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Archive for December, 2008

Staff Musical Ride

Friday, December 19th, 2008

Wednesday nights show jumping was a bit of a wash out. Maybe we should have cancelled it being so close to christmas although I think those that were here enjoyed it.  I had agreed to go to see Diana Vickers from the X Factor in Swansea’s Oceana with Jen and Amelia. They were going to catch the train and I was going to meet them later and bring them back but as the show jumping finished early  and they missed the train I rang Sharon who agreed to come (with 40 minutes notice)  We left here at 8.45 met some friends in Wind Street,  then went on to Oceana, Diana Vickers must have been very popular it was packed, by the time we left it was gone 2am. Funniest sight was half a dozen girls outside Oceana dressed as Mother christmasses have a full on argument it took two police officers to calm them down. By the time I drove home and got to bed it was 3.20am. Needless to say I didn’t wake up till 9.15 and as Marina was off today I got to teach the students, but that was ok we did a musical ride, well it wasn’t ok actually it was a bit of a disaster really but very funny. Lynne vidoe’d it, I’ll have to upload it and get Amelia to put it on U Tube. The first four were fine but the last four have never done it before and three of them haven’t been riding very long. The canter certainly woke them up and me. Even though they might have felt they had some near death experiences no one fell off, Gareth was close and Dayle nearly collided with everyone. Fortunately the better riders were able to swerve. I spent the afternoon buying food for tomorrows staff lunch and looking for xmas presents which resulted in me buying myself a pair of jeans. I was going to have an early night well earlyish for me but some friends of Marthas have just turned up with strongbow so now I feel a party coming on

Posted on Friday, December 19th, 2008 at 1:50 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Riding Instructors

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

Sometimes I wonder why anybody wants to be a riding Instructor when there are so many warmer places to work. You have to enjoy the outdoors in all weathers and you really have to love mud, manure and the anti social hours working evenings and weekends. Riding instructors paint their nails to hide the muck underneath them. Not many riding instructors are fortunate enough to just teach most have a whole pile of yard work to see to first. So after spending several hours knee deep in mud and the driving rain they then have several hours of teaching to contend with. If your lucky enough to have an indoor school then at least you get to stay dry but in this weather we are having at the moment you are also likely to turn into a block of ice. Hence the reason why Instructors look immensly huge in the winter and appear to have dramatic weight loss in the summer. We all look forward to the summer but it comes with its own set of problems last year was continual rain but when it is hot you can either fry in the indoor school or be plagued by horse flys in the outdoor school and get burn’t to a crisp. Every parent wants their child to have the best lesson ever. By the time your instructor gets to teach your child he/she may be the fortieth kid that instructor has seen that day and most intructors do their best to give everybody a good lesson no matter how rough ill or hungover they may feel. So spare a thought for your instructor this Christmas, a small gift to show your appreciation goes a long way.

Posted on Tuesday, December 16th, 2008 at 1:57 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

BSJA Badgworth Arena, Somerset

Monday, December 15th, 2008

After running our own showjumping competition here saturday night and having gone out on Friday night getting up at 5.45am to go showjumping was a bit of a struggle ‘Grooms’ Sarah and Carys and ‘Mini Grooms’ Molly and Zoe came with us. Their parents must be madder getting up at that time to bring them to the yard. Anyway by the time we loaded both horses and all the tack etc needed it was nearer 7.30 when we left. We arrived at Badgworth Arena just after 9am. Both horses were a bit on the fresh side having not been anywhere for the last three weeks. I have never been to Badgworth and I was quite impressed by the set up, it is obviously a very old indoor school that has been extended to include an undercover waiting area, there are two large outdoor schools for warming up and a heated cafeteria area, plenty of parking and the organisers were very helpful. Amelia jumped Destiny in the 90cms and she had the first fence down due to being spooky which is typical Destiny when she hasn’t been out for awhile. Sarah took her out to the quieter outdoor school to walk round to cool her off. Amelia was warming Leo up in the other school Several minutes later I glanced up towards the top school and was surprised to see a riderless Destiny cantering towards me. I managed to grab her as she passed and then Sarah wandered down. Destiny had been alarmed by something in the outdoor school and Sarah had fallen off, fortunately she wasn’t hurt. The rest of the day wasn’t that successful although they both jumped well Destiny had a fence down in the jump off of the 1m and Leo also had a fence down in the first round then Leo had a fence down in the Jump off of the 1m5. The really odd thing though was that both horses had exactly the same fence down in their first class and exactly the same fence down in the jump off of their second class. 10yr olds Molly and Zoe love riding Destiny and Leo around the lorry parks and helping to get them ready at shows Pictures of the grooms on /www.talygarnec.co.uk/Gallery.php

Posted on Monday, December 15th, 2008 at 1:59 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Riding School December 08

Thursday, December 11th, 2008

Fifteen days to christmas and I’m no nearer organised now than I was a month ago. At least most of the horses are clipped now. We had a clipping day last friday and got 12 done. We even got Michigan done. Michigan is a 16.3hh gentle giant, quiet to ride and handle but turns into a maniac with one glimpse of the clippers, Lynne twitched him and I clipped him, very quickly needless to say I doubt its that straight but at least its done. Most of the horses were well behaved Jasper had to be twitched, Blue though is definitly going to need sedating. Most of the students had a go at clipping the ponies. The E3 programme for schools riding has finished for christmas, we have had three schools this term, two junior schools and one Comp Y Pant. Y Pant have been coming for a few terms and have made good progress in their riding. The weather is so cold at the moment we have had a few problems in the mornings getting the horses in with so much ice on the lane, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will stay dry over xmas so that most of the horses and ponies can stay out. Last night I taught the christmas fun night for Llangeinor pony club at Pencoed College. Most of the kids and horses were done up in tinsel and and xmas costumes They played trains and jumped doubles singing the Twelve Days of Christmas. Today is Amelia’s 18th birthday (well as its gone midnight it was actually yesterday) so she and a few friends have gone to the pub, (Legally!!!)

Posted on Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 1:22 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Express Eventing, Millenium Stadium

Monday, December 1st, 2008

One of the most sshocking Equestrian events I have ever been to. The dressage to music was entertaining far more interesting than watching it without the music, although the two celebrity judges Andrew Lloyd Webber and Arlene Phillips (strictly come dancing) were not. They commented after each rider but had nothing to say that actually related to dressage more whether they liked the music or not, I don’t find comments like ‘That will cheer you up’ and ‘I loved the music’ very inspiring Arlene Phillips was particularly rude about Austin O’Connors test and his choice of Irish Music calling it ‘Dull’ and ‘Heard it before’ (but then I’m not a fan of these X factor type programmes where rudeness seems to be encouraged). This was followed by a celebrity jump off between Jodie Kidd and Tara Palmer-Tomkinson. The plan I think was for them to jump a course of show jumps. Jodie was ok not brilliant but she got round. Whereas Tara, can she actually ride?  was horrific.  Did someone not think to tell her this was not a good idea. She survived the first four somehow then the horse slipped and she nearly fell off she then stopped and I don’t think she wanted to continue, the crowd egged her on, she jumped the next one crashed through it swerved to the side nearly fell off again then jumped off and left. Quite amusing from where I was sitting but probably throughly embarassing for her and surely not what the organisers had in mind. Next came the showjumping and crosscountry phase. Nine showjumps followed by a pitstop where the rider had to take off their jacket put on a body protector and a cross country shirt get back on and set off as quick as possible then jump 17 technical x country fences. The first horse on the cross country fell on the bank and the rider came off. Of the 19 competitors only 6 finished the course, 2 retired and 11 were eliminated – 4 of those jumped the wrong course another 2 got lost but managed to redeem themselves. A course of 25 fences is not easy to remember do the organisers not realise that in professional cross country these days you only have to stay inside the ropes to find your way around also you tend to have a long run between one techincal fence and the next, long enough to recover whereas these fences came up pretty fast and were very big for such a small area. Mark Todd’s horse banked the corner fence and demolished it beyond repair. Oliver Townend won the event but the day was marred when Mary King’s horse fell on a narrow fence that had previously caused quite a few problems and had to be put to sleep.

As for the Millenium stadium I have not been there for an event before and I’m sure it is ideal for Rugby/Football matches but for an event that ran from 11am to 5pm it sadly lacked any sort of facilities. We had one food oulet selling hot dogs, pastys, pies and drinks and one bar with limited choice of drinks (all overpriced) by mid afternoon the food outlet had sold out of most things and the stadium wasn’t even anywhere near full. If you ever go there take your own food and drinks and dress very warm its freezing.

Posted on Monday, December 1st, 2008 at 12:10 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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