Directors, Counselors, Staff

Meet Carol Wahl!

Published on by Kathy Baker

Carol Wahl was the riding counselor in 1974 and 1975 at Camp Maqua. “I had taken my horse with me to college and I ended up teaching a student who was a part time draftsman in Bay City for an architectural firm. His boss’ wife was on the board of the YWCA and that is how I found out about the job for the camp,” said Carol. “I was the riding instructor for two years and did not teach the year I was pregnant for my first child, since they considered it a liability. In 1977, I taught at another camp.”

“The first year I was at camp I met Pam Moore, who ended up as my college room-mate and was also in my wedding. I had transferred from Saginaw Valley to Central in 1974, so that was the summer between colleges. I met many of the staff at camp that also attended Central, where I joined a Sorority. I remember a girl named Mary Toburen.”

Her riding program centered on this philosophy—“ to teach good, applicable techniques of riding, including how not to get hurt on or around a horse, while still having fun”. She used general methods for beginners, intermediate and advanced riders, which included formal lessons, and competitive games that taught control and confidence for trail riding. She stressed good form and techniques and rules. but felt like the summer of 1974, she worked with horses that were in bad condition.

“My cabin was actually the staff house near the lodge on the screened in porch of the second floor. (Dutton) I have memories of good food in the lodge, ”S’Mores” at the many campfires and a lot of singing.”

Read More

Tales of Tails On The Trail

Published on by Kathy Baker

 

 

Brooke Charland was the riding director in 1969 and left wonderful notes about her summer with nine horses to handle eight girls in each class. (The extra was for rest and replacement.) Mert and Ollie Webb saddled and unsaddled their horses with the help of the staff.

The horse shelter with stalls had been finished in time for the sessions and protected the horses from the strong winds and sun and provided a place for the hay and oats. There was an old trailer near the shelter that housed saddles, bridles, brushes, currycombs, fly spray, first aid kits and other items.

Gail and Lori were her assistants, and they helped with the division of classes into beginner, intermediate and advanced. The beginners had the morning classes when the horses were fresh. The intermediate classes learned to trot. Every advanced class is a joy,” wrote Brooke, who loved how quickly they learned. Most of the girls had either owned horses or had a genuine love for riding in the advanced class.

Across the road from the ring was Beaver’s Bend, where most of the beginners rode. The main path was behind the ring, tennis courts and riflery range. There was a flag beside the trail that indicated when shooting was in progress, and the lead rider was always instructed to yell “horses” before passing the range and again when leaving. The path went past the range and out into a hilly field, which was a big circle with side trails that ended at Explorer’s Hill. (Only the advanced riders could ride those steep, narrow hills.)

Donna Harwood was the activity director the summer of 1970, but her main responsibility was in the riding area, with Mary Swantek as her assistant. (Donna had been the the riding assistant the summer of 1968.)

Read More

Sixties’ Riding Instructors–

Published on by Kathy Baker

23505_115400865153594_7428988_n“I gravitated to the horses right away,” said Cathy Hawkins, who admitted it was her only interest. “If they made me do other activities, which they did, I did it, but as a camper I was a goodie two shoes and it was so unlike me to do this, but I skipped the other classes to go back to the horses.”

“One of the summers I went as a camper and there was another counselor who was in charge of the horseback riding and it did not work out. They hired me as a junior counselor for $50 for the summer, plus my room and board and I worked under Mert and Ollie Webb. I became so close to them—I even sent them an invitation to my wedding!”

“My nickname was “Horse” and so many of the parents were in shock to see me, thinking I would be this big strong girl, when I was a skinny petite thing,” she laughed.

Although Cathy was not homesick, she did miss the feeling of having her family around. Her horse was part of her home and part of the deal for her to become a counselor was to bring her horse with her. “Carryback” and “Misty Moonlight” were two of her horses, but she cannot remember which one came with her or if both did at separate times. It was her horses she missed when she was a camper and she was always happy to go home to see them, but tried not to get too attached to them in order to “move up” in horses.

Read More

Horse Crazy–

Published on by Kathy Baker

IMG_5700Marsha Immerman started riding horses as a very young child when her family went to BayView Stables on Sundays. There was a pony ring, and her favorite horse was “Dimples” and she never wanted to leave, because she felt riding was ‘heavenly’.

“The first time on a horse at camp scared the hell out of me, because the horse ran off with me on the road from the lodge, heading off to the meadow. I ducked under a tree branch and didn’t fall and couldn’t wait to get back on the horse again,” she said of her camper experience at Maqua.

Geri Fleming was her first instructor—a mass communications student at MSU and was only twenty years old. “It was love at first sight,” said Marsha, of her first girl crush, “especially since she was on her horse “Gay”. I learned all the basics of riding with her and never fell off until years later.”

“One year we used to ride into a meadow and down a hill, which we called “Suicide Hill”. The road came into the camp and went away from the camp to the right and everyone was terrified of it. There was another road that led to the lake and it was usually a one hour trip on our horses,” She and Molly Olson used to ride bareback through the woods and through a meadow. They would lean over, holding the horse’s reins and gobble up wild raspberries picked from the nearby bushes. To this day, eating raspberries remind her of those trips.

“I was so horse crazy that I brought some horse manure home in a suitcase and put it in my dresser drawer. After three days, my Mom came in my bedroom and asked what that terrible smell was and I had to throw it away.”

Read More

Meet Kay Webb!

Published on by Kathy Baker

IMG_5710Kay, her brother Dick and father Merton all worked at camp, teaching and caring for the horses. The horses belonged to her father and Kay taught riding at Camp Maqua in 1950, as a high school student, after helping from 1947-1949. Merton loved the girls, and they loved him. Dick, who was four years younger than Kay, was in “girl heaven” with all the female attention, and was a gentle wonderful brother.

Although she never attended camp, Kay felt like it was her second home. “We lived on Long Lake, and I could go over and saddle up all the horses, go home for lunch and come back to unsaddle them”, she said. “In a way it was good I didn’t stay. Even though I ate lunches there as an instructor, those girls had to eat everything on their plates. I hated peas and liver. They had to eat the peas and liver. I would sit at that table every noon, and while the other counselors dashed out back for a smoke, I was back taking care of the horses. I never felt like I was missing anything. “

She believed the Webb horses were probably at camp until 1970, as her sons used to help their grandfather and stepmother Olive. Merton was also caretaker for a short time, doing whatever needed to be done.

“I can still remember my brother getting caught in quicksand down near the lake on his horse”, said Kay. “ Geri Fleming heard him screaming and pulled him and the horse out with a rope.”

She also recalled a funny story about her friend Alice and herself riding into town, following some of the girls from camp, who were “posting”. “We would ride behind them and make fun of them as they lifted themselves out of the saddle to post. Years later I had to teach that!” she laughed. She taught on “Dixie” and the girls loved that horse.

Read More

Finding Horses—

Published on by Kathy Baker

EPSON MFP image

The first mention of horseback riding at camp in the minutes came in June 1935, when lesson fees were posted. (Six lessons for $4.50, 10 for $7.25 and 15 for $10.50.) There was not another notation until March 1936, when the committee had secured Ted Callender, who furnished the horses and two weeks of riding for $5 for eight lessons.

In 1937, Bud Fortin was hired to handle Bud Demick’s horses at camp and served as the instructor, with eight lessons for $6. Not another mention from the committee about horses was noted until a short paragraph in the “Loon” on riding in 1949. Carol Husted wrote, “—happy to see Geri Fleming back as riding instructor for another year” and the list of levels of riding classes. The new horses were also listed—Silver, Vic, Trixie, Salt, Peanuts, Ena and Jip. Geri, the instructor, rode Gay.

There were concerns about obtaining horses for the summer season in the minutes of June 1955, but it appeared that none were found, as the following summer the minutes mentioned a reconsideration for horseback riding lessons, with conditions not mentioned, but occasional riding trips included. In 1957, the minutes mentioned that horseback riding was offered.

In May 1959, notes indicated that Mr. Matthew’s horses had been sold, which meant they had been used in 1958. The committee was looking for another source and if no horses could be found, horseback riding would not be offered.

By 1960, a new riding ring was being considered by the committee.The Dept. Of Social Services report from that summer listed the riding areas as extremely poor and hazardous, with temporary stakes in the ground and low wire.

By1961 the new riding ring was built next to the new softball diamond. Fifty-eight girls signed up that summer for the riding program, with fourteen horses. (About thirty-two to thirty-eight girls rode every day.)

During the interim, horses were not mentioned again until the March 1962 minutes, when Mert Webb informed the committee that he had sold his horses, but would be willing to handle the horses for an advance of $800 to secure them. He furnished them again in 1963, 1964, (presumably 1965?) and in 1966 a mention was made in Dorthe Balaskas’ directors report.

The horseback riding program had fifty-four riders in the first session, fifty-six in the second, sixty-one in the third and sixty-two in the fourth, which was up from the previous summer. (Mr. Webb provided four camperships to ride.)

“It was a tremendous load off my mind to have Ollie back as riding director and I sincerely appreciated the fine job she did,” wrote Dorthe. “We did not have a part-time staff assistant in riding, but Ollie found a lady in Hale to teach two classes and she worked out very well.”

And then there were years the “horse-riding program” used long-eared mules! Carla Wilhelm (1945-49) loved the horseback riding and the side trips they took, but said they saddled the mules like horses.

Were you ever part of the program when there were mules? Or were you there during a year when horseback riding was not offered?