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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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.

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.

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