The authors are unknown of these two delightful pieces, but they are a great peek into the minds of excited campers about to camp and ride, especially poignant in their emotions. The first was from the “Loon” 1947 and the second in 1949.
“Oh! How happy I was today! I was to ride on a horse and, since I have never been on a horse, I looked forward to it. It seemed so simple from the distance that I hurried merrily on my way. I reached the corral ahead of the others to try to get a good horse. Of course, I didn’t know one horse from the other. As I looked at the horses, my mouth dropped. They didn’t look very friendly. But, I kept telling myself it was easy and I might even be a born rider. I finally took a brown and white one. I walked up to it on the right side, pulled the reins, and just as I got the straps fixed, the horse moved. After three unsuccessful attempts, I got on. I went down when the horse went up and I went up when the horse came down. What a situation! I ended up with a side-ache and saddle-burns. The rest is too gruesome to tell!”
“This is the day. I awoke at 3:30 this morning too excited to sleep, thinking of my first trip to Camp Maqua. I had trouble getting my oatmeal down and even more trouble keeping it there. After we had the luggage piled in the car there wasn’t enough room for me, so I had to ride in the rumble seat. It would have been more comfortable if there had been more seat and less of me. Arriving at camp around 12:30, we drove up to the lodge. We thought it very peculiar to see horses standing around but we were glad since we all love horses. But, we were again disappointed because we were at the stable house.”
She later wrote on June 30th, “Dear Diary, today I started my classes. I’m a full-fledged beginner in practically everything. I rode “Salt” this morning. He has a beautiful cantor and I have a beautiful blister. (I won’t say where.)”
Pat O’Tool also wrote a story about her horseback riding instructor Nancy Hulbert, which was published in her high school magazine “The Quest”. She loved riding, and recalled that her horse “Salt” was pregnant at the time she rode her. “I finished my ride and that horse just laid down on the ground and rolled over and I thought for sure she would deliver her foal right then and there!”
Other horses listed in the “Loon” that year (1952) were Sandy, Pegasus, Jester, Jinx, Jip, Patches, Spot, Lucky, Bucky and Chief. Sharon Cummings was the assistant instructor that summer.
Described by herself and her sisters as “the horse crazy one”, Judy Kessler was on a pony from the time she was a young girl and loved riding at camp for the two weeks every summer. “I loved horses so much that I used to pretend I was a horse and I would gallop behind Mickie. She did not want me around.” Her good friend at camp was Marsha Immerman, another horse lover, and the two of them would have gladly gone riding every day, if it had been affordable. She bought her own horse when her children were growing up.
Letters to her horseback riding instructor, Kay Webb, are still tucked neatly into the scrapbook that Kay kept of her years at Maqua. Judy still had the horses on her mind, long after camp ended.
Written on her father’s stationary from his dental office where she worked that summer of 1950, Judy wrote: “ How is “Gay”? Does anyone brush him very often? Does he still fight so much in the corral? (I like questions.) Kay, will you please look after him? I probably sound like I think Gay is a baby, but in a way he is a big baby. Remember all the fun we had riding? Gee, I wish I was up at camp. I remember telling all the kids in my hut that I wouldn’t cry when I left. I said all good things have to come to an end sometime, so now is as good a time as any. I lived up to it until I saw you in Hale waving at us from the corner. Then I broke down and bawled like a baby——“
How did it feel to get on a horse for the first time? Did you have any of these instructors?
I would have spent all my time down at the corral if I could get away with it; and I tried. Part of the camp program was to sign up for daily activities. One year, I chose Riding, Rifel range ( my 2 nd favorite) Crafts,Swimming and Archery. i really only cared for horses and guns and tried to avoid the swimming and archery? The Swimming I couldn’t get out of, but archery was mostly easy until they caught on to me and would come looking for me,usually find me down at the corral. I couldn’t convince the staff that I tried Archery and didn’t care for it and I saw no point to keep going when it was more fun to hang with the horses.
Judy Kessler and I continued our love of horses away camp too. We “galloped” our trusty, make believe horses all over the West Side of Bay City. We spent countless hours at Bay View Stables,riding the real deal, getting grooming and anatomy lessons from Bud, the owner of Bay View. And, Jan, I skipped a few classes to be with them too!