RKTG Mid Summer Camp 2025 - Coxlake Day 1

The weather was promising, the corrals were electrified, the horses excited and Dani was ready with her itinerary of exciting activities, to ensure that us mischievous campers were to be kept busy for the entire four days of camp. Despite some damp and windy conditions, spirits were high and all of us campers came away with some great memories of our varied experiences over the weekend and some learning points to build on with our equine buddies. Here is a brief insight into what we got up to throughout the camp, remembering of course that "what goes in camp stays in camp!"

Day 1 - Friday 20th June

The 12 campers and their 15 horses descended on Coxlake Cross Country Course on a bright, sunny morning. There was a flurry of trailer maneuvering, friendly greetings, pole sharing, electric tape flapping, grass munching, water hauling, tent erecting and finally a well deserved cup of tea in the kitchen/diner shed. We were allocated to our groups for the weekend - Kestrels, Buzzards and Kites and we fluttered about greeting our team mates. The three fields of the cross country course had also been supplemented with TREC obstacles, it was a dream come true for some and I think maybe a source of nightmares for others. Obstacle demonstrations were provided by our experienced TREC riders Bridget and Diane and their trusted steeds, also information was given about scoring and there was an opportunity to ask questions. Probably the highlight of everyone's day came later and it was the opportunity to be set free on the course with their horse and team mates, under the tutelage of Rachel Howard. There were a huge variety of horses, from two year old novice Bandit to 23 year old TREC Master Blackie. Some horses on the course in hand, most under saddle and some swapping between the both. The unifying factor was our apparent shared goal to improv