Dorothea Kelton loved horseback riding when she attended camp in 1940 and remembered she had to pay extra for the lessons. She had been on horses around town, but not like her experience at camp. “We would tie a towel around the end of the bunk bed if we were riding, and the counselors would wake us up early. I still remember the instructor—Nadine Bell.”

The riding was the main attraction for Kathy Sullivan (1961), who raised enough money babysitting so she could take the lessons at camp. She spent time with horses near her home, but just as Dorothea said, it was not the same as camp. The girls could ride days in a row.

Mardi Jo Link (1973-78) would save her babysitting money all year, so she could have the riding lessons at camp. “My bunk was the furthest from the stables and I can still see myself laying on the bunk during rest time, waiting for the bell to ring. I would have my riding boots on while I rested. I would race to get my favorite horse “Champagne”. That horse was like a horse out of the movies with its light colored eyes and coat. Now when I look back at the photos, it was not a horse out of the movies, but the saddest and ugliest pony,” she laughed. “But, it was a fairy tale horse to me back then.”

The horses that Shirley rode were very calm and she never fell. She always made sure she did go too far out or she would have to fight them to go farther.“It made it even more special that I had saved the money,” said Shirley Colbert (1941). “It was my parent’s way of telling me that everything doesn’t come easy.”

Anne Duffield (1947-50) was supposed to earn the extra money to pay for the lessons at camp, but never got around to it. “When it came time to ride, my name was on the list, so I took the lessons. When I got back home, my Mom made me sell my bkie to pay and as I recall, I didn’t care! I know later in life when we took our kids to a ranch in Colorado, they were surprised to see I could ride.”

It was $13.50 for six lessons in 1966, recalled Gail Schultheiss, who rode a horse named Pal. Many of the girls could remember their favorite horses. Trixie was Judy Rowden’s spirited favorite in 1949, because she went so fast, but no one wanted to get on the “slower than molasses Ena”. Janice Moore said everyone always wanted to ride the same horse when she rode in 1953.

And then there were the girls who would do anything to be near the horses! Kim Moore (1967-72) had a huge passion for horses, despite her quiet demeanor. She had been on horses before camp, and was not necessarily athletic, but loved that she could ride every day at camp. “It was my perfect opportunity to be one of the horse geeks and clean and shovel after the horses and think they are doing me a favor. And I learned to cantor and trot and knew the difference and also learned to saddle and unsaddle.” Sally Hurand had memories of Ollie and the miniature horse called “Tiny Tim” and learned to groom the horses and shovel the manure in the mid-sixties.

Did you earn money for your lessons or love the jobs that surrounded the stable life?