August Newsletter 2026

Hi everyone and welcome to the August newsletter – August already!!!!!! Pictured are the new recruits – Madge and Thomas in next door stables waiting for their training session that day – a very different pair of horses – Madge is a super confident Alpha type mare and Thomas is a very gentle, quiet chap who prefers to follow than be a leader but they are both absolutely lovely and doing well so far in their training.

NEW PRICES

As per our last newsletter, we have now implemented the price increase which was a result of the price review we carried out during May. Thank you to all members for their understanding of the need for us to implement a price increase – we know quite a few of you took advantage of the extended block booking card expiry dates to buy some blocks before the price increased which is great. Remember – if you are a regular rider (or you have a child who is) in group lessons, we offer a variety of discounted bulk payment options from 5 lesson cards, through to 20 lesson cards and standing order payment – these payment methods have a range of discounts depending on the size of purchase so do please have a chat with Ali in reception or drop her an email if you don’t currently pay by block booking or standing order and would like to benefit from the discounts applied to these payment methods.

For those who prefer to pay on a weekly basis, please do remember that we need a minimum of 24 hours’ notice to book you in for your session – so you need to have booked in and then paid before 24 hours – this is because we do the horse and staff rota/hours the day before and once the worksheet is created it is unlikely we are able to change it and add an extra horse.

FLYNN RETURNS!

Flynn’s big friendly face is back in action this month after a couple of months off – Flynn had a veterinary procedure where he had a skin growth removed and the incision and size of tissue removed was bigger than we initially thought it would be, hence why his time off was a bit unexpected but all healed now, he returns to some lessons and is very much enjoying it!

Another familiar face (for some of our members) has also returned – Kevin did his first lesson towards the end of July! We have owned Kevin for over 10 years and he did more advanced lessons for many years but he had a fairly big soft tissue injury around 3 years ago when he damaged a branch of his suspensory ligament on a front leg. He had a sizeable tear on it (seen when scanned by vet) so he did around 3 months box rest, had steroids injected into the site and was then to have a minimum of 6 months field rest. Our view with soft tissue injuries is the longer they can spend on field rest, the better – the severity of the injury that Kevin had meant that he was comfortable and field sound, but he was not very likely to come fully sound in work.

So we gave Kevin 2 years off and started walk work with him around 6 months ago – he has spent many months in walk and then started trotting and he was sound which was wonderful. We don’t know if Kevin will stay work sound forever or not – it’s always really hard to tell with these injuries but whilst he’s sound and enjoying work we will let him do some lessons and he has a home for life with us regardless – even if that means being a particularly large friendly field ornament!

LEADERSHIP COURSE

We are starting a new intake Leadership Awards course – starting on Saturday 22^nd August. The sessions run from 4.00p.m – 5.00p.m each week and are aimed at young people between the ages of 12 and 18. The course is like a Youth Club session which concentrates on soft skills like communication, confidence, teamwork and we use the horses and ponies in some interesting ways to make the sessions good fun J For new participants, they need to purchase the Bronze Leadership Awards booklet which provides the structure to the course with four different areas which the young people work through and then get signed off. The awards are a great way for young people to demonstrate that they have taken part in volunteering sessions (part of the award) and committed to achieving the certificate and are very relevant to include in both college/uni applications and also if the young person is looking to get a small job whilst at school or volunteer to build their skills up. If you have a young person who you think would enjoy it, have a chat at reception and Ali can let you know all about it! The sessions work in the same way as lessons – you just let us know if you are attending each week and pay for the session.

WELCOME CHLOE!

We have had a change to our team over the last month as Sophie wanted to reduce her hours and go down to one day a week (currently a Thursday), so we advertised for a new team member to do a four day week and were inundated with applications – following a trial and interview, we are delighted to welcome Chloe to our team who will be working full time hours Sun–Wed inclusive. Chloe has been a riding school member for quite a few years and has already completed her BHS Stage 1 qualification – having worked in a couple of different riding schools over the last 2 years Chloe was keen to take the role at ARC as she knows our team already and was keen to get some further training and progression to qualifications so a warm welcome to Chloe!

OCTOBER HOLIDAY COURSES

We know!!!! Time is marching on and we’re already looking ahead to the October holidays.

Mon 12^th – Thurs 15^th October – Dartmoor Dazzlers (beginner) Pony Stars – £235 for full four day (10a.m–2p.m) course including one hours group riding lesson. There is also the option to do a morning grooming session only from 10a.m – 12p.m  for £35 per day.

Mon 12^th – Thurs 15^th October- BHS Leadership Awards – “youth club” for our 12 – 18 year old members – £160 for full four day course (10.am–2p.m) – this is a non-ridden course (but ponies very much involved!)

Mon 19^th Oct – Thurs 22^nd Oct – Welshie Wizzers (Novice level) Pony Stars – same prices and times as the Dartmoor Dazzler course.

Bookings for Pony Stars will open on:

Wednesday 26^th August at 10.00am.
Please give us a call or email to check availability and book your place!