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Archive for the 'Horses' Category

Summer Holidays

Monday, August 30th, 2010

Our Summer Holidays activities are over for this year and a busy summer its been as well, The weather has been extremely good for us all of our shows have gone ahead outdoors this year, (up until last week) We managed to run all three mini hunter trials, brilliant weather for the Open Day and another important time weather wise was the Champs in Derby as we were staying on the showground for 3 days in the lorry and tents, rain was forecast but we only had one small shower and it rained once in the night. Camps we didn’t have great weather for, not too bad but we weren’t able to get out into the fields at all. I think everyone enjoyed the camps though, they are good fun if not somewhat tiring when some of them don’t go to sleep till 3am (Libby and Freya). We finished our activities for this summer holidays with our Riding School show jumping for Clients last friday. We held several of these events through the holidays but the last one is always run by the Pony Club Committee to raise funds towards the Halloween Party (Sat Oct 30th) Children and Teenagers tend to take part but this time we had two (nervous) adults who decided to have a go. They came dressed the part Polo shirts and cream jodphurs and after much discussion as to whether they would look silly being beaten by six year olds they opted to go for a bit bigger classes. Sharon settled for the 1ft 9 but Julie decided to go for a bigger class 2ft. First though as a bit of a warm up they decided to go in the pairs. Julie went first jumping a clear round on Phoebe well nearly a clear round after coming to a halt in front of fence three then Sharon went next, I think the excitement got the better of Sharon, I was standing by the double ready to take a picture of Sharon jumping fence six but Sharon got a little lost and jumped the double backwards (needs a Sat Nav I think). Both did extremely well – but were beaten by the youngsters.  Pictures on the Talygarn Face book page.  The show was fairly busy and the Pony Club Members sold cakes to boost their funds. Photos http://www.talygarnec.co.uk/Gallery.php Two Horses have gone this summer. Both have been here a few years. Lizzie we have sold and Athena has gone home. Fun Dog Show next Sunday Sept 5th 1pm also being run by the Pony Club Centre. Lots of fun classes and clear round agility.

Posted on Monday, August 30th, 2010 at 1:18 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.

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.

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.

Bye Bye Destiny

Monday, May 17th, 2010

For many years Amelia has competed in show jumping along side many other horse related sports by the time she reached 15 Amelia had decided she wanted to take show jumping more seriously and join the BSJA. By this time Amelia was getting a little tall for ponies and we decided to buy a horse for her. We went to have a look at Destiny (Ami De La Destinee) at Emma and Kate Bevan’s yard in Abergavenny in 2006. They offered to take Destiny to a local show at the Ponderosa for Amelia to jump her in a BSJA class on a ticket. Amelia won the class and we decided to buy her. Competition horses are a different kettle of fish to riding school horses and it’s also a big jump coming off ponies. Any competition horse that has the potential to be good has to has to have a bit of spark and are usually quite intelligent especially mares I think. Amelia had not long recovered from a cracked vertebrae and 4 cracks in her pelvis from a nasty injury riding a racehorse which reared up and fell on her, At that time she was a little nervous of horsers playing up when Destiny found that weak spot she tried it on a bit as competition horses often will. She made me very angry one day and I got on her and it was soon sorted out. Once Amelia’s confidence grew with her they have never looked back.  In fact she is very well behaved now. Amelia has had four really good years with her mainly show jumping where she has won her out of British Novice and Discovery and had just started jumping Newcomers. She is such a fast horse in a jump off Amelia has won so many classes with her. When we first bought her Amelia did some Dressage with her and qualified for the Pony Club Champs in Nottingham. She has also hunted her and done a bit of cross country. Amelia only ever fell off her once and that was at a recent cross country event, as she hadn’t done any cross country for a few years Amelia decided to go in the pairs behind Fred, feeling confident that Fred would go straight through the water Amelia was taken by surprise when Fred stopped, Destiny obviously thought if your not going I’m not going either, spun to the side and Amelia slipped off her. Amelia has had such a lot of fun with her and so have I, riding her in lessons and hacking her out. We have been saying for the last year that we really must sell her now because Amelia has really outgrown her ability and needs to move on. Two weeks ago we advertised her in Horse Mart and Horse Quest and have had several replies. Last monday whilst I was away some people came to see her for their 14yr old daughter to start out on horses. They liked her and after she was vetted on friday decided to buy her. On Saturday Amelia took Destiny out for a last hack and I took Jimbob. At 3.30pm they arrived to pick her up. True to form Destiny put up a show of refusing to go on their Trailor then after 5 mins just walked straight on.  As they were driving up the lane we could see Dest in the back of the trailor and she turned her head back towards us and gave a neigh as if to say Bye Bye.

Posted on Monday, May 17th, 2010 at 10:43 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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