Gymnastics on a Horse (Fernando)

Twenty-six years ago when I was 12 years old, I went to Birch Bay Ranch for summer camp with my best friend Becky. The year was 1987. We learned about horses. We climbed a big wooden wall and propelled down after, feeling the adrenaline and excitment, but security in our harnesses. We made friends with other campers and giggled together all day long. We canoed in Cooking Lake, and I remember looking down and being able to see the bottom and thinking, no matter what happens, I am safe. We sang songs around a campfire, ones that we had never heard before, but were committed to life long memory by the end of the week. I remember those nights, feeling so warm and content and happy, singing my heart out with every other kid, feeling like I belonged to that circle around the fire.

I was a Buckaroo.

Near the beginning of the week they told us that if we were interested in gymnastics, to come to the gym after dinner. Becky and I arrived, interested and wondering what this was about. It turned out to be a try-out for the vaulting team, which is basically doing gymnastics on a horse. Becky and I were both selected for the team and we both felt very important and proud of ourselves.

So for a week, we learned the positions, first on a mounted barrel, then on a horse! The horse’s name was Fernando, and he was big, gentle and kind. By the end of the week we were ready for the rodeo, and our vaulting team was going to kick off the show. Everyone was there - the campers, the staff, and all the parents. We were about to begin. I got up on Fernando, and as he trotted along I slowly went up on my knees, feeling his rhythm, getting my balance. Then I got up to the prince position, with one leg up, like this:

 

After that I stood up on the horse, arms out, determined to maintain my balance and open this show with a bang!  I prevailed and my mother was shocked to see me entering the arena, not riding, but STANDING on the back of a horse.   I did a few more tricks and my set was done.

Next it was Becky’s turn.  She did the flag position:

She did this move:

  

She even did the death drop, where you start from standing and drop back over the end of the horse!

 

Becky and I have remained friends after all these years, and still talk about Fernando and our experience at Birch Bay Ranch.  Since then my three younger sisters have also all gone to camp, with the two youngest staying on and volunteering and working at the camp.  Birch Bay Ranch means the world to our family, as we all see it as a force of good in this world.  Giving children a positive experience, where they learn about the love of Jesus, where they feel like they belong to something bigger than themselves, where they are exposed to nature and animals – provides children with something they will never forget.  They forge friendships that last a lifetime, they leave camp feeling proud of their accomplishments, and they have a newfound knowledge of God.

All these years later, I am now a mother to a 7 year old boy and a 5 year old girl.  I hope that one day I will be able to send them to Birch Bay Ranch, so that they too can have an experience that will last a lifetime.

 

Sherry Prokopuk