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“ What a great day!” exclaimed Riding Director Cat Harrison, in response to camp’s first competitive horse show of this summer. “We sent 42 riders to Willow Hill, far and away our largest number in recent years, in addition to transporting 17 horses. Everyone, riders and staff alike, did a fantastic job, and we received many, many compliments from other riders, parents, and spectators all day long!” The morning started early, at 6:00 A.M., and with a constant rain, but by show time the rains had ceased and the sun started to peak through the clouds. It was a full day for many riders, and as noted by Highlander Teonna O’Leary, it was “both a lot of fun and a lot of competition, with many riders from other places and many riders entered in each division.” Cat Harrison was  very impressed with how many of camp’s riders earned ribbons, given the huge number of entrants. Among many of the highlights was Emilia Malpeso (above left) entered in the “Regular Hunter” division; it was the most advanced division of the day and perhaps the first time camp has entered a rider in this class. Emilia did very well, earning 1st, 2nd, and 3rd ribbons as well as Reserve Champion in this division. Lexi Coleman and Samantha Terenzi rose to the occasion by riding horses they were not used to in the Crossrails division, while Teonna O’Leary rode an ex-race horse in his first-ever show class. Sonja Wojcik placed 3rd and 4th in the jumping and flat classes of the Low Hunter division in her very first show! Even for riders without ribbons it was a great day full of its own highlights; for Heidi Taggart it was just the fact that “I got Intruder all the way around the course while only refusing once!” The full results of the show can be found while clicking here; next up for the riders is the MacCready Horse Show this Saturday. For more photos of the show, be sure to check out tomorrow’s gallery. |
Granted, Paul Bunyan may have been able to cut down an entire forest with a single swing of his hefty
ax, or carve out the Grand Canyon with the dragging of that blade...but could he make a bed, outdoors on a windy day, in less than sixty seconds? Or climb 16 milk crates without toppling? Or run atop an inflated tube in the lake without tumbling in? These were just some of the challenges faced by campers in yesterday’s 103rd annual Paul Bunyan Day. Among some of the other events were pole balancing, nail hammering, tree hugging, the hammer throw, the single-person saw, and the log pull and log throw. Perhaps the most notorious of the events is the Blowdown Swamp Run, first braved this year by Pioneers Joe Zimmerman and John Lynch (above left). The overall section winners for this year’s Paul Bunyan Day were Anna Hector, Kay Murphy, Taylor Calfee, Emma Malpeso, and Meredith Carroll from the girls camp and Alec Gonzalez, R Hollis, and Varun Anand from the boys camp.
