Many of the girls had previous experience riding, and came to camp with some confidence and skills. A self-professed horse crazy girl, Kathleen Clements, lived near the Saginaw riding stable, and had ample opportunity to ride, but still loved riding at camp in the early sixties. “I had a niece and an aunt who were in the same class at school and they had the Lear’s Stable, where we rode bareback.”
Two early campers, MaryJo Stegall (1933-41) and Judy MacNicols (1946) also had experienced riding before camp. Judy practiced at a local stable with no formal lessons and MaryJo learned from a wealthy family in Davison, who allowed her to ride and exercise their horses.
Bonnie Schlatter, had a pony on her farm, as well as pigs, chickens and sheep, so she was unafraid of riding when she went to camp in 1976. Jane Miller’s aunt and uncle lived in Tawas and had a lake house and a farm. Jane (1969-72) had her own horse on that farm, where she first learned to ride.
The Kessler sisters discovered Camp Maqua, in the forties, through Marsha Immerman, who was Judy’s good friend and horseback riding buddy. Sister Bonnie liked horseback riding until a bee stung her horse, which caused her not only to be thrown by the horse, but stung by the same bee on the ankle!
“I still own a horse now and both my daughters had horses growing up. Marsha, Judy and I used to meet each other to ride in Bay City State Park, and we took care of horses for other people by exercising them,” said Barb Hale (1950), who had lessons at camp a few times a week on tame horses in addition to her stable time before camp.
Sue Robson’s father took her riding before camp in the seventies, but she was happy to learn to saddle and bridle at Maqua and it was the first time she ever galloped! Dana Foote’s mother had taken her before her experience at camp in the seventies, but she felt it was more fun at camp in the hot sun on the winding trails that led to more winding trails.
“I felt like I had my own horse and that my horse loved me,” said Debbie Tweedie (1965-72), who thought it was so much cooler to ride at camp on the trails than outside camp.
Linda Greenwald and her sister Lucille received ponies at the age of four, but said she was on a pony at the age of one and was around animals a great deal of the time growing up. Despite loving horses and riding the trails at camp, she thought the camp horses were “dumb and slow” in the late forties.
Sally Allen (1968-73) learned on her cousin’s horses, but the first time on a saddle was at Maqua. Sandy Indianer (1967) remembered many nervous girls about to ride, but she was not one of them. She had been on a few before camp, and was thrilled to get cowboy boots for her camp lessons.
“I think they only had horses there one year when I attended,” said Gretchen Jacques (1955-57), who had been on horses in Bay City. “I was so disappointed when all we did was learn to post. I wanted to go out on the trails.”
If you learned to ride outside camp, what level did you achieve in camp when you continued your riding?