January Newsletter

Jan imageHappy New Year when it comes (although this newsletter is a wee bit early as the author is off over New Year!

The pic above is the Xmas tree in our viewing area, which was sooooooooo amazingly supported with treats for the horses and ponies – they all had a brilliant time on Xmas Eve and Xmas Day hunting out the carrots we left for them and we have lots of polos and treats to leave in the indoor arena for next few weeks – so please help yourself – when you finish your lesson you are more than welcome to take one and give to your trusty steed. Thank you members – it was lovely to see how many of you enjoyed leaving gifts for the ponies.


DATES FOR 2019

So we have a few things planned already for 2019 – it’s never quiet at ARC!

We are hosting a careers talk on Monday 11th February at 1pm (estimated to last 2 hours) which is open to both members and non members. We have a variety of “professions” attending – Police Scotland Mounted police unit (on foot with no horses J ), Ardene House Vet and Vet nurse, Jason Sim farrier and Tom Stott his apprentice, a riding coach and a professional event rider/freelance coach. The idea is that the afternoon is a relaxed one, where each person talks a little about their career then attendees can walk around the various tables and ask questions e.t.c. It will be a great afternoon for anyone interested in animal related careers and is free of charge – the only thing we ask is that those who would like to attend email Ali at lessons@aberdeenridingclub.com so we have an idea of numbers for seating.

We also have our first BHS assessment (a Stage 1) on 5th March. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to book any further exams yet – we know there are lots of people in the area keen to do a Stage 2 and Stage 2 coach at ARC, but unfortunately BHS HQ won’t let us book anything or publicise it until after our Stage 1, so it looks like it will be next year before we can put on a Stage 2 or Stage 2 coach as it needs to be within the summer months (for jumping outside) – we will keep trying with BHS HQ, but our hands are a bit tied on this one

Our Easter Stable management bookings open on Monday 21st January at 10.00a.m (a £50 deposit secures your slot) and the dates for the actual courses are:

Beginner Stable Management – Monday 1st April – Thursday 4th April (inclusive).

Novice Stable Management – Monday 8th April – Thursday 11th April (inclusive).

Each course runs from 9a.m – 2pm each day and consists of supervised grooming, a riding lesson (1 hour), lecture (1 hour) and all course notes with a wee test and certificate at the end of it.

Beginner stable management is suitable for anyone from complete beginners through to those who are just starting cantering (5 years and upwards) and Novice stable management is suitable for those who have already completed beginner stable management and are competent in canter without holiding the saddle (7 years and upwards) The courses both cost £155 for the full week, with the £50 deposit payable on booking.

We will also be running our normal August show (in August obviously) but we are awaiting confirmation for a date for that and our big annual fundraiser will be in March, which will be a quiz night again as that seems to be popular and we will be on the look out for auction prizes and raffle prizes nearer the time!


ACHILS HEAD

So Achil continues to be problematic both for us and the vets! His teeth are all good now, but he has an infection under the skin on his head which is travelling along his skull sutures and is proving a bit resistant to many types of antibiotics, which has resulted in him needing to see the vet practically daily for injectable anti biotics and alarming incidents where his head has started to swell up! We are all keeping our fingers crossed that the vets hard work will get on top of this for Achil, but obviously the sheer amount of work that Achil has needed done has financial implications for a not for profit club, despite the vets best efforts at keeping the cost down. His treatment is always (in our opinion) good value when you look at the amount of specialist knowledge and treatment he has needed, but nevertheless it all adds up!  We are looking into a few different options going forward and are hoping to set up some kind of donations page that members could perhaps use to contribute to Achil, which may sound a bit cheeky, but at the end of the day our aim is to keep riding lessons as affordable as possible, so we need to look at different ways that we can continue paying for his treatment without it affecting the cost of riding lessons or livery. Achil is a massively popular school horse who everyone benefits from and we absolutely will do everything we can to keep trying to get him fixed – however if we could persuade our members to donate say £10 each towards the “Achil fund” it would help massively – we will publicise on Facebook once we have decided the easiest way to do it.


NEXT DEMO

We try to run educational demos as much as possible over the winter which are open to both members and non-members and the lunging one we ran this month was hugely popular. We are therefore going to run the next one on Sunday 13th January at 5.30p.m, which is titled “conformation and how it affects training the horse”. The demo will be delivered by Sally and will feature some theory work (in the warm) and a lot of riders/different types of horses – whilst you would assume that the conformation part relates to the horses (and it mostly does) it will also relate to the riders and how different rider conformation affects each position. If you would like to attend this evening, it is £15 and you should book in for it by emailing Ali at lessons@aberdeenridingclub.com


PLEASE REMEMBER TO BOOK IN!

We’re all aware how busy Xmas and New Year are and we return to a full timetable of lessons on Saturday 5th January. Can we ask that all members please ensure that they are booked in for their correct lesson if they are returning that week, as it’s often a busy one as people forget to book in over the festivities – whilst we (where possible) try to find horses for those riders who come along who haven’t booked in, we can’t guarantee it as the session may already be full or no horses available, so please – if you’re not sure if you booked in, then give Ali a call on 01224733111 or email at lessons@aberdeenridingclub.com

Thanks!

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