Horses | Chris's Blog

Tweets from Talygarn

Mini Show Jumping Tonight 5.45pm 2012/02/08
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

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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.

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.

Horse/Pony Adoption

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

We started the adoption scheme last year when lessons were a lot quieter due to large hints of a major recession by the press. We are now finding that we need to use the ponies/ horses again for lessons and more people wish to participate in shows, although some people are quite keen to carry on with the adoption. As most people only ride for an hour anyway we have decided to run the adoption during the afternoons on a fortnightly basis. Another issue that has been brought up is that some parents would like to adopt but due to other commitments and holidays do not wish to be tied to the scheme therefore the Adoption scheme will run fortnightly from May 8th to September 12th inclusive this is a total of 10 sundays and ponies may be ridden between 2pm and 4pm. If you would like to adopt a particular pony and stick to that pony this will be payable up front and will cover all ten sundays. Any other ponies will be available to adopt on a first come first served basis and it will be possible to adopt a pony for only one sunday at a time (dependent on which ponies/horses are available). Adoption will not be linked to lessons but it is not a replacement for lessons and anyone not having lessons on a regular basis will not be able to adopt a pony.

Show Jumping Horses and ponies have been allocated to riders to take part in competitions on a Wednesday. There are still some Horses/ponies available to jump at the Sunday competitions which are held monthly. If you are a Pony Club Centre member and would like to be considered to enter show jumping competitions please let us know.

Posted on Thursday, May 6th, 2010 at 1:17 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Hunter Trials

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

Its lovely to have such nice weather but we really need rain for the grass to grow. The fields are looking reasonably good after they have been harrowed and rolled but the couple of centimetres of grass is not going to feed the horses for very long. I was contemplating several extra long hose pipes and a sprinkler system. The sprinkler system would’ve consisted of all the kids on a saturday holding the hose pipes. On the plus side we have had quite a few lessons out in the field doing Cross Country and the horses have been amazingly well behaved. With the exception of Jimbob who decided to leap in the air last week and cracked his head against my ear. Many apologies to those who might have heard me swear at him. The XC has done wonders for Rupert who didn’t have the faintest idea of what to do with a show jump. He’s got the hang of it now though. Just have to hope we have good weather for the Mini Hunter Trials we are holding at the end of May. We have three Mini Hunter Trials planned this year. The course is small with no ditches or water and suitable for the nervous or novice horse and rider. There is a lead rein class max height 1ft along with pairs, novice and open class maximum height is 2ft 3. The light evenings have also mean’t we can hack out a bit more as the roads are a little less dangerous in the evenings when there are not so many lorries. Jimbob is going through a temper tantrum stage at the moment, last week I put a pony martingale on him as he was throwing his head right up and then I had no brakes, he is very cross about this and is now half rearing spinning round and refusing to turn right. He managed to upset Cleo whilst out hacking on Monday Cleo gave a bit of a jump and spun round and Jen caught her hand on her neck causing quite a bit of pain to her hand and little finger which has now turned blue. We did call in casualty but there was a four hour wait so we went to the chicken farm instead and got another two chickens, I have four now all different colours. Next I want to get a couple of ducks. Another new horse arrived on trial last week named Harry a 15.2hh section D Cob. He has a shadow in his left eye which his owner did not realise and is probably a result of an injury maybe when he was quite young. The vet is seeing him on friday so we can try and work out what damage is there. Now the weather has got warmer my garden is keeping me busy in my spare time. Some one told me that as women get older they either take up religion or gardening so I thought it better be gardening. I’ve added another tree to my orchard. If you can call three trees an orchard. I’ve expanded the vegetable plot and am trying out several new varieties after my success with lettuce and runner beans last year. The patio has been laid and also the base for my greenhouse which involved moving the clothes line but at least its straight now and not threatening to fall over.

Posted on Thursday, April 29th, 2010 at 2:41 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Easter Holidays

Monday, April 12th, 2010

What a fantastic Easter Holidays we’ve had at Talygarn. The week before Easter Talygarn were placed third in Warwick at the National Quiz Final with our Centre quiz team. The Dressage finals at Talygarn were on April the fourth and Kate Owen and Hannah Centre member from Talygarn won one of the classes. Our Horse Care Senior team qualified for the Championships in Derby. This week was the finals for the Team Jumping series. Talygarn teams won the points for 4 out of the 5 classes with Glamorgan Pony Club winning the last class. There can’t be many riding schools that can put together 10 teams who have held their own competing against pony clubs and riding clubs, these riders don’t have any extra lessons or help its just what they learn in their lessons and their own motivation to be here and take part in competitions. All of the teams from Talygarn did well picking up placings and wins throughout the series. Team jumping pics can be found on the Gallery. Pony Days, Mini Pony Club and Show Jumping for Riding school clients have all gone well during the holidays. Mini Pony Club for 4 to 6yr olds will be starting back next saturday, and will be fortnightly from 2pm to 3pm. Kelly Galsworthy runs the yard every other Sunday and she’s brill, its the one day I don’t have to have anything to do with the yard and after such a busy Easter hols it was nice to have that day today. We built a chicken run Saturday night, well when I say built I mean put together from a flat pack. Although it was impressive we managed to follow all the instructions with Sharon’s help (Sharon wants chickens and hasn’t got any so she is trying to muscle in on mine) We did have quite a few screws left over so thats a bit worrying but never mind perhaps they gave us extras. I painted it with wood preserver today So now I just need to get the chickens. Jimbob has been hacking out over the hols and we have progressed to the main road now. I took him out for over an hour this morning with Libby and Freya and he is very good going over the motorway bridges although I had no brakes at all cantering behind Freya, I’m glad to say at least he stopped when she did. Will have to do something about that. Managed to get lunch in the pub, do some gardening and even went to my Salsa Class tonight. Back in Student/Lesson mode next week and Show jumping next Sunday.