March Newsletter 2026

Hi everyone and welcome to the March newsletter. We are finally getting a break from the rain which is brilliant, and we’ve even had a bit of sunshine!

EASTER HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES
We still have some spaces on the Pony Stars and Leadership courses we are running in the Easter holidays so please see details below if you would like to book in for anything: Dartmoor Dazzlers (beginner level) Mon 30th March – Thurs 2nd April inclusive. This course is designed for members under 16yrs who are walk/trot/starting to canter in their lessons and have done no stable management or up to a couple of initial courses. The course covers the content from BHS Dartmoor Dazzlers course with a great book, bag and activities for the kids and includes a group riding lesson (1 hour) each day, supervised grooming and a stable management training session. Welshie Wizzers (Novice level) is for members under 16yrs who are walk/trot/canter in their lessons and have completed the Dartmoor Dazzlers book and activities. This course runs from Mon 6th April – Thurs 9th April inclusive and also includes a group riding lesson (1 hour), supervised grooming and a stable management session eachday. The Pony Stars courses cost £235 including all the lessons with an additional payment of £25 for the Pony Stars pack if needed. If you would like to book your young rider onto any of these courses, then just let Ali know in reception. We are also running a Leadership course in the Easter hols from Mon 30th March – Tues 2nd April inclusive. The Leadership courses have proven very popular to date – they are designed for participants who are around 12yrs old and over and are a non-ridden course. We work on different skills that young people benefit from developing and it’s a great way for the participants to make friends outside of school and build their confidence. The course looks at communication skills, different teamwork activities, using initiative and building confidence. We do a great range of activities some using the ponies for groundwork and some nothing to do with ponies! The Leadership course costs £160 for the four day course and all courses – Pony Stars and Leadership run from 10a.m – 2p.m each day. For Leadership course bookings, again contact Ali in reception.

WEEKLY LEADERSHIP SESSIONS
Sally currently runs a leadership weekly session (1 hour) on a Tues at 5p.m and we have 7 participants who attend and have just completed their Bronze level certificate (well done to them!). We are about to progress onto Silver level with them, so now is a great time if there is anyone within our membership who would like to join the leadership sessions as whilst we have completed Bronze, we can introduce new participants at the start of any new level – the weekly session costs £25 and covers all the confidence building and team work exercises that the Bronze level covers, but also includes the group planning a fundraiser and outing – the hobby horse jumping prior to Xmas was this groups fundraiser for their bronze award so this gives an idea of the types of activity the young people do. If you’d like to come along and try a session to see if you like it, then just let Ali know in reception.

GROUNDWORKS
As members will have seen, we have been doing quite a bit of groundworks at for their patience while the car park has had areas sectioned oZ and we have had workmen onsite. We are doing some work to improve the existing drainage around the building – the back of the building has always been quite wet as the entire farm rainwater drains down in that direction, so we have been linking a couple more drains up to the soakaways to get the back of the building a bit neater. We also did some work on the outdoor arena drains at the same time to ensure it was draining well.

EDUCATIONAL EVENING
The educational evenings we’ve been doing on a Friday have been really successful with a good few members taking the opportunity to learn a bit more about our amazing horses and how to work with them. So, we are going to do another educational evening on Friday 27th March (5.30p.m–7.00p.m) titled “The rider position the horse would choose”. This event is suitable for any age – adults or juniors. We’ll start in the simulator room with a volunteer rider, looking at how the rider’s position and balance aZects the horses balance and then we’ll go into the arena with a volunteer rider on a horse to look at putting the “ideal” position into practice.If you’d like to book in for the event, bookin at reception or by email – the cost is £20. For junior members who wish to attend, parents are welcome to drop them oZ at 5.30pm and collect them at 7.30p.m as Sally will be running the event and is happy to supervise younger members attendance if parents don’t want to hang around for the duration.

STABLE DOOR REMINDERS
Just a reminder to everyone – when you are returning your horse to the stable, please ensure the door is fully open and you hold it open until the horse is fully into the stable. Fully open is pushed right round and back against the stable wall – not half way open as the horses get nervous of catching their hips/sides on the door going in – they need a much bigger space than a human does for getting through the stable door. COUNTRY WAYS As some of you will have seen on social media, the Country Ways shop on Holburn Street has now closed, but the shop in Banchory has been developed and has more stock and a great shopping experience in store. ARC Full Members continue to receive a 10% discount at Country Ways on production of their ARC proof of membership card, so if you would like to take advantage of this discount, and are a current Full Member of ARC, then please just request a card from reception to use in store.

COUNTRY WAYS
As some of you will have seen on social media, the Country Ways shop on Holburn Street has now closed, but the shop in Banchory has been developed and has more stock and a great shopping experience in store. ARC Full Members continue to receive a 10% discount at Country Ways on production of their ARC proof of membership card, so if you would like to take advantage of this discount, and are a current Full Member of ARC, then please just request a card from reception to use in store.