Category: Riding School
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R.I.P Simply Blue
Last Thursday at 8am Blue was found in her stable and appeared to be cast. She struggled to stand but seemed unable to hold her wait. The vet arrived and on investigation discovered that she had broken her leg (Femur). I am not sure how long we had Blue I think she was a 7yr old when she arrived and she would be 12 now so around 5years I guess. I remember the evening that Blue arrived on the yard, it was cold, dark and raining. I didn’t know that she had arrived as they had unloaded her at the top of the drive and walked her down. I assumed that she hadn’t travelled well as she was quite worked up and had a cut on her head. We had prepared a stable for her and soon discovered that she had quite a phobia about being in a stable. if something alarmed her she became extremely upset and pannicky. Over the years she had become a lot calmer in the stable although still somewhat temperamental and prone to biting. She could never be tied in the stable but was fine to tie on the yard. She was difficult to shoe and impossible to clip. She was an attractive 16hh black mare but despite her moodiness many people enjoyed riding her. She never reared bucked or ran away. When she first arrived I rode her for awhile. She was excellent in traffic and good to hack out. I had assumed she may not travel well as she didn’t like being in the stable but she was fine on the lorry and I jumped her over a few small courses at Sunnybank and Broomes, she wasn’t very careful or talented then. Eventually Carys Morgan took her on. Carys persevered with the jumping and improved Blue no end. They had a wonderful partnership and I truly believe that Blue trusted Carys completely. Carys gave her confidence and she became easier for others to jump but she was always at her best with Carys. No one would have thought Blue would have jumped the 4ft planks at the open day and leave them up but she did for Carys. She will be missed by many and it was a sad and tragic day to lose such a nice horse in the prime of her life. Our thoughts this week have been with those who loved and cared for Blue especially Carys who had a special bond with her.
Team Show Jumping March 2011
Sunday 20th March we held our 3rd team jumping of the series. This one should have been in December but due to the artic conditions at that time we had to rearrange it. Rearranging events in the horse world is a nightmare as there are always so many other events on. We lost a few of our regulars to the Dressage finals at Cricklands and several people from Pony Clubs were at the Monmouth Tetrathlon. Despite this we had a good turn out of 25 teams. Glamorgan PC informed me that because we had changed the date Him who decides the weather hadn’t been informed and thats why the sun shone all day. Talygarn teams rode extremely well and a Talygarn team won every class. At the end of every class the winning team is awarded a sash and rosette each and the team get to gallop a lap of the arena to Simply the Best with everyone cheering. Yesterday it was so nice to see some riders getting the opportunity to do this for the first time. Photos on the gallery Next team jumping Wed 27th April
Talygarn Equestrian Centre - A busy start to 2011
Well I hope the rest of 2011 doesn’t carry on as its started as I don’t feel as though there is a minute to spare. Since the beginning of January We’ve run 2 Dressage competitions, 1 mini show jumping, 1 wednesday show jumping, 1 sunday show jumping, 5 college enrolments, 1 quiz to determine area teams and a variety of vets, back people, saddlers etc. All of this requires such a lot of organisation beforehand and after with updating schedules , course plans, dressage times, points, entry forms, Quiz questions, Half term programmes, college registers, mountains of paperwork and hours on the phone looking for dressage judges. Alongside of all this comes the riding lessons and students to organise. Just before christmas I had the bright idea of doing a days advertising on a site called Groupon. In one day we sold 266 lessons which I now have to fit in before April, consequently I have been spending virtually every evening when I haven’t been teaching on the phone. Ella who works part time for me has had to give up for the time being as her mother in law has been taken ill which has left me short staffed this week fortunately I have been able to find a few different people to stand in. I don’t really like have too much change of instructors as I prefer continuity in order to be able to assess progress but unfortunately theses things happen and there can be some positive advantages in having new people with different ideas from time to time. I am also trying to make some progress with becoming a riding and road safety centre and will update on that one when i can get it off the ground. We are sending two teams to the area quiz in half term and I will need some parents to come in order to get the kids there. On top of this the Guy that does this amazing website for me Monico Web Designs wants to update it and that gives me masses of web pages to rewrite. At the rate I am going you might see it by the summer and whilst I am on the subject of summer there is only 12 weeks left before I need to start organising the summer Open Day. Although the most stressful week has been this week just gone with Amelia and her passport, she got a new one last Monday, lost it Wednesday and we are flying this Tuesday. Which means I’ve spent two full days in the passport office this week – Monday getting the new one and Friday replacing it. Was nice to have lunch out twice in one week though and go shopping – every cloud has a silver lining as they say. Dressage went very well today, seemed to run very smoothly. Thanks to the Judges who were pretty good to turn up at such short notice and a big thank you to the writers as well. I’ve taken to writing everything I have to do down now as my memory is getting terrible. I’ve got a huge list to get through tomorrow and then I will be in holiday mode.
Talygarn Equestrian Centre 2010
Looking back over the 2010 it has been quite an interesting year It seems to have started and finished with snow and my dieting has followed the same plan as last year, although I am hoping to be a bit more successful this year. Quite a few horses have come and gone over the year. Polo and Lizzie were sold Storm and Athena went back to their owners Coffee has gone to Sharon. Harry, Winsten and Abi came on trial but didn’t stay. Trevor is on loan, Jimbob, Foley, Stuey and Diesel came this year, Angharad now owns Diesel and Amelia sold Destiny and bought Zac and she also has Jo Bailey’s Lily here. The Talygarn Pony Club Centre has had a very busy and successful year. Winning the Area Quiz and the Senior Horse Care. placed 3rd in the National Quiz in Warwick. 5th in the Horse Care Champs and the Overall Team winners of the Pony Club Centre Championships in Derby with Sarah Blake and Chloe Reakes both winning their individual sections. Carys Morgan rode Fred in the Dressage to Music at the Champs and did a lovely test to the music from Lady Gaga. The Pony Club Committee have all worked very hard this year running and organising The Fun Dog Show, Show Jumping and hacks to raise funds to run the Halloween Party The Annual Open Day turned out to be a lovely day despite threats of rain. The Displays included Show Jumping, Musical Ride, Bareback Jumping, 101 Dalmations by the Mini Pony Club, PoloCrosse and Gymkhana. We have also ran many competitions this year The Dressage series was very successful ending in April and has got off to a very busy start for 10/11 series. We are also holding some Pony Club Dengie Qualifiers during the Dressage series and Kate Owen riding Hannah and Carys Morgan riding Buffy have already qualified for the second round in 2011. The indoor Show Jumping and the Team jumping have been very busy with Talygarn picking up quite a few wins in the points series. This year we held the Summer Jumping in the outdoor school and that proved to be very popular. We were also lucky enough with the weather to be able to hold all four Mini Hunter Trials. We have had numerous students passing BHS & NVQ exams this year and Gareth Evans was also chosen by Yale College as Student of the Year Other Activities this year have included The E3 Schools Riding, Pony Days, Camps, Centre Days, Birthday Partys, and a Parents Quiz Night Unfortunately we had to cancel the Pony Club C test because of the snow but we did manage to hold the Child Protection Course and the Christmas Gymkhana which was a bit quieter than normal due to the weather but turned out to be a good day. There a lots of pictures on the Gallery from 2010 and beyond. Lets hope to make 2011 and even more successful year.
Half Term
What a busy and varied week half term has turned out to be. Monday Steve and Gareth took Buffy to the Rhondda Heritage Park where a film was being made on the life of Aneurin Bevan. Steve and Gareth were dressed as miners and with Buffy as a pit pony they had parts as extras. Don’t know how much of them they will use though Steve and Gareth were ok but Buffy kept smiling at the camera. Whilst they were there I had 20 kids between 11 and 15yrs from an activities scheme in the Rhondda for the morning. The vet arrived to sedate .Michigan at lunchtime giving me an hour to get him clipped. I managed to get some of the paperwork done for the team showjumping before going swimming, thankfully my Yoga class was cancelled. Tuesday was pony day all day lessons in evening and another vet out to see Cleo. After teaching at 9pm I finished all the prep for the team jumping which took me till 2am. Wednesdays team show jumping was a brill day but long and tiring. Thursday was my birthday so I managed a fairly quiet day spent the morning updating the paperwork, hacked my horse out in afternoon. Thanks to all who gave me alcohol and chocs much appreciated but having spent a week trying to lose a lb I probably gained 5lb on Thurs night. Fridays client showjumping I thought would be very quiet but turned out to be very busy. The Halloween Party Saturday night was great fun and but as you can see it was not Alcohol that induced me to sleeping on the kitchen floor just sheer exhaustion!! Yesterday I was at Badgeworth Arena in somerset with Amelia who was jumping Leo. Amelia was pleased with Leo who jumped well as this was his first show since his ‘holiday’. We arrived at 2pm, they didn’t jump the first class till after 6pm and we didn’t get home till after 9pm. Cleaned up the garden today, cleaned out the chickens, hacked out my horse, went to swimming and Yoga and started counting down the days till I go on holiday.
Latest From Twitter
- Outdoor Arena SHOW JUMPING Competition Wednesday 16th May. Clear Round 5.45pm 2ft3 6.30pm followed by 2ft6 2ft9... http://t.co/90FuyCIk 2012/05/15
- Show Jumping 1pm in outdoor arena 2012/05/13
- Show Jumping Sunday 13th May Outddor school (if weather dry) Qualifiers for Cricklands. Starting with LR then... http://t.co/uqv78vrf 2012/05/10
- The sky just after the show jumping finished last wednesday evening about 9pm 2012/05/08
- New Pony Tomos arrived tonight 2012/05/07