Amy and Amber by Kelly McKain

Monday morning – quickly scribbling this – we’ve just arrived
    Well, I can’t believe we’re actually here at last! Me and my best friend Kayla have been saving up for ages to come to Pony Camp. Our parents said they’d pay half the money if we earned the other half, so we’ve been round washing cars for our neighbours and Mum’s had me cleaning the bathroom twice a week for the last month!

    Me and Kayla have been since reception class and now we’re in our final year at Juniors, and we’ve ridden together most Saturdays for the last two years. Her dad drove us down here (we’re from Bromley, near London). My mum and dad, and Kayla’s mum are coming to pick us up so they can watch the gymkhana – I can’t WAIT for that! But there’s so much exciting stuff to do before then – itsays in Jody’s welcome letter that we’re going on a beach ride – how fantastic! I’ve never been on one before and I’m really excited about cantering along the sand with my pony. I can’t believe I’ll have my OWN pony – well, for a week anyway! I wonder which one I’ll get?! Oh, it’s all so brilliant here I feel like I might just BURST like a balloon!

    I’m writing this lying on my new bed – I’ve got the bottom bunk and Kayla’s in the one above. She’s starting off her diary too. It’s great we’re sharing a room. We’ve unpacked and I’ve put my video camera in the drawer with my jodhs and T-shirts. Dad gave it to me when he got his new one and I can’t wait to start filming our fab holiday adventures! We’ve just met Millie and her mum Jody, who’ll be looking after us this week. It’s Millie’sroom we’re sharing and her bed’s over by the window, all messy and covered in cuddlies and mags! She’s SO lucky – I wish we lived here all the time too! Jody’s given us a timetable of what we’ll be doing, which I’ll stick in this diary.
    Pony Camp Timetable
    8am: Wake up, get dressed, have breakfast
    8.45am: Help on the yard, bring ponies in from the field, do feeds, etc.
    9.30am: Prepare ponies for morning lessons (quick groom, tack up, etc.)
    10am: Morning riding lesson
    11am: Morning break – drink and biscuits
    11.20am: Pony Care talk
    12.30pm: Lunch and free time
    1.30pm: Prepare ponies for afternoon lesson
    2pm: Riding lesson
    3pm: Afternoon break – drink and biscuits
    3.20pm: Pony Care talk
    4.30pm: Jobs around the yard (i.e. cleaning tack, sweeping up, mixing evening feeds, turning out ponies)
    5.30pm: Free time before dinner
    6pm: Dinner (and clearing up!)
    7pm: Evening activity
    8.30pm: Showers and hot chocolate
    9.30pm: Lights out and NO TALKING!
    Kayla read it out and we got so excited thinking of all the things we’ll be doing that we had to have a big squealy hug and dance around the room! A whole week to spend together, with our own ponies to look after, riding every day and having secret girly chats every night. Heaven!

    Oh, Millie has just stuck her head round the door and said it’s time to go down to the yard. I feel a bit nervous about meeting everyone. Thank goodness me and Kayla came together.

    Gotta go – bye!

After lunch
    I’m just grabbing a few minutes to write in here before we go back out. I want to get everything down while it’s still fresh in my mind and not miss out a single thing!
    Well, there was definitely nothing to be nervous about – the other girls are LOVELY! Jody came out to the yard with us and introduced us to Sally, who’s the main instructor here, and Lydia, who’s the head stable girl.

    Then we all had to say our names and where we were from. Sarah, Genevieve and Shanika (all 11) go to the same riding school in London and are sharing a room together.

    Me, Kayla and Millie are in together of course, so that leaves Jasmine and Lexy (who are BFFs too) and they’re sharing with Ava,