2009 January | Chris's Blog

Twitters from Talygarn

I posted 3 photos on Facebook in the album "Staff & Students 09 - 10" http://fb.me/B5aPtTnk 4 days ago
I posted 21 photos on Facebook in the album "Julie and Sharon" http://fb.me/G1cqtI46 4 days ago
Big Thank you to everyone who stayed and helped with the party tonight :) will be putting on a free ride tuesday... http://fb.me/FxoLfNk2 5 days ago
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Archive for January, 2009

Area Pony Club Quiz Practice

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

A week last Saturday I wasn’t feeling well, really feeling the cold and shivering. Going to Sunnybank on Sunday with Amelia wasn’t the best of ideas as I have been ill ever since and I’m not really one for being ill its such an inconvenience . But I have either been shivering or sweating and coughing to the extremes all week and too weak to stand up I have been to the doctor twice the first one said I had a chest infection and gave me antibiotics which didn’t do a thing the second doctor said its a viral infection and gave me nothing. I have never been so ill but every cloud has a silver lining, I haven’t been able to face food and have lost 8lb smoking burns the back of my throat so I haven’t had any and I haven’t had an alcoholic drink for over a week unless medicinal of course. So on the whole its a healthy illness. Hoping to be back in the land of the living this week.

The Area Pony Club Quiz is to be held on Saturday 21st Feb at Bonvilston. We are hoping to take two teams from Talygarn and we will be having a quiz on Saturday 31st at 5pm in the PortaCabin to select the teams. We will require 2 under 21, 2 under 16 ,2 under 14 and 2 under 12 (Ages taken from the 01.01.09 Minimum age 9) Anyone wishing to take part must be a pony club centre member, must be available on the 21st of Feb and the 8th April (in case we get to the finals) and should have a reasonable knowledge of horse care. The quiz topics on Saturday are Horse Care, Wildlife and Identifying objects.

I missed the jumping at Pencoed yesterday as I was still feeling rough but I gather it was a good turn out, Amelia was pleased with Leo who took a fourth in the 1.10m with 28 in the class and 15 in the jump off. We still need more BSJA in Wales though.

Posted on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 at 12:54 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

NPTC Skills for working Life Students

Friday, January 16th, 2009

Last September I enrolled 3 full time students on to the NPTC Skills for working life course. Today Pam Jones the Internal Verifier from Yale College paid a visit to the yard to assess the students carrying out tasks and to collect their portfolios. All were quite nervous. Gareth suffers mild Aspergers syndrome and Dayle was who had no prior experience was panicking that he would get things wrong. They had to be seen skipping out, grooming, Identifying tack, knowledge of points of the horse and colours, and have some knowledge of safety and Fire precautions both did extremely well and passed their Level 2. Taz had to tack up, put on a rug, catch a pony, clean a bridle, show some knowledge of signs of good health, safety, and hazards. Taz also passed her Level 3 in fact Pam commented that they were all above the standard and they have all enrolled onto the next course. Carol passed a couple of her units from the NVQ 1 and Jess did a couple of units from NVQ 2 with Marina. Three more part time students have enrolled onto the BHS Stage 1 course and one more on the NPTC 3 I have also taken on Paris as a working pupil to replace Leigh studying BHS Stage 1 and NVQ 2. Which brings our total to 48 students 8 of which are full time. The College courses provide us with a small income and invaluable help on the yard but there is an immense amount of paperwork to be completed and it is quite soul destroying when people sign up and then give up before completing the course but I am pleased to say we have had a good record of achievements the last couple of years. I think the courses work well because numbers are small in each lesson giving us more time for individual needs and the work is very hands on so the students become much more efficient and confident around the horses.

Posted on Friday, January 16th, 2009 at 2:57 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Talygarn

Wednesday, January 14th, 2009

Another Sunday at Badgeworth Arena Somerset but at least the weather was much warmer, Amelia qualified Leo and Destiny in the Amateur Opens for the second round and had the 2nd fastest time in the 1m10 with Leo but unfortunately a fence down in the jump off. The classes are quite big there, in the 1m10 there was 24 in the jump off consequently we arrived home at around 8pm. Which is quite a long day after leaving at 9am. Somehow I got talked into taking Leigh for his coach in Cardiff at 5.30am. By the time he had packed and said goodbye to everyone it was gone midnight when I picked him up and as we left here at 4.30am Monday morning so I didn’t get much sleep Sunday night. I gave him a list of instructions for dealing with Gatwick Airport and told him to text me when he was boarding. I have received three messages ‘Am Boarding’ ‘I’ve landed’ and ‘I’m drunk’ So guessing its going OK (perhaps it was a welcome party). It does seem strange Leigh not being here now but life goes on and we welcomed Jade on board tonight, Jade is only part time and will be teaching Tuesday nights for the next few weeks. Unfortunately I wasn’t here tonight so she got thrown in the deep end but all seemed to go well. Had a wonderful day today after riding this morning I had to do a Jeremy Kyle impersonation at lunchtime before riding again, then I had a less than happy parent who seems to think lots of us including kids on the yard, several instructors and me (whom I might add doesn’t even teach the child) are holding back their progress and victimising them. Nothing to do with them not learning stuff they’ve been asked to do or concentrating or listening apparently. But there you go can’t please everyone. Had to go to Cardiff this evening and got stuck in loads of traffic for ages, hate queuing and couldn’t even call in the pub later as Martha working till 11 who then rang at 10.45 to say she had a lift home.

Posted on Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 at 1:47 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Leigh Humphrey

Friday, January 9th, 2009

Yesterday was Leigh’s last day working at the riding school and it was a very emotional day for all I think. Leigh joined the Riding school in 2005 helping out on the yards and decided he would he would like to learn to ride and become a student. This was going to be quite a challenge as Leigh had no riding experience. Over the last three and a half years Leigh has become a very popular member of the team. As it was me who took on the challenge I feel very proud of what he has achieved and although he hasn’t got his BHS Stage 3 yet we all feel that Leigh will benefit from going away for a couple of years and gaining more experience and riding milage before taking it. We sat down before Christmas and looked at a few job offers around England that might be suitable on the internet. The following day Leigh came in and when I asked him if he had found anything he fancied I nearly fell over when he told me he had applied for one in Denmark and one in Italy. I wasn’t thinking of such a dramatic jump but then again why not, I bet we all look back and think ‘I wish I had done……’Anyway he got the job in Sicily as a groom/rider for an international show jumper who wanted someone to start as soon as possible. I am so proud of Leigh and what he has acheived, there are so many memories some of which I have put together for him in the following Link Leigh Humphrey We all watched it Thursday morning and it brought a tear to our eyes. The first horse Leigh ever

rode was Buffy so yesterday he finished by riding Buffy. These are the before and after pictures

Last night we had a surprise party at the local pub and Leigh was thrilled with how many turned up to wish him all the best and I would like to say on his behalf, Thank you to everyone who donated money, we decided that it wouldn’t be practical to buy him something he would have to carry with him so it was decided to give him the money which I’m sure he will find very useful, £230 was raised which goes to show how well liked he is. We will definitely miss him, Leigh has always been professional in his manner, never showed favouritism always had time and patience for everyone and to his credit he has stuck this out through thick and thin.

Good Luck Leigh you deserve to do well

Posted on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 3:00 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.