July was busy, what with the start of the school hols which brought plenty of horse-mad holiday-makers from S. Ireland, Norway and of course Great Britain. Our horses, fat and lazy after an extremely slow winter, were given a rude awakening and were promptly put to work hacking out and giving classes.
If July was busy, August was just crazy. Pony Club started up with a vengeance. Amongst the new activities suggested by the kids was a visit to the neighbouring farm to feed the goats. So off we went with our bags of dried bread and had fun watching the antics as the goats chewed on their husks of bread.
We had one Summer Camp after the other after the next. Our first camp welcomed our old friends, the Spanish children from ASMUJER, the Gaming Addicts’ Association. The kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves and demonstrated once again that horses bring out the best in people. In spite of their problems the youngsters had fun, got on well together and were responsible and well behaved – a pleasure to have around.
Next came Veronica, a 14 year-old from Barcelona who stayed for 2 weeks. She loved every minute of her time with the horses, learnt to ride and decided to give her very best effort to improving her English. She now hopes to study to become a vet.
The second week in August brought us a very special visit, 35 physically and mentally handicapped people from a summer camp in Los Narejos who came to spend the morning with us. The youngest was 14 and the senior member of the group in his 50’s, a motley group made up of wheel chair users, Autistes, people with Down Syndrome, people affected by Cerebral Palsy and Schizophrenia. Some rode Mollie, some led Magic around, others stuck to art work and chatting but all of them had a dip in the pool and went back to Los Narejos tired and contented.
All in all the Horsey Holiday Summer camps were very successful, especially a certain weekend stay over just for mums and daughters.
Our GCSE Horse-riding people passed their exams with flying colours and will be off to college this month to start Equine Studies.
And Ellie, who did jumping classes with Veronica during her hols, went straight back home and into competition at her local riding school.
How’s that for a Summer Success Story?
Well done all, riders and META horses, staff and helpers!
THANK YOU FOR A TRULY WONDERFUL SUMMER!
Liz
