My Little Horsewoman

Today was the first day of Horse Camp. I had trouble sleeping last night. I was very concerned for Deanna.

She's only nine, after all. And she's never been involved in any activity other than church-related or school-related. She's NEVER gone into a group environment where she knows no one (other than Vacation Bible School at Grandma and Grandpa Doughty's). Here, she was a newcomer, never having done Horse Camp before. She's an extreme novice rider, only having been on a horse twice before. I was concerned that she'd either get left out or overhear inappropriate talk or witness inappropriate behavior.

She had trouble sleeping, as well. Before I put her to bed last night, we talked about how important it was that she turn to the Lord if she encountered difficulties today. We talked about the importance of not being like everyone else, working hard at being who God wanted her to be. At 2:00 a.m., she was out of bed going to the bathroom.

That wasn't our first interruption last night, nor our last. Daelyn climbed into bed between Don and me at 1:00, having had a nightmare. It took some talking to calm him down and get him back in his own bed. Then, Deanna at 2:00. At 3:00, Donovan began to whine. He needed to go out - pretty unusual during the night for him, but he's not been feeling well, eating poorly, and his body's a little off schedule. Then he had trouble settling back down again and wanted in the bed with me. He succeeded at keeping we awake for an hour. At 6:00, my alarm went off and it was time to start the day.

I called Don at work after dropping her off and signing her in. I hung around for a few minutes until the morning briefing began and she seemed peaceful. Then we had some errands to run. I dialed Don's number on my cell phone and reported that she was there.

"Please pray, honey," I begged. "I'm so worried about her."

"I have been, all morning. But I'll continue to," he answered.

It was pins and needles all afternoon until we finally went to pick her up. Camp starts at 7:30 and ends at 4:30 - a very long day. When we arrived, she was outside playing a game but ran to me once she spotted us and told me to sign her out. It was hard to judge from her countenance what had happened. I couldn't wait to get to the privacy of the van.

"So - - - what happened? Did you have fun? Did you make any friends? Did you have a good day? Did you get to ride George?"

The short of it is that she DID get to ride the horse she wanted, George, and will have him for the rest of the week. He acted up a little for her and refused to weave through the barrels like he was supposed to. But she plans on setting him straight. She found two Christian girls in her class, but there is one girl who pretend cries a lot whenever she wants something and doesn't think she's going to get her way and another older girl that was mean to the girl that whines. Deanna defended her and told the older girl that she should be looking out for the younger ones, not being mean to them. Go, Deanna!


I asked if she wants to go back tomorrow. She tipped her chin down and looked up at me with a slight grin.

"Mama, what do you think?"

When asked if she wants to return next year, the answer was affirmative. She better start saving for it now.

All told, my daughter handled herself quite maturely and had a wonderful time. When our friend, Ken, came for dinner tonight and asked Deanna about Camp, I explained that she's decided to start GIVING lessons next week, now that she's an expert and all. Deanna smiled from ear to ear.

It's still only the first day of a long, hot week, but the rest promises to be even more fun. Wednesday they start trail rides and Thursday they get to wash the horses.

I asked her if she had to muck out the stables today, something I was very concerned about. I wasn't wild about paying a fortune so my daughter could perform slave labor. She laughed and said that mucking out the stables consisted of standing around while the paid employees did the work, watching so they could learn the concept. She didn't seem too concerned that she may be mucking tomorrow.

All part of a horsewoman's life.