Then I was taken around and outfitted with my uniform and taken to my bunkhouse. It was a small cabin with 3 rooms. Two of them had bunk beds for us girls and in the back was a smaller room for the counselor. I don't remember our first counselor's name, but my roommates were Melanie Zibbit and 2 others (can't remember their names either).
We hit it off pretty well, especially Melanie and me. But we hated our counselor. Finally we decided just to get rid of her. We proceeded to make her life miserable by putting dead rats in her bed, dumping water in her bed, etc. Finally she quit in tears and never came back. We got a new counselor, Ginny. She was wonderful. She told us great stories and really was one of us. We all loved her.
The meals at Teela Wooket were awesome. There was a huge hall with many many tables and it was all served by campers (perhaps who couldn't afford the tuition?). The food was amazing and plentiful. The camp had many activities and my parents signed me up for all of them! There was candle making, weaving, and all kinds of girly stuff. But there was also archery and riflery, which I really enjoyed and never missed. And of course there were the horses.
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| Equitation class |
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| Heading out for a trail ride |
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| Jumping class |
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| The cabins |
Oh yes, the reason I was there - the horses. There were 67 of them.
The barn was on 2 levels. One of the levels was for the privately owned horses, the other for the camp horses. I believe the private horses were there to be trained by Cappy. He had been a trainer for the US Equestrian Team. There was one horse there, Mighty Meath, who had been on the US team at one point. I knew the name of every horse, its origin, and all its characteristics. For instance, there was Oasis (named for the cigarette commercial, "Oasis takes you away" because he tended to be a runaway). He was privately owned by someone named Tom Owen who was a radio talk show host. I don't remember much about the camp horses actually.
Once I had cut my girly class and was at the stable with Cappy and Lendon, and she talked him into letting her ride one of the USET horses. She was chewing bubblegum at the time, and just as she was approaching a jump, a big bubble exploded on her face, blinding her. But she made it with perfect style, the way she did everything. That was Lendon. I was privileged myself to be allowed to ride Mighty Meath once. He was huge! Probably 18+ hands tall, and he always had his tongue hanging out around his bit, slobbering. He was a real baby though! So sweet and very much fun to ride.
We had a field trip too, to a horse show in Montpelier. Some of the camp horses went, because I remember helping to load them into the trailer.