We also had just enough transportation for all of our horses. 7 would go with Tom in his stock trailer (we paid him to haul for us) and 3 would go with David, in Gene's gooseneck and then 4 in the Ministries stock trailer. Since I had the gooseneck hitch now on the new truck, we could borrow Gene's horse trailer, which he was so kind to let us use. David would also be able to stay in the bunk area in Gene's trailer like he did last year in Stephanie's trailer.
The loading went really well except Buddy didn't want to be in the back so we had to switch him with Zeke. So funny!!!
The weather forecast showed 30% scattered thunderstorms throughout the weekend, so I knew we would probably get some rain. However, you can never really prepare for weather like what we had. You'll see in the pictures of how much rain we actually did get.
Counting the riders and the horses, I knew that the moment we could get started on the rides, we had to. 60 riders and 13 horses minus 3 for the volunteers per ride. We had lots of people come up with us on Thursday and most of us would then go first. We saddled all the horses and got going at about 2 o'clock. We soon discovered that the trail we used the last two years was closed, so we had to pick a new one. It ended up taking about 55 minutes in total trail time and it was even more beautiful than the trail from the 2 years prior. It was amazing. As soon as we got back we were able to go on a second ride. Then it was time for dinner. No rain yet!!!
Christinna and Keith, our extraordinaire chuck wagon volunteers for the weekend, served us a really tasty pasta meal for dinner on Thursday night. Friday morning we got up early, fed the horses and had a quick breakfast. Thanks to Keith and Christinna again, and again and again for the meals!!! I knew, once again, that we had to go on another ride as soon as possible. After this ride, the kids that went on the first ride kept asking when they could go on a second ride, since it was obviously a new day and I had to explain to them countless times that we had to get everyone on a ride one time first before anyone could go on a second ride. Yikes!! Actually, I feel very blessed that they liked it so much!!!! That is the purpose of the camp after all!!!
We had new people showing up all the time. We were able to get in 2 rides (I think) before the first downpour. We waited that out and then after the rain quit, we were able to get another ride in with wet horses. I know we did 3 rides on Friday when the schedule called for 4. So now we had 5 rides with 50 people done. Phew!! I think it was showing signs of rain first thing on Saturday morning when I decided to tell everyone that I could only guarantee one ride for everyone that entire weekend. The weather was just too unpredictable. I didn't want to get caught on a trail in the rain. That was for sure. In fact, there was one ride that the clouds were getting super dark, that we yelled for everyone to help us untack and get the saddles covered up when we got back. We quickly got that done, then it poured. That was our last ride on Friday afternoon. It was only the families that showed up late afternoon and evening on Friday that had not ridden yet which consisted of about 7 riders.
It rained all day on Saturday except a few hours when I had to make a decision whether we go on that last ride, or we go to the lake. I decided to go to the lake since the Lord told me He would give us one more opportunity to get the last 7 in. I wasn't sure if that was Saturday afternoon after the lake, or Sunday morning before service.
The lake was a ton of fun. Some families had left right after since the forecast showed nothing but rain for the remainder of the weekend. Most of the kids played in the rain on Friday and ran out of dry clothes, so the parents were forced to leave early. There was only one family, Grace's family, who left early without her ride, since they had little children. We were able to get the last ride in which was on Sunday morning. Those families stuck around until that last ride. Praise the Lord!!!
My husband did a great job with his anointed message on Sunday morning. The Lord really spoke to him on what to talk about. It spoke to quite a few people.
Clean up was tough since we had mud, hay, urine and manure to bag up. Yuck!!! and very heavy!!!! We went through a ton of trash bags. The best thing was that we had lot's and lot's of help. That in itself was a huge blessing.
We got home safely and uneventful, put the horses up and I drove home. The pictures are great , thanks to Dawn and Alan. I was able to collect over 300 pictures which are all on our facebook page at Rein of Faith Ministries.
I've chosen the very descriptive ones to put here. Pictures are worth a thousand words. Enjoy.
