2010 November | Chris's Blog

Tweets from Talygarn

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 November, 2010

Thailand

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010

I decided it would be a good idea tbe in thailand for the Loy Krathong Festival. Booked a flight to Bangkok on the18th planning to catch a connecting flight to Chiang mai on the 19th. Wrong everyone had the same idea. Stayed a night on the Koasan Rd in Bangkok and managed to get a flight the next day, Saturday. Was planning to leave Monday but guesthouse owner Eve was having none of it as it was her birthday monday. The Loy Krathong festival is over three days the main night being sunday. We were told it is a celebration to the water gods and there would be lanterns, floral displays on the river and fireworks. It was interesting to say the least. Many Huge elaborate floats came down the main road to the river. Thousands of people crowded the river and the roadways. Lanterns were set alight and let go into the sky like flame throwers and fireworks were let off anywhere by anyone, we actually sat in a bar for awhile and watched a group of thais the youngest being about 4yrs lighting them and throwing them into the busy road at thais and tourists alike. Everyone seemed to think it was great fun. Police didnt mind at all. Good Thai Party Monday night with plenty of Thai whiskey but gave the Loy Krathong a miss.

Posted on Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010 at 10:31 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

clipping horses

Thursday, November 18th, 2010

Modern technology is a wonderful thing. I am writing this on my phone whilst travelling in the car to heathrow. By the way I am not driving. There doesnt seem to be enough hours in the day and I have been trying to fit in a lot of clipping. As the weather is getting colder the horses coat have become much thicker making it inpossible for them to work in the school omfortably. Some horses are very laid back about the whole procedure. .My horse who is 5 and I don’t think he would have been clipped before didn’t bat an eyelid, in fact I tied him up in the stable and clipped him on my own. Amelia’s new horse Zac who is a 4yr old was much the same and so was 5yr old Rupert. The students had a practice on some of the older ponies. Michigan 18 and Blue 10 both require sedating, Last week we had a very distressing incident involving clipping. Fred’s owner had asked Amelia to clip him. Fred who is 11yr is not the easiest but Leigh used to clip him every year.. Amelia did all of the body but was having some trouble doing the head because fred was striking out with his front feet. Last year Tracey Bertorelli and I held his head over a stable door and clipped him from the inside so that he couldnt kick us. It worked fine. This year Amelia did the same and just 2mins from finishing Fred decided to jump the stable door but got stuck with two front legs over the door and his back legs suspended in the air. It was a very frightening situation. I managed to lever the door open with a broom and he got one back leg off. Eventually struggling the other leg off. Amelia got him straight out of the stable but unfortunately he kicked Katie who had put herself in front of Zoe Freds 12yr old owner. We had a vet and an ambulance out. Remarkably Fred seemed sound and there were no deep cuts although he had grazed a lot of skin off the inside of his legs and has a lot of swelling. Katie has a nasty cut and muscle spasm but has made a good recovery and will be back on monday. I think everyone was is shock for a few days I am just relieved everyone and Fred is ok. Needless to say I am really looking forward to this holiday. Will be in touch from Cambodia if I can find any internet

Posted on Thursday, November 18th, 2010 at 6:32 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Half Term

Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010

What a busy and varied week half term has turned out to be. Monday Steve and Gareth took Buffy to the Rhondda Heritage Park where a film was being made on the life of Aneurin Bevan. Steve and Gareth were dressed as miners and with Buffy as a pit pony they had parts as extras. Don’t know how much of them they will use though Steve and Gareth were ok but Buffy kept smiling at the camera. Whilst they were there I had 20 kids between 11 and 15yrs from an activities scheme in the Rhondda for the morning. The vet arrived to sedate .Michigan at lunchtime giving me an hour to get him clipped. I managed to get some of the paperwork done for the team showjumping before going swimming, thankfully my Yoga class was cancelled. Tuesday was pony day all day lessons in evening and another vet out to see Cleo. After teaching at 9pm I finished all the prep for the team jumping which took me till 2am. Wednesdays team show jumping was a brill day but long and tiring. Thursday was my birthday so I managed a fairly quiet day spent the morning updating the paperwork, hacked my horse out in afternoon. Thanks to all who gave me alcohol and chocs much appreciated but having spent a week trying to lose a lb I probably gained 5lb on Thurs night. Fridays client showjumping I thought would be very quiet but turned out to be very busy. The Halloween Party Saturday night was great fun and but as you can see it was not Alcohol that induced me to sleeping on the kitchen floor just sheer exhaustion!! Yesterday I was at Badgeworth Arena in somerset with Amelia who was jumping Leo. Amelia was pleased with Leo who jumped well as this was his first show since his ‘holiday’. We arrived at 2pm, they didn’t jump the first class till after 6pm and we didn’t get home till after 9pm. Cleaned up the garden today, cleaned out the chickens, hacked out my horse, went to swimming and Yoga and started counting down the days till I go on holiday.

Posted on Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010 at 1:27 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Halloween Party

Monday, November 1st, 2010

Every year we hold a Halloween party in the indoor school on the nearest Saturday to the 31st of Oct. The older members of the Pony Club form a committee and run a few events throughout the year to raise funds to run the Halloween Party. The weather was good enough this year to hold the last couple of lessons outdoors So the committee started decorating the indoor school around 4pm. Not long after, I received a call from the people bringing the rodeo sheep, Bouncy Castle, Gladiator Jousting and Sumo wrestling gear to say they had broken down on the motorway. Whilst trying to decide what plan B should be for over 200 people on cold wet dark October evening, the disco arrived which had been on a different vehicle. I then found out the other van was on the way but travelling very slowly. With a sigh of relief I threw my costume on, a vampire dress £15 from Tesco’s grabbed the vodka and camera and went to the indoor school. The equipment turned up half an hour after the start time but they soon got it up and running. There were some fab costumes, I loved Sarah Carys and Katies’ 3 blind mice outfit very imaginative, I thought they were boiled Bunnies. Not enough adults seemed brave enough to dress up although Julie and Keith’s Cockroach infestation was brilliant. I think this was the busiest we have ever been Steve and Bev were rushed off their feet. Most of the younger children drifted off home by ten and the night wound up around just before 1am with dancing on the tables. I remember walking to the house and putting the ducks and chickens in but not much after that. I fell asleep on the kitchen floor and woke up at 4.20am and phones these days are a menace cause that photo was taken and posted on facebook straight away. Loads more Photos from the night can be found on the Gallery