April – Thursday 4th April inclusive (9am – 2p.m each day) and they cost £155 in total (£50 deposit to be paid on booking). They are a great way to build confidence as they include a riding lesson each day. If you would like to book one of the remaining spaces, then please give our reception a ring on 01224 733111 or email Ali at lessons@aberdeenridingclub.com
THANK YOU FROM ACHIL!
Achil’s fundraising page has now closed and raised around £1350 after the percentage by the page suppliers was taken off so he’d like to say a giant (18h.h.) thank you to everyone who contributed to his fundraising page – he is very grateful! He remains (touch wood) in good health and has done a few lessons over the last fortnight, so it has been great to see him in action again doing what he does best – teaching people to ride.
If you would still like to contribute to Achil’s fund, you are welcome to do so, but you would now need to make a contribution by payment through reception, so the next time you are buying a lesson or block booking card or something why not round it up by £5 or £10 and contribute a bit to Achil if you haven’t had a chance yet!
CAREERS TALK
We had a really successful career talk in February, with over 100 people attending to find out more about the variety of equine related careers that are available – many thanks to Ardene House Equine Vets, Police Scotland Mounted Unit, Jason Sim Farrier and Eilidh Costelloe who all came along to talk about their various careers, what the entry requirements are and what an “average day” involves, although we all know there aren’t really any average days! Hopefully we will be able to run another one after the Summer holidays with a few other career options.
WELL DONE RGU!
A big well done to RGU who won their home competition with us at the end of February. RGU train with us over the winter and have been working hard to perfect their ability to ride Tess, Jaffa,
KoKo and Kevin who take part in the dressage part. They don’t practice the jumping much as the jumps are quite small and our jump horses are fairly straightforward, so Henry, Apache, Scrufty and Trojan all made a great job of jumping lots of clear rounds with everyone. Tess and Jaffa are the “home advantage” horses in that they can be quite sharp to ride, so knowing them is a benefit, so they did their job really well.
MEMBERSHIP
Oh yes, that time is looming again! Membership fees are due on or before the 1st May 2019, so we will be ready to process payments and forms from 1st April 2019. Membership costs for 2019 are as follows:
Single membership – £130 (discounted to £120 if paid before 1st May)
Family membership – £240 (discounted to £220 if paid before 1st May).
Everyone who rides at ARC is a member (as we are a not for profit members club) and everyone’s membership runs out on 30th April (even if you joined mid membership year as you will have been charged a pro rata rate till 30th April). Here are a few common Q+As about membership for your information:
Q: Do I have to be a member?
A: Yes – we are a not for profit members club and therefore all users must be members in order that we meet legislation requirements.
Q: What are the benefits?
A: ARC is not VAT registered because of it’s not for profit status, therefore lessons can remain as cost effective as possible. More importantly it means that any additional funds the club makes are ploughed back into the club– Henry’s lovely jump saddle, the new “skinny brush” fence and ensuring high standards of welfare and care for our horses – Achil’s teeth at 14k being a prime example ☺