2010 July | Chris's Blog

Tweets from Talygarn

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
Tuesday 14th Feb Taster lessons in Equestrian Vaulting, suitable for riders and non riders from 4 to 18yrs of... http://t.co/rUFqMIzx 2012/01/23

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Archive for July, 2010

unaffiliated Show Jumping

Monday, July 26th, 2010

During the summer the unaffiliated show jumping events tend to be a bit quieter which is not unusual as a lot of people prefer to jump outdoors and there is generally a lot more competitions around. This summer we decided to hold our competitions in the outdoor school which is a large arena (20×60) and using the indoor school as a warm up ring. I didn’t expect today to be very busy as many of our regular people are away on holidays. So it was quite a surprise to be as busy as we were. There were a lot of new faces today making some good competitive classes. Its nicer to be able to jump outdoors when the weather is good and I think a lot of people like to combine that with jumping on a surface. All classes from 2ft up are qualifiers for the Championships of Great Britain held at Cricklands. Steve had a good run on sausage and chips today and actually sold out of chips. Next show jumping Wednesday 28th July start 5.45pm with lead rein going up to 2ft6.

Posted on Monday, July 26th, 2010 at 2:14 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Tunisia

Monday, July 26th, 2010

Arrived at the airport in Tunisia with Martha, backpacks and nowhere to stay. Caught a taxi into Sousse. Got ripped off by first Taxi driver, 2nd and 3rd tried it too but knew currency by then. Found a small hotel in the Medina in Sousse. Nice room but no air con. Wed 14th July the day we arrived was Martha’s 18th birthday so we went out for a meal in the evening. Decided to move to a hotel with air con as it was so hot. booked a 3* for two nights in Sousse tourist area. Air con didn’t work, managed to get it fixed (6hours later) then would you believe the hotel had two power cuts – no air con or lifts, pool was nice though. The majority of tourists in Sousse at this time of year appear to be Algerian and as they are Moslem the women are covered up from head to toe with only their faces showing it was quite amusing to see so many of them in the sea, as they go in fully dressed. We were going to make our own way south towards the desert but as it was so hot we decided to book an organised tour for two days. There were 9 of us on a mini bus, air conditioned, and a driver and guide. We visited the Coloseum in El Jem. The area where they filmed star wars in Matmata, The underground caves called Troglodytes, had our lunch in one of them, brik, couscous and figs, We arrived in Douz in the Sahara desert about 4pm. We did a short 40 min camel ride into the desert but that was long enough as the heat was too much. We had to dress in Berber costume and I have a lovely Dawn French look alike photo. Stayed the night in Douz in a lovely 4* hotel. We had to be up at 4.30am to visit the salt lakes and then we had a horse and cart ride through the Oasis in the desert at Touzer. In Touzer the temperatures reach 46c in the shade by midday so we had to be there early and away by 9.30am. We took a train journey through the Atlas mountains which are considerably lower than they are in Morocco. Visited Kourian the religious centre of Tunisia before returning to Sousse. As we didn’t have a hotel in Sousse we decided to move onto Monastir and the Mini bus driver dropped us off at the side of the road where we caught the local bus. Found a lovely little place in the Lonely Planet - Hotel Mezri, nice room air con and view over the sea. Went out on a pirate ship the next day, great trip BBQ and dance music, was so funny watching people trying to dance on the boat. Spent the evening playing cards with some of the crew in a bar in Monastir. Went an has a Hammam, so relaxing before the trip home.

Posted on Monday, July 26th, 2010 at 12:34 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Open Day 2010

Friday, July 16th, 2010

Open Day
What an absolutely fantastic day it turned out to be, worth all the stress and extra hours of putting it altogether and there were a few problems this year. Both Cleo and Lucy had been lame and both were in the bigger jumping last year. Lucy was ok but as she was in the musical ride we decided not to risk the jumping and with Cleo out as well we were a bit short of horses. All the riders in the jumping did extremely well with Chloe winning on Michigan. Kate and Hannah were amazing jumping the 4ft planks but I could have cried tears of joy for Carys who has worked so hard over the years to improve Blue’s jumping and was so excited to have a go on Blue but was sure she would knock a few down, on the day Blue did Carys proud and didn’t knock down a single fence. I also felt for Zoe Hughes who should have been in the jumping display but had broken her wrist in a gymkhana practice which put her out of a few displays but Zoe showed true spirit and came along and helped out and took part where she could. The bareback jumping went well but I think the audience like it when a few fall off and they didnt disappoint with Sarah and Carys falling off Buffy after the first fence and Libby and Molly falling off Gem before they even got to the first fence. I had not seen the dalmations in costume before the day and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw them in the kitchen where they had got ready. The musical ride always goes down well and they rode it perfectly and looked very smart as ballroom dancers. Some of our students put together the Polocrosse display and we rounded up the afternoon with an exciting gymkhana display. As you can imagine an awful lot of time goes into practices and organising the day Amelia gave up a lot of her time to help with practices and did an amazing job on the day of organising all the displays but we still couldn’t manage without the help of parents etc. All students come in on the day and give their help. Gaynor Blake, Jackie Morgan and husbands and Sue Reville did a brill job on Burger van, Mini Pony CLub Mums Leanne, Lisa, Nikki and Sarah ran the shop, Sharon ran the pony rides, Sue Owen carried bucket after bucket of water down to the yard to wash the horses. Several people helped with making costumes and Tracey Bushrod did an absolutely brilliant job of face painting all the dalmations etc. So a big thank you to everyone that helped and I hope I haven’t missed anyone out. Photos are on Website curtesy of Tim Lambert and Julie Whiles and Martha is working on a DVD of the day

Posted on Friday, July 16th, 2010 at 11:43 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Ducks

Monday, July 5th, 2010

Last week I decided to get two ducks to go with the four chickens. Laura and I went over to Brynna and collected the ducks. Both were approx 8 weeks old, one is a Cayuga the black one and the other is a Welsh Harlequin. I have a little routine with the chickens. They get let out in the morning into the large run and have fresh water and some scraps, at 5pm they expect to get their layers pellets and corn, if they dont get it on time Rita flys out of the run into the garden and attacks my plants, as soon as its dark they go in their house of their own accord and I lock them in, easy. Same routine for Ducks – No. They stick together at all times, they dont seem to care when they get fed and they obviously have no concept of foxes. Each night I shut the chickens into their house and the ducks live in the run underneath, except they dont get it and I end up chasing them round the large run until I can catch them and its no good catching one as the other one just runs faster and squawks on top of her voice. If I catch one and put it in the run I have to shut the door or it will run out again then I can’t catch the other cause it runs round and round the run at 90 miles an hour and food does not tempt them. In the end I have to corner both of them and catch them together. Tonight I went out after dark and they were actually in the small run so I shut the door quickly relieved that I didnt have to chase them in the dark on the muddy ground. As the chickens are named Rita Vera Audrey and Mavis – Coronation Chicken Laura named the Ducks Pat and Peggy from eastenders

Posted on Monday, July 5th, 2010 at 2:28 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Another busy week

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

With less than two weeks to go before the Open Day there is still much to organise and its been another busy week. We have one more practice for the musical ride, the dress rehearsal next week and several other practices to get in for the other displays. The practices have been going very well but unfortunately we had a disaster last weekend when practicing one of the Gymkhana games and Zoe Hughes fell and broke her wrist. On saturday Jen came in the house asking if Paul Curnock could have a cold wet towel for a twisted ankle. I have to admit my first thought was ‘Oh No Emily can’t be injured she is in the Musical ride’, but it was ok is was his wife Kath. No sympathy there Kath just relief Emily that was ok but the next day I was panicked again when Emily fell off in the Mini Hunter Trials. I have asked her to sit in front of the TV for the next week. The Mini Hunter trial was very successful and busy but the ground was very hard. I’m glad to say we only had a couple of fallers and they were ok. Its good for us that England are now out of the football as the World Cup final is on the same day as the Open day although it doesn’t start till 7.30pm and we should be finished by 5.30ish. Mini Show Jumping on Wednesday was a bit quiet this week. The weather was good enough to hold it in the outdoors school. Kate Owen rode Hannah in two of the best jump offs I have seen in a while. Well done Kate. I think those jumping clinics with Amelia and Jo have really paid off. Last Tuesday I drove up to Warwick for Amelia to have a look at some horses. We went to a yard speciallising in competition horses with approx 50 horses. Amelia looked at some 4yr olds 5 yr olds and a 7yr old and eventually decided on the 7yr old which she picking up tomorrow. I am staying home as I have the students, the farrier, the sawdust, and the washing machine mechanic coming out. I also have to get to tescos and and organise the lessons for tomorrow night. Open Day Sunday July 11th gates open 1pm.

Posted on Friday, July 2nd, 2010 at 1:04 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.