Camp America/Camp Canada. Anyone been?

I've been on Camp America, is there anything specific you'd like to know, or just a general 'What was it like?' type thing?
 
savia said:
I've been on Camp America, is there anything specific you'd like to know, or just a general 'What was it like?' type thing?
Click to expand...

-Were you a camp counselor or support staff?
-What was an average day like?
-Were you left alone to teach a big group of kids?
-What did you think of the horses?
-Where you made to join in on sing-songs, plays things like that?
-How much horse/teaching experience did you have before going?
I'm very quiet & definitely not loud/outgoing but I really would love to go to camp so trying to find out if I could cope with it. My friends who've went are both very chatty outgoing people so they wouldn't get nervous at things I would if that makes sense.
 
I was a camp counselor in the horsey camp. The camp I was at had two weeks of training before the kids came, where you learnt how to teach riding lessons, what to do in theory lessons, lake rides, etc. Average days were long (around 15 hrs), longer if you were on night shift, as it was an overnight camp. Very full on, getting the kids out of bed at 7am, breakfast at 8, lesson at 9, then a snack break at 9.30, theory lesson at 10.30, lunch at 12. Then we would take them all to the pool for an hour, and then it would be some kind of fun activity in the afternoon like a lake ride, or dressing up the horses. Then dinner at 6, and games in the evening before showers, teeth, and bed at 10. If you were on night shift, you had to stay up until 2, just in case anyone needed you in the night.

Yes, you were on your own teaching a group of kids, but there was a village director and a program director that you could go to if you needed anything, and there was always at least two of you with the group. The horses were all very quiet and well trained, though obviously there were different ones for different types of rider, eg, beginners to those that had their own at home, tiny tots, larger riders, etc. You had to join in the evening activities, when you were scheduled to do them, in some way, but at the weekly campfire, singsong, whatever, you only did something if you signed up for it. Each village had their own chant, and there would be some kind of song that the owners family would do that you were 'heavily encouraged' to join in with, just to encourage the kids to get fully involved in the whole camp experience.

I'm very much like you, quiet, introverted, not naturally outgoing, and I survived it, and even enjoyed large parts of it. However, just as a warning (not trying to put you off, as I was in the vast minority with this), I was bullied quite badly when I was there for being quiet, by the other counselors there, as apparently this translated in to me not working very hard (not true), which did spoil the whole experience, sadly. But, like I said, I was one of the unlucky few in this case, and the vast majority of people who do it have a wonderful time, so please don't let this put you off.
 
I did it as part of my gap year in 2002 and loved it. Made friends for life.

To answer some of your questions, I was a counsellor and taught during the day. An average day was get up around 7:30, get everyone up and dressed (my bunk were 7-8 first half which was 4 weeks and then I had two other sessions of 2 weeks up to 13), then breakfast, morning session of activities which would include riding and then another activity like swimming, drama,dance,arts or a talk on the horses, lunch, afternoon sessions, dinner and then evening activity. There was normally an hour or so free in the afternoon where the kids wrote home, showered, cleaned the bunk. We had a day off each week and there was also an outing day every week.

I was left alone to teach, the groups were all close together but it was my job to plan the lessons. I'd taught a bit before but had no formal qualifications though had ridden my whole life. Worst bit was I had to teach western (and tack up) and I'd never done it in my life but I got through it once I'd worked out how to do up the girth!! Horses were mixed, some lovely but others not great. They all lived out and came to call for breakfast when they'd be corralled for the lessons or kept in the bottom field. Hardly anything was shod, farrier came once in the time I was there!

No one was made to join in anything, we had a couple of counsellors that didn't ride at all but they did drama and swimming. There were outgoing people and some more shy people but our camp was only small (20 counsellors) but everyone got along fine.

Do it, it's an incredible experience :D
 
savia said:
I was a camp counselor in the horsey camp. The camp I was at had two weeks of training before the kids came, where you learnt how to teach riding lessons, what to do in theory lessons, lake rides, etc. Average days were long (around 15 hrs), longer if you were on night shift, as it was an overnight camp. Very full on, getting the kids out of bed at 7am, breakfast at 8, lesson at 9, then a snack break at 9.30, theory lesson at 10.30, lunch at 12. Then we would take them all to the pool for an hour, and then it would be some kind of fun activity in the afternoon like a lake ride, or dressing up the horses. Then dinner at 6, and games in the evening before showers, teeth, and bed at 10. If you were on night shift, you had to stay up until 2, just in case anyone needed you in the night.

Yes, you were on your own teaching a group of kids, but there was a village director and a program director that you could go to if you needed anything, and there was always at least two of you with the group. The horses were all very quiet and well trained, though obviously there were different ones for different types of rider, eg, beginners to those that had their own at home, tiny tots, larger riders, etc. You had to join in the evening activities, when you were scheduled to do them, in some way, but at the weekly campfire, singsong, whatever, you only did something if you signed up for it. Each village had their own chant, and there would be some kind of song that the owners family would do that you were 'heavily encouraged' to join in with, just to encourage the kids to get fully involved in the whole camp experience.

I'm very much like you, quiet, introverted, not naturally outgoing, and I survived it, and even enjoyed large parts of it. However, just as a warning (not trying to put you off, as I was in the vast minority with this), I was bullied quite badly when I was there for being quiet, by the other counselors there, as apparently this translated in to me not working very hard (not true), which did spoil the whole experience, sadly. But, like I said, I was one of the unlucky few in this case, and the vast majority of people who do it have a wonderful time, so please don't let this put you off.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your detailed reply!! one more question.. how much horse experience did you have before going?? Also I'm sorry to hear you got bullied. That must of been horrendous :( being so far from home!
 
Irishdiamond said:
Thank you for your detailed reply!! one more question.. how much horse experience did you have before going?? Also I'm sorry to hear you got bullied. That must of been horrendous :( being so far from home!
Click to expand...

At that point, I'd had, overall, about 13 yrs experience, including having worked at a couple of riding schools, plus riding, general horse care, etc. The bullying only started getting bad when the owners started believing it, as it was just me against them, and I learned that it nearly cost me the job. :/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top