2010 October | Chris's Blog

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Riding and Road Safety Training and Exam at Talygarn Equestrian Centre June 5th to 8th - limited spaces available 16yrs and over 2012/02/21
Show Jumping Wed 22nd 5.45pm 2ft clear round then 2ft3 2ft6 2ft9 and 3ft. Double clears qualify for Cricklands.... http://t.co/Ap8epCZu 2012/02/20
Show jumping Tomorrow sunday 19th Feb, 1pm start with lead rein followed by 1ft6 1ft9 2ft 2ft3 2ft6 2ft9 3ft.... http://t.co/BjGWhdu1 2012/02/18
Well done to everyone who took part in the Team Show Jumping today. Talygarn had lots of places and one win which... http://t.co/GVjpzrt8 2012/02/15

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Archive for October, 2010

Team Show Jumping

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

Yesterday we ran the first of the winter series of Team Show Jumping events. We were worried about the parking in the field after the rain but the weather couldn’t have been better yesterday. 33 teams jumping is a lot to get through but I think the it was quicker with the two rounds as opposed to three. It was nice to have a good variety of teams taking part. The Talygarn teams did very well in the last series and have made a good start in this series picking up quite a few placings and winning the 2ft3 and 2ft6 classes. Llangeinor Bunnies won the 1ft6, Mynydd Mojos won the 1ft 9 and Glamorgan Ditches won the 2ft. There were a few tears amongst the younger ones in the first class when things didn’t go quite to plan but on the whole everyone did very well. There are a selection of pictures on the Gallery and the Points are on line.

Posted on Thursday, October 28th, 2010 at 1:22 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Coffee update

Monday, October 25th, 2010

Well it appears as though there is still a good bit of life left in Coffee. Sharon moved him to Oakland’s Livery yard which is a lovely place but it is their policy to have new horses in isolation for a week before mixing them with other horses. Good idea but Coffee didn’t take kindly to this. He was given a lovely pen with a field shelter and an outside area surrounded by 4ft fencing – he jumped out. Then he was put in a field on his own – he pushed over and broke six fencing posts, Through the week he has decided he doesn’t like to go anywhere near the horse walker not even to walk past it, he has dragged Sharon all over the place, ripped his rugs pulled a shoe off, bit Sharon’s finger, stamped on her foot and reduced her to tears. He is out of isolation now and has made friends in the field and is back to his normal self and Sharon is enjoying having him now. Sharon also discovered that another livery owner on the yard used to ride coffee before we bought him. Today was such a nice day to be riding. There was no BSJA Show jumping so Steve and I took Jimbob and Buffy to the beach at Kenfig. Jimbob obviously hasn’t seen the sea before and when he first spotted it in between the dunes he he planted his feet to the ground and refused to move. We did eventually get onto the beach and had a good canter along the beach but only managed to get into the sea about 2 inches deep before he beat a hasty retreat.

Posted on Monday, October 25th, 2010 at 1:39 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Coffee

Friday, October 15th, 2010

It was the end of an era yesterday when Coffee left for partial retirement. Coffee has been with us for over 10years and is in his twenties now. He has been an excellent riding school horse giving no end of clients confidence, although when we had him no one under a good level 3 could ride him as he was too strong and forward. I wish I could have a yard full of Coffees’ once he settled down he has never reared never really spooked always been willing and always forward. These last few months age has been telling on him and I am pleased that he has a lovely home with Sharon who I know will love him to bits. He has gone to a nice livery yard with lots of grass which he will love. Many horses have come and gone over the years and some have stayed for quite a number of years. I was looking over the list of horses we have now and I can’t remember exactly how long some have been here. I know I bought Lucy when Lisa worked here and there are 11 out of the 34 we have now that I bought when Emma Davies was here. So the rest have come in the last 4 years. Lucy was 7 when I bought her and is now 22 so I think I will be looking for a retirement home for her soon. I thought Smartie would be going this year as he has been so thin due to not being able to eat anything. We had tried everything but I’m pleased to say soaked high fibre cubes and cereal meal 4 times a day has turned him into a different pony. We have gained a few more horses as well just lately, Stuey a 13hh coloured pony, Trevor 14.1 who is here on working livery and there is a new 14.2hh coming tomorrow on trial and I am looking for a 15.2hh cob type to replace Coffee. My ducks have started laying eggs, well one of them has. I moved the duck pond (Argos swimming pool) into their run and they love it, trouble is they won’t get out of it at night for me to shut them in and I’m worried a fox will have them. Last night I was trying to get them out of the pond at past midnight in my pyjamas. The black one (Peggy) swam quite close so I tried to grab it. I missed and it splashed the water so hard it soaked me from head to foot, I was not impressed. Mavis my brown chicken is learning to be a parrot and sitting on my shoulder. We started clipping this week but I only had one set of blades that weren’t blunt, so we’ve managed six ponies and now clipping has stopped until I get the blades back sharpened next week and I’ve also been invited to a speed awareness course this week. Halloween Party Sat 30th Oct 6pm. The Pony Club Centre have organised a Bouncey Castle, Gladiator Jousting, Rodeo Sheep, Sumo Wrestling and Disco, Tickets now on Sale £2 each. Fancy dress optional

Posted on Friday, October 15th, 2010 at 8:43 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Student of the Year

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

Gareth Evans started riding at Talygarn 3 years ago with the after school activities E3 programme. Gareth suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome which is part of the Autism Spectrum and several years ago he became interested in horse riding when he saw a medieval re-enactment whilst on holiday. At Talygarn Equestrian Centre we run an outreach programme where students enrol at Yale College Wrexham but receive their training at Talygarn. Gareth enrolled on a course when he left school and over the last two years Gareth has achieved his NPTC Level 1 & 2, Horse Owners Level 1, he has passed the riding section of his NVQ and will complete the care by Christmas and he will be taking his BHS Stage 1 next year. Gareth has taken part in displays at the Open Day and rode in show jumping and cross country competitions. As well as being a student at Talygarn Gareth also has a part time job on the yard. This year Yale College recognised Gareth’s achievements by awarding him the title of Equine Student of the Year. Pam our internal verifier from the college presented Gareth with a certificate and trophy. This summer Gareth was accepted into the Sealed Knot Re-enactment society as a foot soldier and is hoping to achieve his ambition to join the Royalist Cavalry on horse back.

Posted on Wednesday, October 6th, 2010 at 8:55 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Dressage

Tuesday, October 5th, 2010

The first Sunday in October was the start of the winter unaffiliated Dressage series at Talygarn. I have to say there were a lot of events on locally that weekend and I thought it might be a quiet start so I was pleased to be up to our maximum entries and even more pleased that every single person turned up despite some awful downpours. I entered Jimbob in the walk trot class and a prelim. I did one test with him at the end of the last series in April as a 4yr old not long after I had him which was fairly ropey and I was impressed with how well he performed picking up a 1st in class 1 and a 2nd in class 3. Made all the effort of plaiting him the night before worthwhile. (Yes I know everyone saw Sarah sewing the plaits up on Sunday morning but I did plait them down the night before honest) Sharon decided to enter Coffee in 2 classes and also spent the evening before plaiting him and washing him and cleaning his tack in fact she was on the yard so long I think she painted his stable as well. On Sunday Sharon rode Coffee who was spotlessly turned out and Julie who was supposed to be riding Phoebe couldn’t come cause of the flu so Sharon decided to ride in her place so she dragged Phoebe out of the stable 20mins before the test unplaited with stains on her legs, no time to clean her tack and guess who she won a rosette on? Kim Evans was the most entertaining when she lost her stirrups in class 3 in canter and put in 6 extra circles. I would not like to be a Dressage Judge you can’t please all the people all the time but on the whole I think Elaine and Lynne did a marvellous job. Looking at the results they have turned out pretty much as I would’ve expected. Results and Points are on the website Sorry I did not take any photos this time but I didn’t realise my camera battery was completely flat but thank you to Jacquie McVay for the lovely picture of Jimbob. Next Dressage Competition is the 7th November. Please get your entries in early as we will close the competition once it is full. Classes 2,3 and 4 are qualifiers for the Dressage Champs at the David Broome Event Centre in around April so if you score 58% or more don’t forget to pick up your qualifying card. The next 3 competitions will also include a Pony Club Dengie Dressage Qualifier

This last week or so I have had an awful cold (there does seem to be a lot of it about) so the last few nights I have slept on the settee to avoid waking everyone up coughing. Last night I was woken by the sound of hooves. Knowing Smartie and Pete are loose on the yard I guessed it was them but there did seem to be a lot of noise so in the end at 3am I got up and was peering out of the window, something was cantering down the lane and I caught sight of a white fly rug. Jo Baileys 16hh 3 year old show jumper Lily which Amelia has here at the moment wears a fly rug. So I panicked ran up stairs ran upstairs yelled at Amelia that Lily was galloping around the yard. She leapt out of bed we ran out of the door down the yard in the dark me in my dressing gown and wellies. A horse came trotting round the corner towards me which turned out to be Julie’s cob Trevor who had got out of his stable. Trevor was reluctant to return to his stable and as I didn’t have a lead rope we spent 10mins with me pulling him by the fly rug and Amelia pushing him before we got him back in. On returning to the lounge I decided to text Julie at gone 3am in the morning just to let her know (after all if I’m awake due to her horse she should be too). I nearly had a fit when I heard breathing in the lounge only to find that when we had run out the dog (Todd) had snuck in and jumped in my bed.

Posted on Tuesday, October 5th, 2010 at 1:58 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.