Last week, I had the privilege to work at Camp Able for my service project. For those of you who don’t know, Camp Able is located in Buffalo Gap and is a equine therapy and horse rescue non-profit organization. There are over 30 horses on the property, many of which were abused or unwanted by their previous owner. Kiddos come from all over to ride these therapy horses. I will be honest, before starting my service project last week, I may have been slightly afraid of horses… By slightly afraid, I mean pretty much petrified if I had to stand near one. Now im sure you are thinking “Wow Alyssa, why did you pick to work at Camp Able if you are afraid of horses?” That is definitely what both Nic and my Mom said when I told them where I would be. Last weekend also happened to be one of Camp Able’s biggest events of the year. The Night Under The Stars event was set to be a night full of great music, good food from some awesome local food trucks, and a really good time. I figured there would be plenty of stuff to do to help with the event and maybe I would only have to hang out with the horses in passing. Let me just tell you, God had some other plans. I went out to Camp Able bright and early Thursday morning ready to get dirty. We were going to be doing some outside work to get the grounds ready for the event that weekend. By outside work, I helped take down an old tree that had fallen over and moved the wood to be used as firewood, took down a fence and even mucked out a horse stall! I worked along some awesome people and time went by so quickly! Before I knew it, it was 3:30 and a small van of kiddos pulls up into the driveway. Out come these kids that are just SO EXCITED to be there! We took them up to one of the trails and helped them plant some plants in one of the troughs on the sensory trail so that other kids could see the plants as they rode by on their horse. I had such a great time with these kids. When we got back to the Tack Room, each one went right over to the board and figured out what horse they would be riding today. Then, they started grabbing their saddles and with the help of the adults got ready to ride. Now, here I am at 24, standing off to the side while these 7 and 8 year old kids are brushing and saddling these huge animals without a fear in the world. I figured, I can at least try to not be such a chicken. One of the ladies that volunteers at Camp Able brought me the biggest horse on the grounds (Buddy) and showed me how to brush and really just love on him. While the kids went up the trail with the other volunteers, I stayed behind and got acquainted to Buddy. All of my fear was pretty much gone by the time the kids came back down from the trails. I helped them put all of their equipment away and said goodbye. That is when Carol, the volunteer that helped me brush Buddy,asked if I wanted to ride. Again, the apprehension kicked back in. Why am I afraid of horses to begin with? Well, when I was about 9 or 10, I went to an overnight camp where I was put on this massive horse. The volunteers working at the camp did not set me up quite right. After alittle while on the trail, my horse took off running and no amount of pulling on the reins would stop him. Someone ended up having to ride next to me and stop the horse, with me clinging to its back for dear life. That was it for my horse riding days, until last week when I decided to conquer that fear. I learned how to saddle a horse and with the help of Cary, rode Ms Annabelle up the trail and back. This really opened the door for me the rest of the week. I was so eager to be helpful and now I could actually work with the kids instead of sit back and watch. My fear was no longer going to keep me from getting to be hands on!
Friday morning, Camp Able gets buses of kids from different schools. Last Friday, we had 3 different groups ranging from 3 to 8 kids at a time. All of these kids just beam happiness as they jump off the bus and literally run to Ms. Renee. Although all of these kids are special needs, you really would never know. They were just so happy and excited to be there that morning. We got the horses saddled up and each kid on their respective horse and rode on up the trail. I helped walk along side one of the horses for the first 2 sessions. When the 3rd session started, we had way more kiddos than the last 2 groups and I was asked to lead one of the kids horses. I helped lead a little boy named Aidan up the trail and down, laughing and talking with him most of the way. At one point, he reached over and grabbed a big leaf from one of the planters I mentioned earlier. He was so proud of that leaf he showed EVERYONE on the trail and even took it back to school with him after. At the end of the ride, we got Aiden off his horse and with a huge smile he gave me a high five. It was so rewarding to see how happy and confident these kids were on these horses. Seeing that made helping so worth it, and if I had let my fear stop me from trying I would never have been able to witness what Camp Able truly is first hand.
Finally, Saturday was here and except for alittle wind, the weather was PERFECT! We could not have asked for a better day. We got everything set up and when 5 o’Clock rolled around cars started coming and the music started playing. If you didnt have a chance to come out this year, I highly recommend planning to come next year. A few of our friends came out to the event and after helping park and other misc. tasks, we were able to sit back and enjoy the food, music and time spent with friends. This weekend was fantastic and I am so glad I was able to spend my time working with Camp Able. I am planning on going out to help with the kids the next 2 Friday’s of my sabbatical. Hopefully, I will be able to make helping at camp able a regular occurrence. I literally went from being terrified of horses, to learning how to saddle and ride, to leading kids up and down the trail. There is no way any of that could have happened without alittle pushing from the big man upstairs.
