Advice from a Saddle Club Pro

Dear CFA family,

Ryne and I have been asking for guest bloggers to write up some of their camp experiences to be published here at Hey Hey CFA. Jen is an amazing young woman and a camper of several years, who was my first volunteer to write about her Saddle Club experiences. I gave her a few pretty simple questions to answer, and she ended up writing this wonderful essay describing her summers at YMCA Camp Flaming Arrow. She also has some great advice for campers new and old. Read it and enjoy! I feel so blessed to teach riding students like Jen every summer— I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!

— "MA"

        Hey, Hey CFA.....Hay is for Horses! My name Is Jen Alexander. I am fifteen years old and I live in San Antonio, Texas. I am a competitive swimmer and I am a brown Ragger. (Raggers is a special program at CFA.) I have been in Saddle Club for five years, since I started camp at the age of ten. The reason I choose to be part of Saddle Club is because I am one of those kids who love horseback riding, but I don't have the money to own a horse and I live in the suburbs of San Antonio. I am a horse lover so Saddle Club is that one week out of 52 that I get to live my dream as a horseback rider and I get to say that one phrase I love to say: "That's my horse". If you share the same story then Saddle Club will give you that experience. 

         I enjoy every part of Saddle Club. Saddle Club lets you experience being a horseback rider. You get to enjoy the ability to "own" a horse for a week. The games you do will be fun and teach good posture when you are in the saddle. The games help you become better equestrians. You also get to learn good horsemanship, how to brush your horse and put the saddle on your horse. You get to learn how to walk and trot on your horse. Trotting is a faster pace than a walk. Older kids may even learn how to canter. Cantering, or loping, is a faster pace than a trot. There is a special trail ride that the Saddle Club gets to go on. We get to ride our horses up to Mt. Vesper. Mt. Vesper is this cliff mountain that has a cross on it. The older kids get to eat s'mores up there. It's a pretty view. You can see all of the camp from that point. 

        I think all the horses are amazing. So don't worry about getting a crazy horse because they are all sweet and compatible. My favorite horses for beginner riders are Jb and Karat. Jb is a Spanish quarter horse. I rode him for 2 years. He is a pony but prefers to be called a small horse. He is sweet and gentle. He is the handsomest pony in the barn. He is a great listener and doesn't get super crazy. I love to put his long bangs into a ponytail. He makes funny faces when I do that. :) He has a fast yet smooth walk and his trot is fast. Karat is a pretty mare and she is a Arabian/Quarter horse. She is sassy girl but is honestly sweet. When you trot her she makes funny faces that are awesome to catch on camera. Don't worry if she does that because that's just her. She has a smooth trot and walk. She can ride both English and western so if you only know one way don't worry because she knows both. 

        For advanced riders that ride back at home but never have ridden at CFA, Marquee and is a fun horse for you. I rode him for two years. He is a Thoroughbred. He is the biggest horse in the barn. He has a nice slow walk and a really fast trot so he is perfect to do a posting trot on. He has a calm personality and listens well too. He has a fast canter that's rough but he's only eight, so he might become smoother as he gets older.  Last summer I got the privilege to ride one of the new mustangs named Indigo. He is so cute and calm. If you are an advanced rider you might get to ride him. He has a nice slow walk and a slow trot. When I rode him you liked to go anywhere he wanted to go but he listens well. He is a class clown. He likes to make funny faces and knock down things. He is a very curious little fellow. He doesn't bite or buck which was a surprise to me since he is from the wild. 

        Take my advice young Jedi, because it will determine your life or death here at CFA...I am just playing with you but I recommend you take it. I recommend boot cut or jeans that aren't tight because if you don't want to rip your favorite pair of super tight skinny jeans than I would pick up a pair of loose jeans at Target or Old Navy. Also, about jeans, I wouldn't wear jeans with holes in them because than you can get them caught on the fence or on hooks on the saddle. I would keep your riding clothes in a separate bag just in case if you fall into wild grass and you find out that you are allergic to it and get hives. Been there done that, don't want to have Mickey Mouse hands. I recommend you don't wear flats or TOMS because they don't do to well in mud and poop. At least you can clean tennis shoes and boots. You should have your parents come take you as early as possible so that you can get dibs on a bunk near the A/C. 

        Well, I am planning on coming to CFA this summer for my LIT year. I am also planning on being an WIT when I am 17 to become an assistant wrangler for CFA because someone has to fill those boots.  I will be returning for the epic summer of 2012. Don't forget to live, laugh, love, and look up!

 — Jen A., San Antonio TX

Here's Jen riding "Indigo," the mustang she refers to in her blog entry. She was the very first student rider to trot on Indigo, and even played a whole day of games on him!

Carry it Home

"What you do in here, fill the streets out there." - The Song "Madly"

While that is a religious song that was sung at chapel time at my previous camp I worked at, those lyrics always stuck with me. If is so hard to take we do at camp and apply it to the outside world. The lessons learned like how to care for others, being responsible, etc... I find myself taking something different home with me every year to fill the streets of me life. My first year at CFA was to work hard and set high expectations not only for others, but for myself. The second year was to love blindly. Now this year I am trying to take home the ability to let others (besides my family) love me. It is something that I learned and saw at camp, letting others love me for who I am.

Now you had to learn something while you at camp. Maybe you learned a lot. Its hard to take a lot home with you and sometimes when you try to take so much you end up carrying more than you can handle and you end up dropping everything. If you can carry everything home that is great, but if could choose one thing that you take home what would it be? The confidence you gained? The feeling of knowing that you are loved? The satisfaction of helping someone else? The ability to be yourself?

Once you make it part of your life people will see the difference in you. You won't even have to tell them about it. I tell the counselors if they complete a whole summer it will change them forever and that people will be able to tell that they are different in a good way. They have done something not many people in the world are capable of. It changes them. Camp changes them.

So what is the thing or things that camp changed in you this year?

Miss you already, summer. (With videos galore!)

What a brilliant summer we had at CFA. Most staff have moved on; a few remain to throw their hearts into retreats for the next two weeks. The Magical Back Room in Strong Hall has been tidied and organized and the millions of fun things in there all await Summer 2012, to emerge for theme nights and dances and fairs. The horses are enjoying a brief respite for the month of September. Our staff shirts are washed and folded, to be worn on days other than those which they were intended for— the red "Caring" shirt on a Tuesday!? Sacrilegious!

As we gather our thoughts and lives together from the bustle of summer, enjoy the eight session videos, produced almost entirely by our wonderful "Video Guy," Stephen Salas. Even as the voices of summer fade from the kickball fields and the triangle, we can relive some of the fun thanks to YouTube.

















See you soon, friends & family!