Chris's Blog

Talygarn Equestrian Centre 2011 – 2012

Chris Rogers — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:04:29 +0000

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

Malaysia/Singapore

Chris Rogers — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 07:50:16 +0000

So relieved we didn’t have the snow this year that we had this time last year when we were away. Although this weather we have come home too is not great. We had a lot of rain in Malaysia as it is the end of the monsoon season. Most days it rained quite heavily for one to three hours after 3pm. I found it was very hot early in the morning till about 11am then very hot and very humid until it broke to rain and thunder and then fresher but hot. Despite the awful weather that we have here I don’t think I could work in that sort of weather. I didn’t see many horses in fields etc in either Singapore or Malaysia – didn’t even really see any fields in Singapore, we did visit a riding school in Langkawi (an island in Malaysia) but we didn’t ride mainly cause it was too hot to bother and secondly cause they charged £45 per hour and I didn’t fancy paying £45 to ride in the jungle amongst scorpions and snakes which can kill you within 10 minutes. It was a nice yard though, we had a look around and it was well laid out with an indoor stabling set up and an outdoor school – don’t suppose they would need an indoor one although if I rode there I would want an indoor school with air conditioning. Horses were mainly arabs and in very good condition, which was nice to see because generally most horses I have seen abroad are in poor condition. Singapore and Kuala Lumpa are huge cities much of which contains high rise apartments and offices. Fantastic if your into shopping as massive indoor shopping centres, great to see but not really my thing I much preferred the Tea Plantations in the Cameron Highlands and the Mangrove swamps in Langkawi where we saw pretty coral fish, spitting archer fish, walking fish, eagles and kites, swimming monkeys, bright coloured crabs, fruit bats and we came across a poisonous snake sleeping in a tree. During the last week I had had a slight sore throat which delevolped into a throat infection, on the last night I felt really ill and thought I should probably try to get something to take. We found a clinic at 11.30pm the doctor saw me straight away (and he spoke english – rare in the uk) he perscribed me antibiotics, cough syrup, throat sweets and Ibuprofen which were all given to me at the clinic. I paid £22 and the whole thing took 10 minutes – and people say Britain is great for its health service.

Talygarn Country Manor and Park

Chris Rogers — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:47:42 +0000

Talygarn Equestrian Centre is situated to the left of Talygarn Country Manor and Park. Originally the manor was a owned by the Clark family and the whole area including the Equestrian centre belonged to the Manor. My Grandfather bought what would have been the coach house and the yards (now Talygarn House and Talygarn Mews) in the 1950’s plus a substantial amount of land which my father farmed until the motorway came through the land in the 1970’s. My brother then ran the yards as a livery yard until builders purchased it and it became the Mews. We bought the land over 20years ago and established the Equestrian Centre. The Manor house was leased to the Coal board as a convalescent home for coal miners in the 1920’s. In approx 2000 The Manor was purchased by Cowbridge Developments and converted into country houses and flats. I believe there is a management committee of residents who now control the communal areas. The decisions they make border on the ridiculous, I assume none of them have been successful business people. Firstly despite the fact that I have lived here nearly 50 years some residents seem to have an aversion to horses even though the Equestrian centre is used as a selling point for the properties and they don’t seem to notice that there are quite a few other people in this area that own, ride and transport horses. Some difficulties arise from shared access and those who would prefer not to share. Serious damage was done to the roads by the developers which was never repaired. Firstly barriers appeared at every entrance just in case a horse should venture near their homes, this made me smile as you could ride round them if you wanted to. I have never ridden on land owned by the Manor nor do I intend too but I will continue to use the roadways I have used for nearly 50 years but I can’t vouch for other people living in the area with horses. Recently a sign has appeared at the main entrance saying NO EQUESTRIAN TRAFFIC. I assume by this they don’t want people with lorries and trailers using the main gates and would prefer to use the lower lane. We always use the lane and we tell all people who visit the centre with lorries and trailers to use the lower lane. I do know that some other residents with horses that live in Talygarn do not but this is nothing to do with me and their reasoning is that the lane is in poor repair which is true. Some times when people visit the centre they do not realise that they have to veer off right to be on the lane and end up at the gates by accident. Personally I wouldn’t have wasted the money on a negative NO ENTRY sign. It wold have had more effect had they bought two signs with arrows and put one each end of the lane saying EQUESTRIAN TRAFFIC THIS WAY. Also I would never have purchased those awful barriers a friend of mine thought it was an open prison complex.

Mini Pony Club

Chris Rogers — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 15:58:19 +0000

Mini Pony Club meet every other Saturday and it is for the 4 to 7yr old Pony Club Centre members from Talygarn. The session lasts an hour and is run by Jennifer Rogers and Nadine Pugh. Every few weeks the children work towards a new badge. Some of the badges are Equine and some are about the countryside. They are working on their Birds badge at the moment. All the badges include a lot of games, colouring and and some practical sessions. Last saturday each child made a birds nest from hay, leaves, twigs and horse hair with some brightly coloured plasticine for eggs. If you would like your child to join the pony club ask at the office for a form. There are other sessions available for older children. Photo Callums Birds Nest

October Half Term

Chris Rogers — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 22:53:12 +0000

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.

Team Show Jumping

Chris Rogers — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 23:19:26 +0000

What a brilliant start to the team show jumping series 2011/12. I limit the teams to approx 40 and we ended up with 43 teams on the closing date, I even had more teams trying to enter but we can only get through so many in a day and there is the parking to consider as well. The weather was very kind in fact it couldn’t have been better. Llangeinor PC won the 1ft6 with Talygarn teams placed 2nd and 4th. Talygarn won the 1ft9 and also had a 4th, we were 2nd and 3rd in the 2ft which was won by Handford Hopefuls. Glamorgan PC won the 2ft3 with Talygarn 2nd and 4th and Talygarn won the 2ft6. The next Team event in the series is December 28th. Points are on the website and Photos in the Gallery

Pony Club Area 10 meeting

Chris Rogers — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 00:54:17 +0000

As a Pony Club Centre Talygarn is part of Area 10 We have 18 Branches and 14 Centres in our Area which covers all of South Wales and much of Mid Wales. Twice a year a meeting is held in Llangorse outside Brecon for all the branches and centres. The meeting is organised by Sandra Fisher the branch Area Rep and was also attended by Cherry Mitchell current Chairman of the Pony Club and previous chairman Mary Anderson unfortunately our Centre Rep wasn’t there. Most of the branches attend but very few of the centres. The most active centres appear to be Cardiff, Underhill and ourselves. Last Thursday I travelled up with members from Llangeinor Pony Club. One of the topics discussed were the dates and who would hold area competitions for 2011. Some competitions do not apply to us i.e mounted games, eventing, tetrathlon. Most will be run by the same clubs as last year, so the quiz will be held at Underhill on the monday of Feb half term. The Horse Care is to be held at Cardiff on a Monday in the Easter hols (not easter monday I believe it will be the 16th). The Area Dengie Dressage winter league will be held at Alps court on Sunday March 11th, which is excellent for us, Carys Morgan on Buffy has already qualified and we should be able to take 2 more. Dates need to be decided for the Area Dressage and Show Jumping but both are being held around the Monmouth/Curre area. It has been decided to move the Championships from Draycott to Cholmondeley Castle (pronounced Chumley) which is near Nantwhich on the 16th to the 19th August. This will be a big problem for us as the champs are now being held Thursday to Sunday whereas they used to be Saturday to Tuesday. The entries, stabling diesel, food cost a small fortune and as well as these costs we also have to pay staff to cover us being away and take two horses out of lessons. These costs were kept lower as we are closed on a Monday anyway. We are too busy over the weekend to take horses out of lessons and be away saturday and sunday. Another subject discussed was the differences between Centre and Branch Members. Centre members who buy a horse and transport must then go to branch. Some children would prefer to stay centre members as they have formed friendships at their centre. In order to overcome this Pony Club will allow people to be members of both but the member’s loyalty must be to branch. Therefore the member may take achievement badges at centre but must take progressive tests at branch. When competing at area competitions the member must compete for the branch. I wanted to know if the member may compete in a team for the centre if the branch weren’t submitting a team but apparently they can’t. I do think that is wrong as the member is paying both subscriptions. Several other dates I can now arrange will be the last team jumping date which will be Wed 18th April. The summer Open day will be slightly earlier next year on Sunday 8th July.

Dressage

Chris Rogers — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 22:30:28 +0000

It doesn’t seem like five minutes since we finished the last dressage series and here we are again in October starting the next series. We had a very good turn out on Sunday with approx 46 entered over the 5 classes. Class 1 the walk trot is always popular, and so is class 2 the first prelim, the next prelim class 3 is quieter and the Novice is always quiet. The Pony Club Dengie had a reasonable turn out with Carys Morgan from Talygarn winning the class on Buffy and qualifying for the area finals. Emily Curnock and Hannah Davies from the Llangeinor Pony Club and Ellie McVay from the Pentyrch also qualified. Thank you so much to the people that helped with the writing and the gate, we could not run theses competitions without your help.

Dog Show

Chris Rogers — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 08:12:41 +0000

What a successful day the Fun Dog Show turned out to be. The Pony Centre committee worked hard to organise the event and put out lots of posters. The committee set the indoor school up at lunchtime with a ring for the fun showing classes and a ring for the dog agility. Having organised who was taking entries who would be on the agility ring etc. they were ready to start by 1pm. There was a good turn out with plenty of entries in each class and lots of dogs (and owners) having a go at the agility and if you didn’t have a dog it was worth coming to purchase the home made cakes. A big thank you to Leanne Jones who organised the judge and to the Judge herself who did a marvellous job. The Pony Club Committee is made up of the older centre members age ranging between 14 and 18. They organise several events in order to raise funds for the Halloween Party which will be held Saturday Oct 29th 6.30pm. Photos from the Dog Show can be found on the Gallery

Show an Hunter Trials

Chris Rogers — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 00:31:38 +0000

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