Riding Camp!

Vanessa is a Horse Girl. She vaults in Victoria (gymnastics on horseback) and generally loves horses. We sent her to the Bluebird Riding School for summer camp for a week here in Parksville.

Here she shows us her all time favourite horse, Jesse James!

On the last day of camp, every girl decorated themselves and their horse and paraded around the front paddock to show the crowd of parents and grand parents.

Nessa led her horse around, decorated as the Sparkle Twins, with a little help from Nana's boa and some Christmas decorations.

The kids had such fun - they rode, they had classes in grooming, learning all the parts of the horses, the equipment and the barn - including mucking out stalls!

Now here is the face of a happy camper. They each got a certificate, a trophy, and a picture of each of them, set in a horse shoe which each girl decorated in crafts class.

The school was founded by Karen, who brought 30 rescue horses from California after her home and stables burned down in one of the big California fires. She has set up here, right beside the Rockinghorse Pub, which is a great little country pub. Great job, Karen - see you next year!