Horses | 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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Talygarn Equestrian Centre 2010

Monday, January 3rd, 2011

Looking back over the 2010 it has been quite an interesting year It seems to have started and finished with snow and my dieting has followed the same plan as last year, although I am hoping to be a bit more successful this year. Quite a few horses have come and gone over the year. Polo and Lizzie were sold Storm and Athena went back to their owners Coffee has gone to Sharon. Harry, Winsten and Abi came on trial but didn’t stay. Trevor is on loan, Jimbob, Foley, Stuey and Diesel came this year, Angharad now owns Diesel and Amelia sold Destiny and bought Zac and she also has Jo Bailey’s Lily here. The Talygarn Pony Club Centre has had a very busy and successful year. Winning the Area Quiz and the Senior Horse Care. placed 3rd in the National Quiz in Warwick. 5th in the Horse Care Champs and the Overall Team winners of the Pony Club Centre Championships in Derby with Sarah Blake and Chloe Reakes both winning their individual sections. Carys Morgan rode Fred in the Dressage to Music at the Champs and did a lovely test to the music from Lady Gaga. The Pony Club Committee have all worked very hard this year running and organising The Fun Dog Show, Show Jumping and hacks to raise funds to run the Halloween Party The Annual Open Day turned out to be a lovely day despite threats of rain. The Displays included Show Jumping, Musical Ride, Bareback Jumping, 101 Dalmations by the Mini Pony Club, PoloCrosse and Gymkhana. We have also ran many competitions this year The Dressage series was very successful ending in April and has got off to a very busy start for 10/11 series. We are also holding some Pony Club Dengie Qualifiers during the Dressage series and Kate Owen riding Hannah and Carys Morgan riding Buffy have already qualified for the second round in 2011. The indoor Show Jumping and the Team jumping have been very busy with Talygarn picking up quite a few wins in the points series. This year we held the Summer Jumping in the outdoor school and that proved to be very popular. We were also lucky enough with the weather to be able to hold all four Mini Hunter Trials. We have had numerous students passing BHS & NVQ exams this year and Gareth Evans was also chosen by Yale College as Student of the Year Other Activities this year have included The E3 Schools Riding, Pony Days, Camps, Centre Days, Birthday Partys, and a Parents Quiz Night Unfortunately we had to cancel the Pony Club C test because of the snow but we did manage to hold the Child Protection Course and the Christmas Gymkhana which was a bit quieter than normal due to the weather but turned out to be a good day. There a lots of pictures on the Gallery from 2010 and beyond. Lets hope to make 2011 and even more successful year.

Posted on Monday, January 3rd, 2011 at 3:34 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Kirby Cane Genius

Friday, December 10th, 2010

When Jennifer was 6yrs old we bought her a second pony called Kirby Cane Genius. He was a very well bred pony and was related to Princess Anne’s first Pony Kirby Cane Greensleeves. Kirby was Strawberry roan, 12.2hh and 17yrs old when we bought him. Jen was very tiny on him. He was a wonderful pony and Jen had many years of great fun riding him and winning many show jumping competitions. When she grew out of Kirby she didn’t want to sell him so we used him in the riding school for a while. He became ill when he was about 23yrs and lost a lot of weight to the point that we thought he may have to be put to sleep. We had vets and the dentist look at him to no avail and then a new dentist happened to come along who noticed that one of his teeth was preventing him from eating so he removed the tooth and Kirby was very keen to eat straight away. We put him in the field and unfortunately he had a bout of mild colic from over eating after a couple of hours. After that incident he regained weight and looked very healthy. I was approached by the parents of a young child at the riding school who wanted to buy him for their daughter as a first pony. Jen was reluctant to sell him but she knew he would have a good home and it would be better for him than being in the riding school. Gemma also had several years of fun riding and show jumping with him. When Gemma grew out of Kirby they retired him and have always sent us a Christmas card with a note letting us know how he is. This year we received the sad news that Kirby has been put to sleep at the age of 34. He could no longer eat and it was felt that he was suffering. If you do get to read this Margaret, Ian and Gemma. Thank you so much for giving Kirby such a wonderful home, it has meant a lot to Jen to know that he was so well cared for.

Posted on Friday, December 10th, 2010 at 1:50 am 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.

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.

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