2008 October | Chris's Blog

Twitters from Talygarn

http://blogs.talygarnec.co.uk/2010/02/nestle-get-set-go-free-promotion/ I think they are having a laugh. 2 days ago
Come to "Unaffiliated Show Jumping" 21 March from 10:00 to 17:00. Unaffiliated Show Jumping Starts with Lead rein... http://bit.ly/dkAclC 1 week ago
I posted 4 photos on Facebook in the album "Amelia and Jaffa" http://bit.ly/cGBWie 1 week ago
More updates...

Posting tweet...

Navigation:

Search:

Meta:

Archive for October, 2008

Team Show Jumping October 08

Thursday, October 30th, 2008

I have to say I love team jumping (well as long as I’m not taking part it that is) Can you think of a better job where you get to start the first one jumping at 9am and the last one at 8pm and the organising beforehand and the after. I knew it was gonna be a cold day when the frost was set thick on my car before midnight last night but at least it was dry well dry till teatime when it then bucketed down so that those that had suffered the cold all day could then go home soaking wet too. Can you think of anywhere better to spend the day in winter than an equestrian centre with no heating. Actually the best job to have is the judging (the only place with heating) Leigh did the majority of the judging and I took over at 3pm and I was glad to be in the warm for a while. 31 teams and 3 warm up classes is a lot to get through in a day but it all went well with no major hiccups. The Teams from Talygarn all did very well and although they didn’t win any classes most of the teams were in the placings. I will put the results on the website. Of the 33 horses that live here 30 jumped throughout the day and all did reasonably well, thats pretty good going for riding school horses (and the other three can jump too). A huge thanks to Rob Jess Donna Taz Carol and everyone else who helped out all day and also thank you to all the girls on the yard for the flowers and wine and the staff for the connifers and all the other birthday presents. Best of all we have show jumping all day tomorrow too so we get to spend another day in the cold and if we finish early enough I can go with Amelia to watch her lesson with Geoff Billington in Sunnybank, another cold indoor school.

Posted on Thursday, October 30th, 2008 at 1:33 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Birthday

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008

Happy Birthday to Me!! Well another year gone and they whizz by pretty quick now. Have to say a big thanks to all friends for the surprise party on Saturday night – Sorry I dragged the meal out quite so long before hand but then I had no idea you were all waiting in my house. Looking back it was rather funny I was surprised that no one wanted a dessert but then when I said I was definitely having one so did they and when Amelia said ‘lets see who can eat it the fastest’ I did think that was strange. Obviously the resturant staff knew as I got my coffee before the dessert arrived. Also what was funny was all the excuses that were made up all week to get phone numbers off my phone and I have to say Im glad you didn’t manage to get all those awful old photos of me made into a banner. Brilliant Night though and I’m looking forward to the next party now on Saturday for Halloween (Two parties in one week – Lucky me). Hope you’ve all got your costumes I have although judging by the weather and how cold it might be I think I’ll swap it for something black and woolly

Posted on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 at 2:44 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Pony Club

Monday, October 20th, 2008

Last sunday night I had a great night out in Swansea till 5am, needless to say its taken me a week to recover so not had much time for blogging this week. Wednesday was the Pony Club Area 10 meeting. There are two a year and they are held in Llangorse Brecon. Bit of a problem for me as I don’t like driving over the Brecon Beacons, going is not so bad because its still light and the drops are on the other side of the road but coming back in the dark I can’t manage, so I decided to come back through pontypool and Newport, I’m not quite sure where we went but it took us 2 hours to get home. A round up of results from Championship competitions were given and Talygarn fared very well winning the National Quiz at warwickshire and taking a team 3rd for the Centre Equitation competition at the championsips in Derby plus overall individual places of 3rd in seniors and 4th in juniors. A discussion on the new Bodycage that has recently come on the market was interesting but I dont think they will catch on. They are meant to help prevent crush injuries but the drawbacks appear to be you need an alun key to get into them and the additional weight unbalancing the rider. I am not a fan of Body protectors unless you buy the very expensive variety that allows a greater freedom of movement the cheaper end of the market (around £80) are rigid and make kids stiff and unbalanced and definitely impede their progress, they don’t have the flexibility required to encourage suppleness in the rider. My own kids have only ever worn them for cross country, which I do think is important because of the risk of the horse falling. That is of course my personnal opinion and I would never ask a child not to wear one. Chloe Reakes took her stage two exam at Hartpury College last wednesday and I’m pleased to say passed both her riding and stable management sections. The Mini Pony Club sessions on a saturday for 4 to 8yr olds are proving very popular and they should be taking their first badges soon. Saturday show jumping competitions started last week and it was quite a busy evening with many people from Talygarn doing very well. A couple of the new students had a go and Lisa Baker took a third place on Coffee.

Halloween Party Tickets are on Sale £2 each. There will be A rodeo Bull, Gladiators, Assault course, Bouncey Castle, ducking apples, Disco and refreshments starts 6pm Saturday Nov 1st Fancy Dress Optional

Posted on Monday, October 20th, 2008 at 1:14 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Riding on the Road

Saturday, October 11th, 2008

Its not often we have a chance to do any hacking but last week the weather was nice and a friend and I took two horses out for a ride. Having just come back from a visit to Chantilly in France and seeing how horse friendly they are with bridleways and gallops at every turn. I have to say Rhondda Cynon Taff must be the most horse UNfriendly you could possibly get. Nowhere in Talygarn is open to horses. Landowners are either busy counting their fortunes from EC grants for diversifying or worrying that if they let you on their land you might sue. Talygarn Country Manor first came to the area with plans to include riding routes in their grounds but once they got their planning permission that went out of the window. It didn’t occur to the RCT to put any conditions in with the planning to protect our rights, a long establisherd riding centre in their area paying rates and teaching and training many local people. So it was out onto the main road. First we have to ride over the motorway quite a daunting task in it self, then down Brynsadler Hill. I find the best way to do this is to ride two abreast and bring the traffic to a halt if need be otherwise it is just too dangerous. After that we ride across a pathway from the old Brewery to Tylagarw, a path we have ridden for nearly 20years but development is going on there and again the RCT won’t give us a second thought. The ride contines through fairly narrow lanes and that is not for the fainted hearted as the cars travel too fast on it. A rider who tried to slow a car down was recently told by a motorist ‘this is a sixty mile an hour road so I’ll do sixty if I want’ This is followed by another crossing of the motorway bridge in a lane near Llanharry. This is a very narrow crossing and we have to dismount as there is no high sides for our protection therefore it is quite dangerous. The last leg involves a ride up through Talygarn with roadstone lorries trying to overtake in both directions. This is the safest ride we have. Consequently we do not take clients out on the roads. Although we do have plans for expansion which will include riding routes through our own Land which we will require planning permission for. I wonder whether RCT will offering their support because unless your into football or rugby theres not much they will do for you. I have to say only one or two of local councillors have ever bothered to come and see what we do.

Posted on Saturday, October 11th, 2008 at 12:23 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

The Start of Autumn at Talygarn

Sunday, October 5th, 2008

Well summers definitely over or what summer we’ve had anyway, let me just mention there are 81 shopping days to Christmas and the older you are the quicker they’ll fly by. For us this has not been not been the best start to Autumn Martha was throwing up most of last weekend then Amelia caught it and Steve. I thought I was gonna be lucky but no Thursday night I woke up at 5am and I have never been so sick in fact I didn’t even manage to get out of bed till Saturday morning. Well actually I got up briefly to print the ride list out for Lynne but someone had unplugged the printer, bending down to plug it in was a mistake so I made a rapid departure and left her to sort it out. Jen has been the only one to escape it so far but she has been in Illfracombe all week with Leigh so maybe she will be lucky. I gained 4 kittens that Lisa (student) brought in last week as they needed a home, three were weak looking but they are all eating well now and growing. Sooty my cat is not impressed. Max went home home last weekend after his short stay unfortunately he wasn’t the sort I need right now, Eric has also gone to a new home and I’ve been offered 3 Shetlands. The Pony Club Centre committee members have been busy fund raising for their Halloween Party which will be held in the indoor school on Saturday November 1st this year. In August they held a show Jumping competition and they have been taking out small hacks on saturdays. On October 11th they have a carboot/table top sale organised in the indoor school with pony rides and face painting which starts at 4.30pm (sellers 4pm – £5). Everyone welcome so please come along and show your support

Posted on Sunday, October 5th, 2008 at 1:27 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.