From The Original Camp Stables to Brébeuf Flats

By Pati Egan

Hundreds of campers, staff, and visitors pass Brébeuf Flats every day. They might stop, sit for a while, and think to themselves “What a nice little spot.” What most do not realize is that if they listen really hard and let their imagination run wild, they might hear voices from the past. They might hear horses’ hooves and the sound of hardworking staff as they feed, saddle, and bridle these horses. If they listen really hard, they might hear the sounds of friendships being made 65 years ago that are still going strong today!

Special thanks to Jean (Shadid) Auffarth and Jackie (Savage) McKay for their memories and photos of a wonderful time in the history of Camp.

Stables in the Sixties – A Story of Friendship, Hard Work, and a Deep Appreciation for God’s Magnificent Creatures: Horses

The original Stables at Brebeuf Flats

I was lucky enough to talk with Jean, Jackie, and Lucia about the origins of Camp’s first Stable. Lucia had memories of rides and routes. I spent a longer amount of time with Jean and Jackie. Their articulate memories of this very exciting time in Camp History were supplemented with photos. They worked at the Stable located where Brébeuf Flats is now (known as Stable B) and at Stable A. Stable A was located off of the Parking Lot. All that is left of Stable A is the quarantine pen.

Jean and Jackie are great storytellers and took me back to a time when I was a camper. I asked Jean to write up a memoir of her days in the Stables. The following is her story.

Memories of the Stables and the Amazing Staff

By Jean (Shadid) Auffarth and Jackie (Savage) McKay

“Yes, Stables…not ‘The Barn’ as the horseback riding part of Camp was later known. The staff who cared for the 60 plus horses from 1963 to 1969 have many treasured experiences and histories of all those who made ‘riding a horse’ part of so many campers’ memories.

Stable B was built first – most likely prior to the first year Camp started in 1959. The location was on the main Camp Road between Brébeuf and the Daniel original cliff top unit. That location was later renamed Brébeuf Flats after Stable B was torn down, and now it is near the current minicamp units.

That Stable was a crude open-stall barn providing some shelter for the horses, but not totally enclosed.  It was built on a hill, so rain resulted in muddy, deep and slippery goings for horses and staff. In those early years, horses did not have their own dedicated bridles and saddles, and helmets were not required when riding.

But riding we did!  Each camper would visit the Stables on Sunday afternoon to “pick out their horse” as promised by the Camp’s director, though that was not the reality. But each unit of 36 campers went on TWO trail rides per week, a one-hour trek to Mushroom Rock, Phantom Canyon, or a Pasture ride.  And every camper had another two-hour ride, mainly to Pine Lake.

Girls’ Camp was for five or six weeks in mid-July and August after Boys’ Camp in the earlier weeks, which started in June. Jackie Savage and Jean Shadid were two of the designated stable managers during those sixties’ years. There were many others. In 1963, we were 16 or 17 years old – our first year working in the Stables, as was typical for the early Ondessonk staff of the sixties.

In the sixty’s era, the earliest Equestrian Directors were often someone more experienced with horses and older – often from the Boys’ session. Jerry Montroy worked in that role. Mike Huntley was the earliest one we remember working with. Morgan was another key figure who helped us and taught us about horse care. Pete Rau was our Equestrian Director in the late sixties, and we remember him for the model he provided to train our horses toward better behavior and obedience using positive reinforcement and consistent directions.

Jean managed Stable A when it was built near the current parking lot in about 1965. It was way below the current 2025 Barn (stable) perched on a hill. We now had two stables, with Jackie managing Stable B. The unit would be divided in half and sent to one of the two stables. They would then meet up for their trail ride – often riding single file down the Camp Road, depending on the destination.

The campers selected which saddled horses they would ride. Three staff helped campers mount up and accompanied them on the rides. Managing the order of the ride, we knew not to put Abe or Lump in the middle, as they tended to kick. The stable staff rode the horses who were more challenging.

We have strong memories of giving our horses good care and reorganizing the spacious tack room – especially at the newly built Stable A, which had room to store hay. We were responsible for feeding the horses each day, and a system was developed to whistle, and the horses would come down from the pastures and fill the stalls.

On Friday afternoons, the stable crew often took rides to Trigg Tower and rode to Simpson on Saturdays. This was after the legendary “plug race,” a part of the campers’ Friday Field Day. What’s a “plug?” A slow pokey horse who needs lots of heel digs to get moving. Every unit had one horse and rider. The winner received points toward the Golden Arrowhead.

Another unique experience that Jackie, Rosie Kreher, Ed Auffarth and many others had was taking home an Ondessonk horse for the winter!  The feeding and boarding were paid for by those who volunteered for this, and they had their own horse to ride for eight to nine months.

The camaraderie among the stable staff was great and we had a young dedicated team of horse lovers who contributed to the campers’ positive experiences. It takes a whole village to raise a child is a popular saying – and this was so at the Camp Ondessonk stables…an entire team helped ‘raise’ those horseback riding campers!”

Contributors: Jean (Shadid) Auffarth, Jackie (Savage) McKay, and countless others who we did not name or may have forgotten. A special thanks to those who built the Stables and countless others who contributed to the expenses and work running a stable of horses all these 65-plus years!

Jean, Jackie, and Lucia, and everyone who spent countless hours being in the Stables – the foundation you laid is still going strong!

Thanks to Lucia (Juenger) Hodges for her ideas for this article. I usually pick Lucia’s brain on many topics when I get down to Camp. She is also in the most iconic of all horse pictures, featured in the lead photo. Lucia admits she wasn’t in the Stables long, but she certainly enjoyed her time there.

Click here to learn more about Camp Ondessonk Equestrian Programs.