Riding School | 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

Navigation:

Search:

Meta:

Archive for the 'Riding School' Category

« Previous Entries

Talygarn Equestrian Centre 2011 – 2012

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

Normally I like to write a blog looking back at last year at the end of the year, I don’t know where the time has gone but I cant believe we are half way through January already. This time last year was the big freeze and we had cancelled the team jumping at christmas because people couldn’t get their horses out of the stables due to the ice. This year we have had to cancel the team jumping because it has been so wet and parking would be impossible. We had many successes again last year with our students achieving numerous passes. We became a riding and road safety centre last year and our first 8 candidates all passed. We will be holding our next riding and road safety training and exam this spring. Two of our riders qualified for the area dressage last year with Carys and Buffy being placed 6th. Our Quiz team came 1st and 3rd at the area finals and 2nd at the championships in Warwick. We held or annual quiz last saturday for all Pony Club members to select the teams for 2012. There was a poor turnout for the quiz but those that came did extremely well and we will enter the teams for the area quiz in February. Our Pony Club Horse and Pony Care teams came 3rd and 4th in the juniors and the seniors came 2nd and qualified for the champs at Derbys where they came 5th. Talygarn Centre team Carys Morgan, Sarah Blake, Chloe Ellis and Robyn Edwards came 4th in the centre competition at the championships in derby out of 20 plus teams with Robyn Edwards winning best newcomer. The Fun Dog Show, Halloween Party, Christmas Gymkhana, Team show jumping, Camps and many other activities were a great success last year along with the Summer Open Day which gets better every year. After visiting a riding school in france which participate in vaulting I have wanted to have a go at putting a display together which I did for the open day last summer. It was a great success and I decided to take up some further training in coaching. This year we will be adding equestrian vaulting to our long list of already popular activities starting with taster sessions in February. We were very lucky throughout the summer with managing to hold all of our mini hunter trials in the fields and the show jumping and dressage have been very popular. With all the rain we have had this winter i am hoping there wont be too much left and we will have another good run this summer. On the holiday front I managed Morocco Greece Romania Singapore and Malaysia and I’m starting 2012 with Iceland and Belfast. The garden wasn’t as good last year although I did have an abundance of runner beans, lettuce, potatoes and the fruit trees did well. There are lots of photos on the gallery for last year and I’m sure there will be lots more this year. Keep an eye on the website for all activities and a belated Happy New Year

Posted on Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 at 1:04 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

October Half Term

Sunday, November 6th, 2011

October Half Term has been a hectic week. On the monday Steve, Jen and I travelled to Northampton to continue our training to coach vaulting. We were both assessed and passed and are now Level one coaches for vaulting. We took the trailor with us to pick up a barrel for vaulting practice. It was a long day and we didn’t get back till late. Tuesday we had Pony Day and lessons in the evening and I had all the preparation to sort out for the team jumping. Wednesday morning was an early start and late finish for the team jumping. Thursday Client show jumping I thought would be quiet after the team jumping but it turned out to be quite busy in the tipping down rain. Thursday was also my birthday so Steve and I left for Bristol after the client show jumping. We had a nice meal in Bella Italia (curtesy of Tesco’s clubcard vouchers) then went to see We Will Rock You in the Theatre. We stayed over and came back the next day. Ready for the Halloween Party on Saturday. Another successful event organised by the Pony Club Centre committee made up of the older members. There was a good turn out and great to see so many adults supporting the event and even dressing up. The Halloween Party finished about 11.30 after a clean we had a few drinks in the house, five of us went to sleep in my lounge and I woke up on the floor in the early hours, so I assume it was a good night. See photos in the Gallery.

Posted on Sunday, November 6th, 2011 at 11:53 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Show an Hunter Trials

Monday, September 5th, 2011

We have been a bit short on help on the yards the last couple of weeks and Kate Malissa and Zoe M have turned up every day to help out. I had planned to take Jimbob to a couple of competitions so we decided to take some ponies for them too. Last sunday it was the Millbrook/Llantwit Riding Club show. Sarah took Jimbob, Kate has grown out of Hannah and just bought a new horse Bodie so Kate took Hannah for her final outing and we took Jasper. Kate had a 2nd on and a 4th in the jumping on Hannah and Zoe had a bit of a stumble after planks on Jasper, nearly fell off but then had a fence down. Sarah won the 2ft 3 on Jimbob and was 4th in the 2ft6 and Malissa had a 3rd in the Best horse for riding club activities on Jimbob. The girls did the gymkhana classes at the end of the day winning several rosettes. Kate won the one up polo beating the ‘games ponies’ and Zoe fell off in the bending. I took my camera but forgot the card so Photos were taken by Pat Blake (Sarah’s Gran). This Sunday we went to the Hunter Trials at Alps. Sarah and Carys took Rosie and Jimbob in the pairs and Zoe and Malissa took Jasper and Foley all went clear. Bethan and Angharad were also there and did very well on Diesel and Sid. Toni Thomas won the Minimus seniors on Emma. In the Novice class Malissa and Sarah had a few stops, Zoe went clear and came 5th in the junior section and Carys and Jimbob won the senior section. Julie Whiles took the photos because I took my camera and card but forgot the battery. When we go to competitions I always say to the girls – Have you got your hat, Whip, Bridle etc and they are now going to reply with – Have you got your camera, battery and card. Photos on the Gallery

Posted on Monday, September 5th, 2011 at 1:31 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

RCT Supporting Local Business

Sunday, August 7th, 2011

Did you come to our open day. Did you see the effort put in by these young people aged from 4yrs to 20yrs to perform the displays. Were you amazed by what they achieved in such a short practice time. Every year I think how can they get any better and every year they do. Approx 300 people turned up to watch this year and everyone that spoke to me was impressed. Do you know about our Pony Club team that went to the championships in Derby last year and beat the rest of the country to take first place. Did you know that one of our riders is representing Talygarn in the Dressage to Music Championships at Derby this year. We also have a team in the Centre Equitation and a team in the Senior Horse Care. Did you know that we have a lad that came to us with Aspergers syndrome from Tonyrefail and asked us if we would take him on as a student, he has passed numerous qualifications since being here and has been awarded Student of the Year by Yale College Wrexham. Did you know that we have a child with cerebral palsy that takes part in competitions and wants to be in the open day next year. Did you know we are the largest and most successful Pony Club Centre in Wales. Did you know that all our BHS & NVQ students had a 100% pass rate this year. If you have anything to do with Talygarn Equestrian Centre you probably do but if you are anything to do with Rhondda Cynon Taff Council you probably don’t. Because RCT do not support us in any way. They took down our road signs, they do not support us for any bridle paths, they refuse to allow us to expand and now we have a neighbour who complained about the noise on our open day – it is laughable those of you who were here will know the music wasn’t loud enough on the premises never mind down the road but instead of attending the event and seeing how much the community enjoy themselves they jumped at the opportunity to install noise recording equipment in his house. I would like to point out that Talygarn Equestrian Centre is a business it is not a charity and I do need to spend most of my time making money to feed these horses and keep the wolves from the door (the main one being RCT Rates – nearly £1000 a month, bet you didn’t know that) I do this by teaching this is my bread and butter. Open Days and Pony Club Championships are just not financially viable they are fun. I put 6 weeks of free practices in before the open day along with the hours of planning, costumes, stress etc. By the time the Open day arrives I feel physically exhausted and believe it or not the only reason I do it is because I get tremendous pleasure from watching it all unfold on the day and seeing how excited all the youngsters are seeing their enjoyment working as a team in the morning with all the preparation. We raise the money on the open day to take the Pony Club Teams to the Championships in Derby. Another NON financially viable 3 days spent on a showground away from my business having to pay extra staff whilst we are away. Many of the practices for the championships are given by my daughter again free of charge. Last week we took one of the members to another venue to make sure the pony would be ok jumping away from home that cost my husband time and money to do so, out of his own pocket. Don’t get me wrong we enjoy seeing these kids achieve these things and thats why we do it because not everything is about money. So RCT if you want to come along and ban our open day because one neighbour doesn’t like his sunday afternoon disturbed between 2pm and 6pm thats ok it will save me a lot of stress. But please tell the child with cerebal palsy and the lad with aspergers why they wont be in it next year. Please tell the Pony Club they wont be able to go to the Championships next year because we wont be able to raise the £500 it costs to take them. Please tell the child who is in the championship dressage to music that she wont be able to qualify next year because she won’t be able to practice the music. Oh and by the way my daughter and I are half way through a british vaulting qualification which will open the door to 100’s of young disabled people but then again that requires music so perhaps RCT won’t be giving them that opportunity after all. Like I said RCT have no idea what goes on here and have no intention of supporting us.

If you wish to leave a comment or read other comments please click on the title and scroll down to the bottom and leave your comment in the box

Posted on Sunday, August 7th, 2011 at 11:53 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Equestrian Vaulting

Sunday, August 7th, 2011

Ever since Amelia and I went to France and watched their vaulting team I’ve wanted to have a go. I think we were traveling back from the quiz in Warwick when I discussed the idea of putting something together for the open day with Amelia and Carys. The first practise was dire but I was very impressed by how well it all came together on the day. This prompted me to e mail the British Equestrian Vaulting (BEV) organisation to see if I could get any help. A lady called Gill e mailed back and invited me to attend a course to learn more about vaulting in Northampton. Jen decided to come with me. Gill kindly organised accommodation for us and included us in working towards a BEV level 1 in coaching during the 3 day course. We drove up to Northampton last tuesday. The course started at 10.30am, first we received a lot of information from John Eccles about the BEV, The rules, the compulsories, the freestyle etc. We also spent a lot of time watching the English Vaulting Squad. Day two included more theory and practical – lungeing and some teaching and more observing the vaulters on the barrel and the horse. The horses are very big and the one I lunged was over 18hh. Lunging is much the same as I’m used to although the lunge whip is much longer and therefore heavier to hold and there were some variations in the lunging e.g when asking the horse to halt the lunge whip is brought over your head and down in front of the horse. Many of the vaulters do not ride but attend gymnastics and dance classes along side vaulting. Lucy Phillips gave us information on warming up vaulters and use of the barrel. Good Vaulters have to be very fit and very strong so vaulting classes spend a lot of time developing this fitness an strength with games and stretching, the moves are learnt and practiced on the barrel and more time is probably spent on the floor and the barrel than on the horse. In the morning on day three Julie Newell English squad coach spent some time with us teaching us tacking up for vaulting and lungeing. Julie is very knowledgeable and has an obvious passion for her horses, she gave us many tips on warming the horses up and use of the lunge whip. I spent a some time helping one of the others to lunge and trying to pass on some of the info Julie had given me. Tacking up was the same for putting on the bridle so that was easy but much to learn about the pads and lunge roller. The days were very long finishing after 6 and mostly starting at 9.30 By Thursday afternoon we had absorbed so much information that it was all getting in a muddle. Jen and I were in different groups for our assessments in tacking up for vaulting and lunging which we both passed. We all agreed that we didn’t have enough time in three days to understand all the compulsories, freestyle, teaching techniques and rules so we have decided to go back and finish off the assessment in a few weeks time. We thoroughly enjoyed the course though and learnt so much from it. Everybody was so helpful and keen to teach us as much as possible. Accommodation was arranged for us with Rachel one of the other people on the course. We spent a lovely two nights with Rachel and her family in their beautiful house near Peterborough. We still have a lot to learn and practice but we are keen to start up our own vaulting group so watch this space.

Posted on Sunday, August 7th, 2011 at 12:05 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

« Previous Entries