short talk from Alan (our DC) and then got ready for a quick evening ride. We then got our horses ready for the night, had tea and then went to bed. My sister doing the trot up When we got up the next day the sun was out and it was a beautiful day. At 7:30 we all went up to the stables and mucked out ready for stable inspection. When we had finished mucking out we went to the hut for breakfast. After breakfast we got tacked up ready for tack and turnout and had our inspections of both our stable and Tack and Turnout. Once we were done we mounted up ready to ride. That day we rode through the bog and around the racecourse. When we got back from our ride we did stable management and worked towards our four badges. Once we had lunch we rode and did stable management again. We then fed our horses, tack cleaned and went for our evening activity. On Monday we had to run 400m as part of our Triathlon although all the other rides did a Tetrathlon. Also that evening we had wild games. I was in Red Rum team. The first games we did were: a blind taste test; cross the minefield; trivia and float the duck. We then Getting Ready did some team relays as well and the leaders let us have a water fight. Over the week the routine stayed roughly the same and the week rushed by in a whirl of jumping , Dressage, fun and laughter. We had some amazing meals cooked by parents and our amazing “camp mums” Alison and Helen. We also finished our Tri/Tet with shooting on Tuesday and swimming on Thursday, thanks to Helen Searle and Jackie Biswell for organising it, it was loads of Fun! On Friday we had our dressage competition in the morning and then games in the afternoon. The dressage test that I did was Introductory 2007 and I came joint 3rd! I was really nervous as I hadn’t had a chance to run through my test, but luckily Helen ran through it with me. Phew! Later that day it was time for the parade before the games began. We were all split into teams and we paraded out in our team formation. My team was: George, Harriet P and Immy S. Our first activity was shooting , then we did shopping list; Trotting poles; Show jumping; Working Hunter and Handy Pony. Our costumes were on a masquerade theme. Our Costumes Parading Once all the games had finished, our parents took our ponies home and we got ourselves ready for the disco, which included showering for some who hadn’t showered all week! Before the disco started we had the presentation of the rosettes for all the different activities that had gone on all week. There was also certificates given out for the best junior and senior of each of the tetrathlon / triathlon activities. It was great to see lots of rewards for everyone’s hard work throughout the week and it was an amazing end to an amazing week. Thanks to everyone who made it happen!