Chris's Blog » Pony Club

Whitsun Half Term

Chris Rogers — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 10:05:04 +0000

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!!!!

Easter Holidays

Chris Rogers — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 00:33:49 +0000

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.

Pony Club Quiz and Horse Care Competition

Chris Rogers — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 01:42:33 +0000

Last Sunday we made the trek to Warwick for the National quiz most of the team went up the day before but I went on the Sunday with Sue and Carys Reville. Iwas up at 5.45am which felt like 4.45am as the clocks had gone forward. We found the college quite easily with only one slight detour, the wrong way up the M40. The team this year was Carys Morgan, Carys Reville, Millie Bushrod and Zoe Morgan. The team did very well some sections were quite easy but I did think there were some very hard questions this year. Jackie Morgan and Sue Reville supplied us with a lovely picnic although unfortunately it wasn’t really picnic weather. There is a prize at the quiz for the best Mascot and Talygarn won with their horse and stable and it was pretty amazing. I hadn’t seen it beforehand. Mill House Centre won the quiz and Talygarn finished in 3rd place. We stopped at McDonalds just outside Evesham on the way. This seems to be the tradition after Area Competitions. On Tuesday Talygarn hosted the Area Horse and Pony Care Competition. There are six sections to the competition slightly easier for juniors than seniors. They are Tacking up for travelling, plaiting, Identifying objects, question paper, Ailments/points of the horse and putting together a double bridle in ten minutes/snafflebridle juniors. Monday was a hectic day as there was so much printing and paper work to do and judges to find. Amelia had the identifying objects on the kitchen floor at nearly midnight labelling them. The weather as per usual was horrendous but at least it was indoors. We had 5 senior teams and 14 junior teams take part. Talygarn had 2 junior teams and 1 senior team. I had high hopes for our senior team as they are a very strong team this year. We asked each pony club to supply a judge for each section so that the marking would be fair. The Senior competition was finished by dinnertime. Sandra Fisher Area Rep for Area 10 did the prize giving and Chloe Reakes, Carys Morgan and Sarah Blake for Talygarn won by a considerable margin and qualify for the championships in Derby in August. I provided lunch for the judges in the kitchen and Sandra was fascinated by the chocolate finger tower and was itching to to try pulling one from the bottom with out it falling. I thought this was worth a mention because Sandra did actually manage it The Junior section finished at 4pm Irfon and Tywi Branch were the winners and Talygarn team Kate Owen Angharad Davies and Zoe Morgan finished 4th The other Talygarn juniors Malissa Yates, Zoe Hughes and Bethan Davies did not receive a place but did do very well and all the scores were very close. (Photos in Gallery)

Dressage

Chris Rogers — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:55:59 +0000

With 50 entries in the Dressage yesterday I knew it would be a long day. I had booked two Dressage Judges only to find out on sat evening at 7pm that one wasn’t coming. So I am very grateful to Lynn Groves who stood in at the last minute. Steve took Amelia to The Hand Equestrian Centre in Somerset to jump Destiny and Leo. Which left only me to run the Dressage. Olwen Wilkins judged the first two classes and as I did not have someone to write for Olwen Sarah did it. Sarah was supposed to be opening the shop so I did managed to run back and fore and run the shop, the scoring and any other problems. Class 2 was started a little better Helen wrote so Sarah was able to do the shop. Tracey was clipping Fred for Zoe in his stable when I got a message to say that Fred had reared up and struck Tracey in the side with his front leg and she had hit her head against the wall so I left the Dressage and helped Tracey to finish Fred, Tracey was ok, bit shook up and probably very stiff today. Getting back to the dressage at the end of the class Carys added the scores up for me. Lynn Groves took over Judging for the next three classes which included the Pony Club Dengie Dressage. There was a concern over the Dengie as to whether it was allowed to be called which I have spoken to Pony Club about and it is allowed to be called at Prelim level. Very well done to Mollyann Rees who won the Dengie. It was a shame for Kate Owen who was representing Talygarn as the first four qualified and Kate was 5th but we were pleased she did so well. There were no particular problems in the day although some people aired some strong opinions regarding their unhappiness at some of the results. I would like to say that over the years when watching or competing I have sometimes wondered why certain people have won or been placed in classes but I am not a dressage judge and therefore accept the decision. When ever I have written for Judges that have judged for me I have to say that all judges although may have opinions that differ from each other always do their best to mark what is in front of them and to be fair. A friend of mine who is also a judge told me that British Dressage discourages judges from giving low marks these days in order to be encouraging at this level. I think and this is my opinion that if people are only marked between 5 and 7 with the odd 8’s then it does become difficult to seperate people and its anyones guess who will win. Many years ago when I did some Dressage if you did a movment particularly badly you risked a 1 or a 2 and I think thats the way it should be . Marking between 0 and 10 as it says on the Dressage sheet would make things much fairer. Very few people at the level of unaffiliated Dressage would receive a 10 and I have yet to see a score sheet with 10 on it but I have seen a lot of very bad (1) and bad (2) movements and those marks don’t come up either. If someone rides a sufficient movement and gets a 5 and someone else rides a poor movement but only gets a 4 then winning becomes a lottery. Instead of moaning about the Judges maybe people should complain to British Dressage about their scoring system and of course its never the people that win that complain. I would also like to say I saw some lovely riding yesterday and everybody was very well turned out. Amelia had a pretty good day she had a 5th on leo in the 1.15m and won the metre class on Destiny.

October Half Term

Chris Rogers — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:25:20 +0000

Some one please remind me next year not to run a dressage competition the morning after the halloween party which was only two days after the team jumping. Not that I expected 39 teams and to be on the go from 7am to 10.30pm and neither did I expect 54 dressage entries. The Team jumping kicked off with the first of the series on Wednesday and it was a a very good day with some excellent rounds and some very competitive teams. Talygarn managed quite a few places and a win in the 2ft teams. It was also lovely to see Gareth Evans compete in the 1ft 9 teams and for his team to come 5th, Gareth had some riding lessons here then started here as a student, Gareth suffers from slight Autism and Aspergers syndrome but he has acheived so much in the time he has been here. It was also my birthday on Wednesday so I kinda tried to look upon it as a rather large party! Photos from teams are on the Gallery. The Halloween Party which is run and organised by the Pony Club Centre was one of the best this year. I thought it was going to be a bit quiet but we ended up with quite a good crowd and some brilliant costumes. Its lovely to see so many people being supportive of the event after all the hard work the Pony Club Centre committee do to raise money to pay for all the equipment. Millbrook riding Club are always very supportive and it was lovely to see Freya Murkowski who drove down from Essex for the evening. After nearly knocking myself out in the Sumo wrestling last year I decided I wouldn’t go on anything this year but after a few glasses of wine I found myself on the gladiator jousting and then the rodeo bull I should know by now to fall off straight away because the falling off doesn’t hurt but gripping onto the thing for ages kills my hip the next day, sure sign of a candidate for hip replacement I’m thinking. By 11.30 most people were leaving so we had a major clean up in readiness for the Dressage the next day followed by a few drinks on the picnic benches whilst waiting for Sharon and Darrens Taxi. Which Sharon had ordered for 11.50 but was now coming at 12.50am. Darren insisted it was the worst Taxi ever as they had ordered it for October and it was now a month late. This week I have had a new Yard Manger/Instructor start – Jodie. I’m not sure its been the best week to start with having so much on and I think Jodie doesn’t know whether she is coming or going. I have also been trying to get all the horses Clipped before the end of this month. We left Michigan as we knew he would be difficult but I wanted to get him done this week as he is now getting very hot in lessons. We had a riding school show jumping comp on Friday so after it had finished and I had ridden Destiny I picked Leigh up at 5.30 Before I left I gave Michigan 10ml of Sedazine to calm him down. Unfortunately he still looked rather alert when Leigh turned on the clippers. Michigan is so big he doesn’t have to do much and we have no control. He merely moved sideways and threw his head up. I left the floor and Leigh was knocked into the wall. So another 5 mls of sedazine and 30 mins later also armed with twitch we tried again. We managed to get him to stand still but in the worst light possible and on the basis that we really needed to get some coat off him I resorted to clipping in the dark. We did eventually get him full clipped by 8pm, don’t look too closely. Steve took Amelia to Gloucester to jump on Saturday Which mean’t I was up at 7am to pick up the rolls for the evening. After all the preparation for competitions I have had to do this week alongside helping Jodie, teaching, college paperwork, clipping, students, lessons, Pony Day etc I really felt like I had run out of Steam by this dressage today. I have to say it ran very well and our Judges Barry Kelvin Hall and Jacqui Jones were marvellous along with the staff but I was glad to get to see the end of the day. This October Half Term has been more than hectic and tomorrow I am going to pack and try and clean up the house a bit before I leave tomorrow night, once I’m on that plane I am going to forget everything for a couple of weeks and relax in Thailand. See ya all when I get back, ready for the Christmas Gymkhana and more Team Jumping!!!! More Photos from Halloween Party on Gallery

Talygarn Equestrian Centre

Chris Rogers — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 22:37:43 +0000

Leigh came down to carry on with the clipping on Monday. We knew Michigan would be difficult but we thought we would give it a go anyway. Not a chance, He doesnt do anything really mad but he just doesn’t like it and he knows his strength, with one swing of the head he sends us flying, being a 16.3hh ID cross theres not much chance of holding onto him. So Leigh clipped some of the others instead. I had to take Shelley to the vets tuesday, slight eye infection so I picked up some sedative for Michigan and Blue. The vet always asks how old the dogs are but I have no idea how old Shelley is, I remember going with Jenni and Emma Davies to somewhere Swansea way to buy her and I’m thinking Jenni was about 12, as she is 22 now I am guessing that would make Shelley about 10, I know Fudge is younger and Todd is the youngest. Maybe I should have written it down. Wednesday Chloe was away and as Amelia and I had a Pony Club meeting in Brecon I needed some else to teach as well as Amy Bartholomew so Leigh stepped in and taught Wednesday evening. Tonyrefail comp were here for the last week till after half term and Amy and Jess took them on a hack. Many of the clients on Wed night used to be taught by Leigh and were thrilled to have a lesson with him. The Pony Club meeting in Brecon was interesting. Dates were sorted out for next years area competitions and Talygarn Equestrian Centre will be hosting the Area Horse Care Comp in April 2010 also two Pony Club Dengie Dressage in January and February 2010. The pony Adoption scheme is going well I think there is only 5 ponies not adopted and there have been more enquiries. Life seems to be somewhat hectic at the moment we have a waiting list for lessons, quite a lot of students of which I am teaching everyday, alongside organising everything else there are not enough hours in the day. So I am pleased to say I have found a new yard manager/instructor from Swansea way who should be starting at half term. Just in time for my holiday to Thailand in November!!! Amelia took Leo and Destiny to Gracelands in Worcester on Saturday. Destiny had a couple of fences down in the 1.15m but Amelia was pleased with her as Destiny has not done a 1.15m class before also it was a progressive class which started at 1.10 the middle fences were 1.15 and the last few fences were 1.20m. Leo won both of his classes. As Steve and Amelia went to Worcs I had to teach my lessons, teach Amelia’s lessons and take the money, which wasn’t really possible so I left the office to Sarah. Thank goodness Sharon did the birthday party. The Show Jumping today was a bit on the quiet side although I must say I was quite glad after this week. There are only two kittens left and hopefully they will be picked up this week although I will miss them a bit as they are very cute and playful but I am getting worried they are going to get run over as they are starting to wander. We have 39 entries for the team jumping and as I said the max would be 40 and the entries don’t close till next sunday I think its going to be a very busy day. Also anyone thinking of entering the next Dressage best hurry up as I think that will also be closed before the closing date at the rate the entries are coming in. Everything is now organised for the Halloween Party and the Pony Club just need to sell the tickets. The Pony Club committee members have tickets to sell and they are available at the office. Martha is finalising the DVD of the summer Open Day & BBQ which we hope to have on display at the client show jumping on the Friday of Half Term. I have had a few previews and it is very good.

Horse of the Year Show

Chris Rogers — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:08:34 +0000

The older members of the Pony Club planned a trip to Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) Sarah booked the tickets and I arranged the Mini Bus for them for Sunday. We left just after 7am and arrived after a breakfast stop on the M5 at 10am. There are always plenty of equestrian shops at HOYS so that was the first stop. Competitive Horse Riding in any discipline is expensive and I’m not talking about the horse, the upkeep, the lorry, entry fees and diesel here but fashion and show jumping definitely follows a fashion. No self respecting show jumper wants to be seen without the latest gear. So if you are planning a few riding lessons for your child with the aim of buying a horse and progressing down the showjumping road now is the time to change your mind!! Amelia would like to be kitted out with boots from Joshua Jones a bargain at a mere £500 a pair, then theres the £475 must have Joshua Jones Riding jacket and the £275 riding hat she had for christmas last year she doesn’t like now, apparently its too big and of course theres more fashionable ones on the market. Makes the £100 for a tidy pair of jodpurs seem quite cheap but then on your average 3 day show you would probably want 3 pairs. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I wouldn’t have wanted to spend much more than that on buying the horse. Although those days have definitely gone too. We watched the leading Pony Show Jumper of the year where most competitors ages were approximately between 11 and 16yrs and the majority were wearing these boots and jackets. Having watched Ellen Whittaker win the pussiance on TV Saturday night it was good to see her win the Speed class Sunday afternoon and also win the Leading Show Jumper of the Year on Sunday evening, Having amassed approx £17,000 in prize money in two days, I suppose she can afford several pairs of boots. I wasn’t too impressed with the displays this year, they were OK but not great The HOYS High school musical ride was sweet with 16 kids on ponies but not really that spectacular. Maybe thats because I’ve been teaching a musical ride to riding school kids for over 10 years now and its not that difficult. The Police jumping through fire is much better. The Devils Horsemen Stunt riders did a display to the music from Phantom of the Opera although I couldn’t quite work out what the display was meant to be. There were some very good and skillful movements demonstrated but at the end of the day they are stunt riders and thats what I would prefer to see, much more exciting than all that prancing about with a pole and a nylon sheet. The mounted games always goes down well, the games are a little bizarre these days. What happened to the traditional stuff like mugs, sacks and flags although that cow race was quite amusing. We left for home at around 6pm with our purchases, a £28 pair of spurs and a £10 thing for removing hair from numnahs which will probably either prove to be useless or we will lose it before next week.

Fun Dog Show

Chris Rogers — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 22:54:26 +0000

Well I have to say I had my reservations as to how well the fun dog show organised by the Pony Club Centre would turn out but they did an amazing job of organising the event and it went very well. The Pony Club Committee turned up in the morning and laid out the rings skipped out the indoor school and washed down the boards. They built a dog agility course with several jumps, a hoop, a tunnel and some bending poles and set up a ring for the dog classes. The public started arriving around 12 noon and we had a good turn out in the classes. Unfortunately as Steve was away I didn’t see much of the dog show as I ran the burger van for the day. Lots of Dogs had a go at the Agility to win a rosette if they went clear. Not everyone did but 34 rosettes were given out. There were 8 Dog classes including dog with the waggiest tail, cutest eyes, prettiest dog, large and small dog the judge would most like to take home, fancy dress (Todd won dressed as a cow) and best vocals. The Judge, Maria from a Dog Kennels came and did a marvellous job of the Judging. The Pony Club committee worked very hard on the event and have raised enough money to run the Halloween Party on Saturday October 31st 6pm. This is a social event and everyone is welcome Tickets are £2 each, Fancy Dress optional. There will be a Rodeo Bull, Bouncey Castle, Gladiator Jousting, Sumo Wrestling and Disco. Pictures from last years Halloween Party are in the Gallery The rest of the week has been busy as usual. We have started clipping all the horses now as they are getting quite hot in lessons with their winter coats coming through. Today we had a dressage competition with 52 entries. Which resulted in me having to find two judges and sit through 7 hours of dressage. We had a slight problem with the first class when we discovered that the test sheet was different to the judges sheet but this was quickly rectified and Emily started her test again. If anyone uses the website Stable ads for walk trot tests be careful several of their sheets are incorrect. I thought I had altered any mistakes but this one had slipped passed me. The rest of the day ran smoothly and we even managed finished to time. I had to turn many people away for this event as there is only so many we can judge in one day so if you are thinking of entering the November class Please enter early. Points are awarded for the classes with the final being in April. Team jumping entries are also coming in and again we are restricted as to how many we can manage in a day we are already half full.

Winter Term

Chris Rogers — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:05:01 +0000

For me today was officially the last day of the summer. The new term for students starts tomorrow and I always think of that as the winter term. We have had a good summer despite the awful weather. Camps have been busy and great fun this year. The Pony Club centre has done well especially at the champs in Derby. The pony adoption scheme has been very successful throughout the summer and I have decided to continue with the adoption through the winter but only on a Sunday. There will be a lot more to organise over the next few weeks. The Pony Club Centre committee are busy raising funds for the Halloween party which will take place in the indoor school on Sat 31st October. Their next event is a Fun Dog Show and Table Top Sale on the 27th Sept and they will be taking rides out over the next few weeks on a Saturday. Apart from all the show jumping and Dressage competitions there will be Team Jumping at Half Term, Show Jumping for Riding School Clients and Pony Days.

Pony Club Centre Show Jumping

Chris Rogers — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 00:57:55 +0000

The summer holidays have been pretty busy with Camps, Pony Days, Pony Club, Competitions and Lessons. Today was the last of the activites for summer 09 and we had show jumping for riding school clients. This competition at the end of August is always run by the Pony Club Centre Committee who are made up of the older members of the Pony Club Centre at Talygarn to raise funds for their Halloween Party. Unfortunately the weather was so awful today that it wasn’t that busy. The committee made lots of lovely cakes to sell and raised £32. I did feel I needed to sample everybodies and they were very good. The show Jumping wasn’t very busy with the first classes but did get a bit busier later and they raised £187 on entries. It does cost quite a lot to hire all the equipment for the Halloween Party and I’m sure the committee will be doing more fund raising. Well done to all though you did work hard and did a good job and Thank you to all that supported the show. Pictures on the Gallery