2008 January | Chris's Blog

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Mini Show Jumping Tonight 5.45pm 2012/02/08
Mini Show Jumping Wed 8th feb 5.45pm Schedule A To be held indoors. Classes LR 1'6 1'9 2' 2'3 2'6 Entries £7 per... http://t.co/tY4nnghO 2012/02/01
Dressage Feb 5th cancelled Next Dressage Sunday March 4th 2012/01/28
25th Jan Wednesday evening show jumping 5.45pm starts with 2' clear round then 2'3 2'6 2'9 &3' qualifiers for... http://t.co/lKilSp6L 2012/01/25

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Archive for January, 2008

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New Horse

Tuesday, January 15th, 2008

Last Friday was a sad day to see Tessa going home. Tessa has been here on loan for some years but she is getting older now and probably has some athritic changes going on as she is now finding it difficult to jump or work in the school. Tessa’s owner will be keeping her and hopefully she can do some light hacking and part retirement now. Last week we went to see a 16.3hh cleveland bay x (Michigan). Leigh rode it in their school and it seemed quiet so we decided to have it on loan, it was mentioned that it is difficult to clip and it has jumped out of a few fields but it was in a field when we saw it. Sunday Michigan arrived and took up residence on the top yard. As monday is a quiet day here we decided to turn it out into the outdoor school around noon for an hour. Half hour later leigh went to put the hay in the stables and it had gone, on checking the stable and the school again it had definitely gone. Jen and Leigh had a look round the place and we checked the CCTV but there was no sign of it on the premises. The main gate was closed but we assumed someone must have opened it. The security guards at the manor, at the top of our lane told us no horse had been that way so we assumed it must have gone out of the gate left which is good because it is eventually a dead end. Steve took the quad and went in that direction. We went back to the yard and discovered due to the footprints where it had jumped out of the arena, it had then jumped into the paddock at the top of the lane and from there into the field adjoining and from there over two gates onto the road. Which is why the security man hadn’t seen it. I was getting alarmed now as this meant it was on the main road. A parcel force man came past and I asked him if he had seen a loose horse, he said he had seen a large horse being led on the road to Llanharry on his way here. We jumped in the land rover and drove in that direction approx a mile from home we saw a man leading him up the road. The man had found him (fortunately he had a head collar on) and was leading him along the road in hope someone would spot him, he had asked at a couple of places along the way and one woman had actually told him it was one of hers, so he let it go in her field then she discovered both hers were already in the field so it wasn’t hers, so he caught it again (rather brave for a man who admitted to knowing nothing about horses and this is a big horse) and carried on along the road. I think he was relieved to see us. I am still wondering what he would have done with him if he had got him home – put him in the garden maybe.

Posted on Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 at 12:12 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

CCTV

Sunday, January 13th, 2008

CCTV is useful for security purposes, for watching lessons to see the quality and structure of the lesson and progress being made and very useful for observing what happened in the event of a fall in the arena. We have 8 cameras about the place which pretty much covers the building and schools. I would not recommend the company that we have used thou as we have quite a few problems with them. It is also useful to observe what is going on around the yard. This can also be very entertaining. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately for us watching, some people forget they are there. We would never have seen that wonderful demonstration in the tack room of Swan Lake performed by Jen and Freya a few weeks ago, Freya’s pirouettes in jodphurs, boots and wet, muddy coat were breath taking!! or the father dancing whilst waiting for his child last week, Leigh performing his own rave on the back yard, Jess R belly dancing, Tashi sitting on the top yard eating a packet of crisps while the horses ran amok and Jodie falling over. It certainly brightens up our day!!

Posted on Sunday, January 13th, 2008 at 11:12 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Horses Mouth

Friday, January 11th, 2008

Interesting Stage 4 Lesson yesterday on Bitting. How many of us consider the confirmation of our horses mouth when choosing a bit. The action of the bit can put pressure on the bars, tongue, corners, lips poll chin groove and the roof of the mouth. The size and shape of the horses mouth should be taken into consideration when choosing a suitable bit. A horse with thick fleshy bars and a large tongue would probably not like a large bit and a horse with a narrow mouth and a short gap between the bars and tushes may not be suited to a double bridle.The most important thing to remember when fitting a bit is that no two horses are completely alike. What is preferred by one, may cause severe problems in another. It is said that a bit seat, where the second premolar is rounded and smoothed can cause improved athletic performance in the horse and has even been known to improve eating habits. Regular Equine Dentistry is import to keep the teeth in good order and your dentist can advise on the confirmation of the mouth

Posted on Friday, January 11th, 2008 at 9:19 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Riding School 9/01/08

Wednesday, January 9th, 2008

Cold still bad found some antibiotics 6yrs out of date but hey what the heck they might help. All students turned up this morning one with a suitcase who says she is now staying two days a week and promptly moved into the caravan with Rhi. PTT training this morning, Freya gave Tash a Lunge lesson or attempted to anyway as Fred decided to be a bit on the sharp side so couldnt really take stirrups or reins away and Leigh taught a flat group lesson. I then had a lesson on Leo, Leo is my daughters show Jumper He’s a grade B 14yr old TB X 16.2 He is a very nice horse and very capable jumping but not without his problems, his flat work is not as established as it should be He has quite a high head carriage and tends to be tense so we spent sometime trying to get him to relax and use his back muscle. At 1pm I still had a number of horses that wouldn’t come out that day so five of us went for a quiet hack along the lanes as soon as we tacked up it started raining and the rain got heavier, on the way back Jynx (x racehorse) decided to play up and was running backwards into anything, Lucy got alarmed and shot up the road in trot at 100mph which is always her way run from trouble. My horse had visions of hunting and thought he was being left behind and promptly leapt sideways up the road in a bunny hopping sort of canter, Blue managed to get past Jynx and was off after us, Tessa got pushed into the woods, Jynx then took off as he realised he was being left behind and poor Tessa was at the back trying to catch up. This wound everything up and they bounced all the way back by which time we were all soaking wet except Freya who had an excercise sheet which covered her legs. Y pant school are back on Wednesdays now, 9 teenagers attended, (6 of which have never sat on a horse before) and had a riding lesson and stable management session. No mishaps this evening during lessons everything went well, finished the evening with a couple of hours in the local pub (call it a staff meeting or student training or even medicinal!!!)

Posted on Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 at 10:05 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Riding School 8/01/08

Tuesday, January 8th, 2008

Today I have a stinking cold and cant stop coughing. 7 students due in 5 turned up. One ill (what can I say) and one i dont know. Also Council riding school inspection this morning. This is a yearly inspection by the council who send a vet out to inspect the horses and premises. Vet decided to be very thorough, insisted on seeing all horses trotted up, looked in eyes for cataracts and listened to their heart rates, inspected tack, school etc and seemed happy, New student Rhian had assessment lesson (this is where you find out they can’t ride at all) but was pleasantly surprised will be looking at BHS Stage 1 in May I think. I rode my horse Muppet in a group lesson with the other students, Muppet has not been well looked after before I had him but he is getting stronger now, and I do quite like him, It was a rather gentle lesson today as some of the bigger horses have not done so much work over christmas, mainly working on some bend and circles. Did an assessment on Students where we think they are at and what we will be achieving this next term, Think I was a bit harsh (Due to feeling ill I’m sure) so will be doing a nicer one tomorrow. Spent most of rest of day on the phone or internet on website forum and general paperwork that takes hours, in the warm with honey lemon black currant and sloe gin (supposed to be rum but thats all gone)
Glad I have staff tonight as lessons run from 5.15 to 9.15 an I’ve left them to get on with it while I die slowly. Martha (youngest) cooked the tea whilst commenting that she should be called cinderella.

Posted on Tuesday, January 8th, 2008 at 11:00 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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