# A Day in the Life of a Summer Camp Volunteer



## Poseidon (Oct 1, 2010)

Oooh. This sounds pretty similar to what I do in the summer, but I'm a full time senior counselor at the same time and it's for weeks at a time, rather than the kids go home at the end of their timeframe. They go back with their cabin. While my cabin is off doing their scheduled activities, I go to the corral and do wrangler stuff.

Our horsemaster camp isn't as thorough as picking out hooves because each camper has their "own" horse that they ride for the week (for the most part, there is some switching occasionally) and there is generally around 9 kids per class with only 2-3 wranglers doing each class. 

The first day goes over tacking up, grooming, types of bits and how to catch and the like. Then they get assigned their horse and they practice catching and identifying that horse. 

The other days are usually a mix of trail rides, going up to the pasture, and playing in the arena, depending on the level. 

I am sad to say this is probably my last year working at camp, but I'm not sure yet. I don't want to. It's my 5th summer this year, 2nd as a full-time wrangler (I was a lifeguard before and still do that when needed). It's the best job I will ever have, and probably the most stressful..but I love it.


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## RhettaGrace (Jan 30, 2011)

Yeah our's isn't a sleep away camp.  There is no place for the campers to sleep! :lol: But yeah, I'm just a volunteer. A lot of times, the kids get to ride most of the horses and they pick a favorite to ride in the end of the week show on Friday. 

But it is a lot of work. My friends would ask me if I wanted to go to the mall or something on Friday night and I am just like NO!!! :lol: TOO TIRED!! But it is great opportunity to help teach kids and to work around horses at the same time.


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## Poseidon (Oct 1, 2010)

We don't do a show at the end, but the advanced kids (which is usually only 4 or 5 if not less) get to go swimming in the lake bareback one day, then they go on a campout in the south pasture with the horses. And at the beginning of the summer, it's so rainy and wet that sometimes they don't get to go on the campout, so we started doing this thing on Friday mornings where we wake them up at around 7:30 to go feed with us, then tack up and go out to the south pasture and have breakfast there. 

I didn't get to do it last summer because I messed up my neck riding and ended up in the ER with unbearable headaches, so I had left camp early that week. Sucked. But! Camp starts again in June and I'm pumped to be a part of the breakfast club.

I'm glad most of my friends at home work at camp too, so I don't get any of those "Do you want to go to the mall?" annoyances. We're all dead tired because we only come home Friday nights after the campers are gone and have to be back by noon on Sunday. It's a 45 minute drive for me. So all the counselors do their laundry and sleep on weekends if they go home. We can do laundry there and stay sometimes, as people rent out the camp and we staff it.


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