Camp Report
By
CobNut, first seen in DPS Newsletter
The first
DalesFans camp
27-29 August 2002
Report by "Cob Nut"
Long ago, on a website somewhere in cyberspace, a group of adults (I will not
refer to them a grown ups, as this would be a shameless over-exaggeration of
their maturity) were bemoaning the fact that the kids seemed to have all the
fun. Why, they wondered, were there no adult versions of Pony Club camp? They
quickly decided that they would organise one for themselves, in Essex.
Meanwhile, on a website called DalesFans (www.dalesfans.org.uk), some folk who
couldn't make it to the Essex camp decided that it was such a good idea that
maybe they should arrange a camp of their own. And so the idea of a separate
DalesFans camp was born.
Well, to cut a long story short, the Essex camp never actually happened. But the
DalesFans camp did. And so it was that on a sunny Tuesday in late August, six
campers and four ponies from all over Britain descended upon Val and Rodger
James' home and yard at Wetley Rocks in Staffordshire. The campers and ponies
were Olivia ("DalesFan" herself - da one in charge of da website) with Tilly;
Linda ("Dalesponyrider" ) and her husband Joe with Linda’s pony D (Dartdale
Wendy); Alison ("Tinkerdorisalison" ) with Doris; Alison ("Merlinalison" ), who
had been unable to bring Merlin all the way from Edinburgh and so arrived
ponyless; and myself with Whisky (a short fat hairy cob mare who, despite not
being a Dales nor even a Dales cross, was nevertheless made most welcome). Val
and Rodger are not short of a pony or two, however, and suitable mounts were
always available for those who lacked their own.
Our instructor for the weekend was Claire James, who, together with a small army
of helpers of various ages, provided really first class tuition. I am sure I am
not the only one who thought that here, at last, was an instructor with whom I
was really happy to work.
Tuesday was "getting to know you day", and Claire started by discussing our aims
and objectives for the week individually with each of us, and then assessed us
all riding our own or our borrowed ponies. The assessment was not, however, a
one-to-one session in the school. All of the other campers were there as well,
and we were all expected to comment on each others' riding, identifying both
positive and negative points.
After a leisurely and delicious lunch (thanks Val!) we returned to the indoor
school for a session of "schooling by committee" with Claire riding one of her
horses while we studied its way of going and suggested ways that she might
improve it. Then we saddled our ponies again and were invited to do all sorts of
things we'd never have thought to do for ourselves. We introduced our ponies to
a water tray full of plastic ducks; popped some little jumps; rode bareback
(eek!); and even jumped bareback (EEK!!). Finally, we all rode a stallion.
I'll repeat that. We all rode a stallion. A common theme had been that none of
us considered ourselves to be good riders, so Claire tacked up Dartdale Peter
Boy and suggested that we each ride him, just to show that we had no reason to
be so negative about our own abilities. When we had all ridden him, she
explained that he does not tolerate poor riding, and that if any of us had not
ridden him well he would undoubtedly have dumped them without giving it a second
thought. But as it was, none of us renewed our acquaintance with the arena
surface. Well, not on this occasion, at any rate.
This brought the first day’s proceedings to an end. So we bedded our ponies down
for the night and adjourned to a local hostelry for dinner and a well deserved
drink or five.
Wednesday was instruction day. We all had individual lessons on our own ponies
and then, following another wonderful lunch (thanks again, Val!), Claire led a
very useful discussion on sports psychology and strategies for coping with fear.
And this led naturally (oh horror!) into a session in which we were to put these
strategies into action. While we were having the discussion, Peter (the
stallion) had been allowed to wander loose in the school. Now we found out why.
We were all challenged to think up something which, normally, we would be too
frightened to do with Peter. Then, making use of the strategies we had
discussed, we were to confront those fears and, eventually, to overcome them by
actually doing that thing.
For two of us, the thing which we would be too frightened to do was to ride
Peter bareback, without a bridle. We both confronted that fear. We both overcame
it. We both rode him bareback and bridleless. We both got a little out of
balance. We both renewed our acquaintance with the arena floor. But neither of
us was dumped - we both fell off entirely of our own accord. But we had done it,
and we both got up and got straight back on him! Others confronted and overcame
much more sensible fears; and all of us succeeded!
The day’s riding programme ended with us saddling our ponies up again for a
group jumping session - as quite a lot of folk had said that they were keen to
work on their jumping. The jumps got quite high by the end of it - 2'8" was, I
think, the highest we jumped. Which isn't bad considering I'd never jumped more
than 2' or so before, and some of the others hadn't done even that. Once we’d
bedded our ponies down for the night, we feasted on a wonderful barbecue, washed
down with plenty of alcohol, and finally returned to the indoor school where
Rodger gave us a very informative talk on showing in-hand. He carefully
explained to us what the judges would be looking for and how we should present
our ponies to the best advantage. Those who had an interest in showing were
encouraged to fetch their ponies back out again and try a thing or two, and
Rodger passed on some very useful hints and tips on a one-to-one basis.
Thursday was competition day, and with a wonderful array of rosettes to be won
(thanks, Olivia!) we were all feeling super-competitive. In the morning there
was an enjoyable - and keenly contested - competition based on the format of "le
TREC", and in the afternoon a variety of gymkhana games organised by the campers
themselves. In between the two, and to give the ponies a break, we had not only
another leisurely and delicious lunch (thanks yet again Val!), but a visit from
Jo Ashby, the secretary of the Dales Pony Society, who gave a very informative
talk on the points of a Deals pony. She also had a look at all of our ponies,
pronouncing Tilly "probably an unregistered but pure-bred Dales" and Whisky
sufficiently Dales-like to be welcome at the Performance show despite her
un-Dales like head and broad white blaze.
How we managed to fit so much activity into three short days I shall never know,
but all too soon it was time to box up again and run the gauntlet of Val and
Rodger's lorry-breaker of a drive for the homeward journey. We departed with
mixed feelings, of sadness and elation in roughly equal measures: none of us
really wanted to leave, as we had all achieved so much, and made such progress
under Claire's patient and expert instruction. So as we hugged and said our
goodbyes, we promised ourselves and each other that this event would not go down
in history as the DalesFans camp; but rather as the first DalesFans camp.
Note to self: own lorry is 27 foot long. Val and Rodger's drive will be easier
(and significantly cheaper!) to negotiate in a slightly shorter vehicle.