Chris's Blog » Riding School

Open Day 2010

Chris Rogers — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 22:43:26 +0000

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

Another busy week

Chris Rogers — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 00:04:43 +0000

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.

Quiz Night

Chris Rogers — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:36:26 +0000

Several weeks ago Leanne (parent of Ashton) suggested it would be nice to have a social evening for parents so we decided on a quiz night for parents clients and students. I agreed to do the questions and Leanne put some posters up. We got a room for free from upstairs in the Hand and Squirrel in Talbot Green (Big thanks to Mike) and decided on Sunday June 13th. As everyone is connected with the riding school we decided to have one horse related round. So last week I copied and pasted a 20 pictures containing famous horses or riders and saved them on the computer. Friday and Saturday I was away with Amelia who was show jumping at Broomes. Sunday morning I did the rest of the questions and printed them out before the showjumping started. We are holding the showjumping in the outdoor school during the summer, provided it’s not pouring down with rain and although it wasn’t hugely busy there was a reasonable turn out. and we didn’t finish till 6pm. Agreed to meet at pub at 7.30pm for quiz so just had to water the garden, feed the chickens, have shower, grab a quick bite and print off the pictures and answers for the picture round and thats where it all went wrong, I needed to send the photos to the other computer to print them and could I get an Internet connection, I tried everything from unplugging it to shaking it (that worked best) and don’t you just love it when a little box comes up and says ‘your internet is not connected’ I know that. By 6.50pm I had managed to get them printed, had the quickest shower ever, slung food at chickens, ran out of door with bread roll in hand and got to pub by 7.30(ish) There were 19 of us all together split into 4 teams, we had 2 rounds of questions, one picture round and one round of cryptic nursery rhymes. The quiz was fairly lighthearted and a good laugh with the entertainment provided by Sheena Davies. The winning team ‘Bringing up the rear’ Sue Reville, Jackie Morgan, Gaynor Blake, Kath and Paul Curnock donated the £17 winnings to the Pony Club fund raising for the Championships at Derby in August. We will try to organise another one in July. Having become a keen gardener over the last couple of years you will realise how devasted I was when I got up this morning to make a truly traumatic discovery – My greenhouse blew over in the night. Glad to say it is actually ok and I’m so glad its not made of glass.

Tonight we had the first practice for the musical ride. First everyone rode around the arena to make sure the horses were ok with the music and then started to learn the moves. I was very impressed at how well it was all going – until we got to the canter. There were several near misses, 2 nearly fell off, one crashed and one was at the wrong end. I really think that first practice at the canter movement is more entertaining than on the day. I wish I’d videod it. PS Tickets for Open Day on sale soon – July 11th.

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!!!!

Four Faults

Chris Rogers — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 00:26:21 +0000

One of our part time saturday students Julie, likes to video her lesson so she can watch it back, she sets up a little video camera in the corner when she rides and to be honest its a bit of a nightmare because you do tend to forget its there. Having some time off work Julie decided to come in today to help out. As it is half term this week we were supposed to be running a cross country clinic but it rained last night so we moved it to Thursday. The kids that were riding in it turned up anyway so we decided to do some Open Day prac – bareback jumping instead. Julie has never ridden bareback and wanted to have a go. She promptly set up the video camera which I moved so that she would have a better view down the grid (a move I was going to regret later). The kids have done this practice many times and know how its done. First they jump down a grid of five fences – not very high. Julie was last to go. After they had all been one of them shouted shall we take our stirrups away after this it was shall we take our reins away, then shall we take the saddles away at this point Julie added ‘ Can we quit taking things away and add something for goodness sake I could jump down there with a handbag’. Needless to say the kids didn’t go for that idea and were all taking off their saddles not to be left out Julie took hers off, All the kids vaulted on and Julie – didn’t – well she did try but kind of ran jumped hit coffee in the sides and slid down to the floor. The practice went well no one fell off and all managed to jump down the grid with no saddle and no bridle even Julie. Last off I decided to let Laura a girl we have here on work exp have a go but because she doesn’t really ride I put her on Candy (12.2hh) and led her down the grid. Candy jumped the fourth fence a little big and I looked back to see laura was ok – Big mistake I misjudged the last jump caught my foot on it fell flat on the floor and let Laura go right in front of the video camera. Everyone thought it hysterical. If you are on my Facebook, Julie Whiles or Amelia Rogers you can have a look for yourself. Julie has kindly uploaded the video and entitled it ‘four faults’ but I will get my own back lol.

Horse/Pony Adoption

Chris Rogers — Thu, 06 May 2010 00:17:35 +0000

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.

Hunter Trials

Chris Rogers — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 01:41:00 +0000

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.

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.

Horses and BHS Exam results

Chris Rogers — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 23:16:13 +0000

There’s been a few changes since we got back and whilst we were away. Storm disappeared whilst we were away. I had asked her owners to look for a new home for her as she has not settled to riding lessons very well and is also difficult to turn out here as she fights with Phoebe and didn’t get on too well with the ponies. I gave them approx 6 weeks notice to look for a new home but when they took her we got an hours notice and she was in a lesson that night. Treat others as you would like to be treated I was always taught and I wonder what their reaction would’ve been if I’d given them an hours notice to move her. Murphy’s owners did a similar thing and whereas I thought it was time he left many clients were very fond of him and upset at not having the opportunity to say goodbye. Fortunately it doesn’t happen very often and most people are happy to leave on a good note and then of course they are always welcome back, ‘don’t burn your bridges’ was another saying I was taught and ‘you never know when you might need someone… I could go on for ever. We were straight into work on Sunday with a jumping competition which I was going to jump Jimbob in but as he had spent the week in the field I decided not to but I did jump him in the clear round on Wed, 2ft and fillers, thats the biggest he has jumped so far and he got his first clear round rosette. We have also made good progress hacking this week and he is now going out on his own with no napping. A new horse arrived by chance on Wed. It was brought down to jump around the clear round and the owner mentioned it was for sale. So straight into Storms old stable it went and has stayed for a few days trial. It is a 4yr old welsh cob approx 14hh called Foley. It’s been in several lessons and although a little green seems to be ok. Splash will also be going home soon but not sure when yet. We had some students take exams whilst I was away and their results came through this week. Jennifer Rogers and Medi Warburton passed their Riding and Road Safety, Kim Evans Adele phillips Carys Morgan and Amy Bartholomew passed their BHS Stage 1 and Gareth Evans passed his NVQ 1 Riding, Well done all!!!

New Horses

Chris Rogers — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:18:49 +0000

We seem to have the same horses for ages then several new ones come at once. Last week a 13.2 Liver Chestnut Mare called Abi came on trial for two weeks. She has not been ridden very often only once a week in walk and trot by a six year old child. I don’t think she will be staying as she is too nappy and refuses to canter without bucking. Yesterday a 15.2 Palamino TB x ID called Jimbob arrived He is only a four year old, 5 in May. He is very sweet but very green I think I may buy him and ride him myself for a few months until he is better schooled and jumping. I rode him out on a hack today with Amelia on Destiny, as we approached the lake a swan took flight. Destiny was horrified and promptly whizzed round and shot back up the lane a few yards. Jimbob stood routed to the ground, grew a hand and just stared at it till it landed. He was quite wary an wobbly in the school but probably not been in an indoor school before. Next week I have a 15hh horse coming which will mean being 2 stables short but Coffee is nearing retirement now, Polo is not settling very well to riding school and we do need to sell Destiny so maybe a few changes ahead.