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Potential Show Jumpers

Monday, June 28th, 2010

Every year this seems to be the busiest time ever I think this might be because as well as the usual running of the riding school, student training, shows etc I try to add other activities into my already busy day such as Open day organising and gardening (which although quite rewarding does take up a lot of time). Also now that Amelia has sold Destiny she wants to buy herself another horse to show jump therefore I am also trying to make time to go and see horses with her (mainly because Amelia is not to keen on driving long distances on the motorway) Last sunday Amelia found two horses that she wanted to see in Kent. As we didn’t have a show that day Steve and I decided to go with her. So armed with google maps and directions we set out. Both horses are 4yr olds just broken and come over from abroad in the last 10 days. Neither had done much under saddle but both had exceptionally good breeding. Amelia rode them whilst I sat armed with video so she could watch them afterwards. Both moved extremely well on the flat and she jumped them over a small fences. My main thought whilst videoing was I hope she is not expecting me to ride these. The first one had quite a bit of spirit (I did like that one) and tried to buck several times when cantering and the 2nd one was also very sharp. Over the years I have often ridden Amelia’s horses to keep them in work when she has been away and when she broke her foot. Destiny although was a bit of a handful when we first had her at 6yrs old has been a dream to ride and I often rode her. Leo is also very good but has a lot more power than Destiny and is sometimes a bit too quick for my liking and a bit too much spring for my older bones but I must admit I think I’m getting a bit past sharp youngsters nowadays. I think I’ll stick to Jimbob who is a lot steadier although having said that he is only 5yrs old and he reared and napped on the road the other day (when I say reared my definition of rearing is front legs 2ft off the ground any higher and I think I would jump off) He had a smack for that one and hasn’t tried it since. Anyway Amelia wasn’t too keen on either horse the first one was the nicest but maybe a bit too inexperienced and the second one tapped the fence a few times and didn’t seem bothered about hitting it. Personally I like to see a youngster that hits a fence come round to it again and put a  big jump in, its good to have horses with the sttitude that they don’t like hitting a fence. So off to Warwick on Tuesday to see a couple more.

Posted on Monday, June 28th, 2010 at 3:17 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Quiz Night

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

Several weeks ago Leanne (parent of Ashton) suggested it would be nice to have a social evening for parents so we decided on a quiz night for parents clients and students. I agreed to do the questions and Leanne put some posters up. We got a room for free from upstairs in the Hand and Squirrel in Talbot Green (Big thanks to Mike) and decided on Sunday June 13th. As everyone is connected with the riding school we decided to have one horse related round. So last week I copied and pasted a 20 pictures containing famous horses or riders and saved them on the computer. Friday and Saturday I was away with Amelia who was show jumping at Broomes. Sunday morning I did the rest of the questions and printed them out before the showjumping started. We are holding the showjumping in the outdoor school during the summer, provided it’s not pouring down with rain and although it wasn’t hugely busy there was a reasonable turn out. and we didn’t finish till 6pm.  Agreed to meet at pub at 7.30pm for quiz so just had to water the garden, feed the chickens, have shower, grab a quick bite and print off the pictures and answers for the picture round and thats where it all went wrong, I needed to send the photos to the other computer to print them and could I get an Internet connection, I tried everything from unplugging it to shaking it (that worked best) and don’t you just love it when a little box comes up and says ‘your internet is not connected’ I know that. By 6.50pm I had managed to get them printed, had the quickest shower ever, slung food at chickens, ran out of door with bread roll in hand and got to pub by 7.30(ish) There were 19 of us all together split into 4 teams, we had 2 rounds of questions, one picture round and one round of cryptic nursery rhymes. The quiz was fairly lighthearted and a good laugh with the entertainment provided by Sheena Davies. The winning team ‘Bringing up the rear’ Sue Reville, Jackie Morgan, Gaynor Blake, Kath and Paul Curnock donated the £17 winnings to the Pony Club fund raising for the Championships at Derby in August. We will try to organise another one in July. Having become a keen gardener over the last couple of years you will realise how devasted I was when I got up this morning to make a truly traumatic discovery – My greenhouse blew over in the night. Glad to say it is actually ok and I’m so glad its not made of glass.

Tonight we had the first practice for the musical ride. First everyone rode around the arena to make sure the horses were ok with the music and then started to learn the moves. I was very impressed at how well it was all going – until we got to the canter. There were several near misses, 2 nearly fell off, one crashed and one was at the wrong end. I really think that first practice at the canter movement is more entertaining than on the day. I wish I’d videod it. PS Tickets for Open Day on sale soon – July 11th.

Posted on Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 at 1:36 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Whitsun Half Term

Monday, June 7th, 2010

Well its certainly been a very busy Whitsun Half Term, after a very successful Mini Hunter Trial last weekend, Amelia jumped in Llandeilo on Monday at the Area 36 BSJA on Leo. The cross country clinic was cancelled Tuesday due to the rain but went ahead on Thursday so we had a bareback jumping practise instead, Mini Pony Club and Pony Days went well and we held the riding school client show jumping in the outdoor arena on Friday and also the  Wed Mini Show Jumping was held outdoors. I am hoping to hold all the show jumping during the summer in the outdoor arena unless its raining, although the temptations to eat sausage and chips is greater than eating the Burgers so not so good for my diet. We also managed a Polocrosse practise this week for the open day (Sunday 11th July) and lessons as well.  Sunday we took Leo to another Area 36 BSJA show in Carmarthen where Amelia won the 1.05m Adventurer qualifier for Scope in September. Leo doesn’t travel well on his own so I took Jimbob with him today just to ride around the showground, Steve got on him while I took pictures of Amelia and I never got him back. My garden is going well since I got the greenhouse. I have strawberries lettuce broad beans runner beans carrots potatoes cucumber peppers corgettes tomatoes and grapes growing, although I think its too windy here so I’m thinking of getting a massive Polytunnel. Maybe I should give up riding lessons and turn the whole place into a garden centre!!!!

Posted on Monday, June 7th, 2010 at 11:05 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Four Faults

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

One of our part time saturday students Julie, likes to video her lesson so she can watch it back, she sets up a little video camera in the corner when she rides and to be honest its a bit of a nightmare because you do tend to forget its there. Having some time off work Julie decided to come in today to help out. As it is half term this week we were supposed to be running a cross country clinic but it rained last night so we moved it to Thursday. The kids that were riding in it turned up anyway so we decided to do some Open Day prac – bareback jumping instead. Julie has never ridden bareback and wanted to have a go. She promptly set up the video camera which I moved so that she would have a better view down the grid (a move I was going to regret later). The kids have done this practice many times and know how its done. First they jump down a grid of five fences – not very high. Julie was last to go. After they had all been one of them shouted shall we take our stirrups away after this it was shall we take our reins away, then shall we take the saddles away at this point Julie added ‘ Can we quit taking things away and add something for goodness sake I could jump down there with a handbag’. Needless to say the kids didn’t go for that idea and were all taking off their saddles not to be left out Julie took hers off, All the kids vaulted on and Julie – didn’t – well she did try but kind of ran jumped hit coffee in the sides and slid down to the floor.  The practice went well no one fell off and all managed to jump down the grid with no saddle and no bridle even Julie. Last off I decided to let Laura a girl we have here on work exp have a go but because she doesn’t really ride I put her on Candy (12.2hh) and led her down the grid. Candy jumped the fourth fence a little big and I looked back to see laura was ok – Big mistake I misjudged the last jump caught my foot on it fell flat on the floor and let Laura go right in front of the video camera. Everyone thought it hysterical. If you are on my Facebook, Julie Whiles or Amelia Rogers you can have a look for yourself. Julie has kindly uploaded the video and entitled it ‘four faults’ but I will get my own back lol.

Posted on Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 at 1:26 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Mini Hunter Trial

Monday, May 31st, 2010

I was worried earlier in the week that the ground was going to be a bit hard for the Mini Hunter Trial but that rain we had yesterday did it the world of good and it turned out to be a fab day. The course is a small course approx 1ft high in the lead rein, then 1ft9 and the max height in the last class is 2ft3,  suitable for Novice horses or Novice riders and also the very scared and we had quite a few very scared adults. There wasn’t many in the lead rein but we had a very good turn out for the rest of the next classes. Ashton Newton riding Smartie won the lead rein. Sophie Thomas had a fall but was ok and Olivia Murray nearly fell off but her leader Sarah Blake was very quick to catch her and throw her back on. There were a few fallers throughout the day but none injured. Shannon riding Quattro manged to fall off twice at the same fence (I’ve seen a few photos of that pop up on facebook) Malissa and Rupert parted company when they had a disagreement on which way to turn. There were also a lot of smiling faces, some because they had been placed, some because they had got round and a few because they had survived. We need quite a bit of help to run this event and we rely on parents from they riding school and a great job they did too, from fence judging to taking entries and even the catering. Next Mini Hunter Trial Sunday 27th June 11am start.

Posted on Monday, May 31st, 2010 at 1:31 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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