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Pony Tales THE GRANDAUGHTER CHRONICLES The Granddaughter Chronicles are actually written by a relative of mine and deals with all the
children that came through lesson-training businesses over the years. This year the granddaughter came to both of us about summer camp and her summer. She spent an incredible summer last year at the fabulous Foxfield camp, but had heard of kids going to one in Germany-Hof Kirch- horst. She asked if I would write about it …so here it is, this one is about my experience. ~ Kathy Hobstetter
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a horse buying trip several years ago I met a wonderful family from north Germany, the Naeva’s. Father is Hans Jurgen, and his two children
are Ben and Linda. All three have ridden to the top of the sport in Germany and also have this fabulous farm where they do summer riding and training camps. I presented the idea of spending a few weeks in Germany to the parents of my own students at the time. Explaining the farm and the people involved, along with the fact the “school horses” there are capable of doing 1.40meter classes, captured their interest to say the least. Before long we had over two dozen of our riders signed
wiggled and marched up and down the aisle to visit each other the entire time. As we drove the beautiful German countryside the ad-
venture started to take on a life of its own. Everything is so green there with lots of vegetation which is unusual for LA city kids. Turning off the autobahn it became even more exciting as we passed fields full of mares and foals, one after another. They were starting to get the German experience and we weren’t even out of the cars yet. The farm is called Hof Kirchhorst outside of the little
village of Klein (Little) Wittensee, next to Grob (Big) Wit- tensee just north of Kiel. It is beyond beautiful and is a wonderland for kids, ponies, families on vacation and su-
up to go to training camp there. Some of the kids went for one week but most went for at least two or more. The biggest concern was the kids would be so far away without parents so I made the trip with them, took an available mother along to keep me busy, and spent two months trav- eling the amazing German countryside while I waited. Traveling with the first group of the riders, fourteen of
them, was an event in itself. They were excited about the adventure but some were a little melancholy as the parents, mostly moms, waved when we took off through security and headed for the plane. Ages of the kids ranged from ten to eighteen and they quickly broke up into pairs so an older one was responsible for a younger one. While the long plane ride was sort of uneventful, they giggled and
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per instruction by people who have been there and done that. It also hosts a couple of the top CSI show jumping competitions each year and one would happen while we were there. They broke into groups as they chose their “cabins” to
sleep in (which we quickly rearranged so the little ones weren’t lonely) and off they went to claim their beds. Each room had four to six bunks in it, a bathroom and a window that overlooked amazing rose gardens. Over the period of the camp the rooms would rearrange themselves as new friendships sprang to life. Then it was upstairs to the rider’s dining room for the
first meeting. Hans Jurgen and the family introduced them- selves then informed the kids there would be two lessons
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