New Beginnings at Century Farms 2: The Rescue Horse Camp

Chapter 24

-Saturday-

Mel's POV

I threw my backpack that had just enough clothes and other supplies in it to last me one night into the back of our truck early Saturday morning. That was the last bag to load, and now I have to grab Pippa and load her into the trailer that Mom's hauling.

I didn't have many options for who I could ride since Fiona's pregnant and hasn't been trained, and neither have Rain, Spirit, or Geronimo. Also, Paradise is too young, and Chester is too spooky to go on a 2 day trail ride, too. Pippa is my best choice.

All of the campers' horses were loaded, and finally Julie, Katie, Heather, and I can load our horses. Pippa was a bit tricky to load, but I got her in. They're all going in Mom's trailer, and there are 2 other trailers. Heather's mom's, and Dad's, but he's not going on the trail ride.

The four of us loaded our horses one at a time, and once all of the horses were safe in the trailer, we climbed into the back of the truck, and now I have time to spend about 30 minutes with my BFF.

"I can't wait to see how Pippa does on a new trail," I said. "Hopefully there will be a few small fallen down trees that we can pop over. That would start us off on our cross country training," I added.

"Me too. Cloud loves cross country. It'll also be good for her to get away from the barn for a while, she's gonna love it!" Heather said.

"I think Pippa will like it just fine too. She really likes going out on the trails at home," I said. We fell into a comfortable silence, and then Mom started talking.

"I'm pretty sure there are a few trails that have some small log and brush jumps on them. I'm still debating whether I should take an advanced group on that trail and have Heather's mom take the others who aren't ready to jump yet on another trail, but I don't know. I don't want anybody to feel bad if they aren't in the group that is jumping,"she said.

"I like the idea, but I understand how it could make some of the other campers feel bad," Heather said.

"Me too, but maybe if you asked the campers what they think they'll know that they aren't ready or that they are. For example, I think Anna and Fairy are ready since they have been doing a lot of jumping over 2 1/2 feet, and Liv probably wouldn't be in the jumping group since she's doing saddle seat with Tye," I said.

"Maybe they could do that, I'll talk to Heather's mom and see what she thinks. And maybe some of the campers don't want to do any jumping," Mom suggested. Again, the car went quiet.

For the rest of the car ride, there was only a little bit of chatting; we were all enjoying the peace of just us. It can get a little loud with 8 other campers around.

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We arrived at the trails, and first we unloaded all 16 horses from the trailers and tied them up to the rings on the sides of the trailers. Then we unloaded our backpacks and set them by our horses. Next, we let the horses have some hay and water while we groomed them and then Mom started going over (for the millionth time!) what's going to happen.

"So, just to recap what's gonna happen, Mrs. Smith and I will be riding and carrying the heavy loads, and we will also be ponying two other horses that will carry some of the sleeping bags and other supplies. You should all have been able to fit what you need in your backpacks, and for today we will be letting you all use saddle bags to carry water bottles, snacks, sunscreen, bug spray, and anything else that you need. We will be riding for a very long time, and we will be taking lots of breaks because it is very warm outside, so be sure to drink plenty of water. When we reach where we are going to set up camp, we will all help out putting up the tents and rolling out your sleeping bags. There will be places to tie your horses up, and you will still care for your horses just the same as you would back home. Tomorrow, we will eat breakfast same as usual, and then we will pack everything up, but we will first split up into two groups, one will be for the campers who feel they are ready to try a little bit of cross country, and the other group will go on a more complicated trail without any jumps. We will go on those trails and then come back to the campsite and then take everything back to the trailers while enjoying some other trails. Does anyone have any questions?"she asked.