Hi everyone! Achil here – I am writing the newsletter this month as I’ve done a few private lessons with the Avansce Synchronicity rein system already so thought I was the best one to tell everyone about it!
WELL DONE LIAM
Firstly, a big congratulations to Liam, who successfully passed his BHS Stage 2 assessment last month. Liam has been with us for nearly a year now and has completed his Stage 1, Ridesafe and Stage 2 so is progressing well through his qualifications. ARC is a coach training centre, meaning that we are approved to take local coaches for training towards assessments, but we also obviously train our own staff in house and put them through their qualifications so Liam has had a good first year! He’ll now have a quieter winter preparing for his Stage 3 in the Spring, which is quite a big assessment, so he has lots of work to do for it.
AVANSCE REIN TRAINING SYSTEM
As you may have seen on Facebook, last month we took delivery (and completed the training) to use the rein system for our private lessons for riding school members and livery members. The Avansce system is a pressure measuring device which goes on the reins and feeds back through Bluetooth to a large laptop which the coach has in the school. It measures how consistent your rein contact is, whether the contact pressure is the correct amount, whether one hand is stronger than the other and how your contact performs in a transition. Its an excellent piece of kit for riders who are trying to work on getting their hands stiller or their contact better and we wanted to get involved with the system because we recognise that improving the contact is often the hardest thing for a rider to do, particularly riding school members who can only ride once or twice a week. We use the system in a normal private lesson at a normal cost – so you will get the same instruction from your coach, but with more emphasis on the contact and it allows the coach to interpret the laptop readings to tell you exactly when your contact is correct for that horse. If you would like to book a lesson with the avansce equipment, then just book a private lesson as normal and let them know when booking that you want to have the rein system on for the lesson as it allows us time to get it fitted before your private lesson starts. ARC is currently the only centre in the UK which has access to the system as we are being a pilot centre for the company, so take advantage of it while you can!
RIDESAFE
We are going to be running a BHS Ridesafe assessment on Wednesday 7th August during the kids school holidays. The Ridesafe qualification is a brilliant one for both horse owners and riding school members and is suitable for adults and children over the age of 11years. The assessment takes half a day and we are providing training for it on Tuesday 6th August. Ridesafe covers the correct tack for hacking out, how to work safely in open order, how to ride on the road and safety common sense. The training will be with our coaches and covers everything in the assessment and then the BHS assessors come in on the Wednesday. The Ridesafe assessment is normally £95 (for the assessment) and up to £60 for the training but we want to encourage more riders to take the assessment to ensure they are safe riding outside so for this reason, we have “underwritten” the assessment costs and are offering it at £55 to our members, plus £25 for training which is a 50% discount. This is likely to be the only Ridesafe assessment we put on this year and riding school members will use our horses obviously. It is a good stand alone qualification but is also a requirement for career qualifications, so anyone who can walk/trot/canter independently is welcome to take it. If you’d like to book it, you need to book through Ali in reception and make full payment for the assessment and training. The cost of the assessment includes a high viz riding vest and your training book. Spaces are limited on the assessment so it’s best to get your space booked asap.
FREE LESSONS!
We are also hosting a BHS Stage 2 coach assessment on Wednesday 14th August (during the day time). This assessment needs LOTS of guinea pig riders as there are up to 12 candidates teaching a group lesson, lunge lesson and beginner lead rein lesson each. So if any of our riders are free on that day, then if you let Ali know in the office that you are available, we will contact you nearer the time and let you know if we need you and what time you’ll be riding at. We can’t guarantee how good the lessons will be (pretty good hopefully if the candidates are going to pass) but there is a senior BHS assessor present so it will all be good fun and safe. Riders need to be capable in walk/trot/canter and jumping a small fence and over 14 years old in order to take part in the group lessons and happy in walk/trot/canter and be over 12 years old for the lunge lesson. The lead rein lessons are also a good opportunity for anyone who has a beginner rider family member or friend who might fancy a shot riding – the session will be similar to a walkies and is suitable for adults or children over 7 years.
So, if you’d like to take advantage of the free lessons then just let Ali know