April Newsletter 2026
Hi everyone and welcome to the April newsletter – how good is it that the clocks have sprung forward, and the evenings are getting lighter – it’s been a long…
Hi Everyone, and welcome to our May newsletter! We have used Gemima’s pic again this month as she was feeling left out as she is still off work, but the great news is she has improved quite a lot after her ligament sprain so she is able to start walking out in hand now and will hopefully soon be able to go back to stretching her legs in the field!
SUMMER ACTIVITY WEEKS
Spring is upon us now (Thank Goodness!), so here are the dates for our Summer activity weeks – Bookings for all courses open at 10.00a.m on Tuesday 12th May.
For all Pony Stars ridden courses the cost is £235 with a £50 non-refundable deposit paid on booking. This includes a group riding lesson each day and all supervised training and grooming. The care only Pony Stars courses (without riding) are £35 per day.
The pricing for the Leadership course is different at £160 for the four days as it is a non-ridden course.
The course dates are as follows (10am-2pm each day for the ridden courses and our Leadership course, and 10am-12pm each day for the care only Pony Stars sessions).
The Leadership course is designed for younger people aged 12 – 18 years old and is really popular with that age group within our membership. The course is designed to help young people build their “soft skills” of communication, confidence, teamwork, problem solving etc. and it’s a really good way for young people to make new friends and looks good on college/Uni applications too. If you have any questions about Leadership courses, just ask Sally or Ali. The course during the Summer holidays is suitable for those who have done some Leadership training already, or for new participants.
MEMBERSHIP
As most of our members are aware, our membership year runs from 1st June – 31st May so all memberships are due for renewal by 1st June. We have been working really hard to cap the price of membership as we are very aware of how much the cost of living is currently affecting everyone. We have been working away quietly in the background trying to control our costs all winter as one of our priorities is always to try to keep cost increases to a minimum. As a result of this, we are able to freeze membership prices for a fifth year in a row for our regular, full members. We will be implementing a small increase for one off and introductory memberships for new riders, but it was very important to us to be able to try to freeze the membership cost for our regular, loyal members if possible.
So, membership fees will be the same as previously with a discount applied for those who pay during the month of May. Membership fees will therefore be:
Single full – £130 (£120 if paid during May)
Family full – £240 (£230 if paid during May). A family membership is for up to five members of the same family.
Membership forms are available both electronically from Ali or by hard copy (collect from reception) and we need a completed form returned when we take payment, which can be done by card in person or over the phone, or by bank transfer.
ARC is a members’ club, therefore anyone using the club facilities, horses, coaches etc. needs to be a member – there are many advantages to our structure – the primary one being that as a not-for-profit club, all funds generated by the club are used directly for club activity/provision. Madge and Hercules are a good example – they were bought with membership funds last year and are now “club assets”. We are hoping to purchase a couple more horses this year as some of our equine team are getting older and we need a couple of bigger, weight carrying horses.
SPEED LIMIT
A gentle reminder to our members that the speed limit on our access road is 10mph. The reason for this is because we have horses crossing the access road regularly to access the fields on the other side of the road and we have lots of pedestrians on site, in the car park and using the swings. Two of our staff have mentioned this as they were so horrified at the speed that someone drove past them at whilst they were attempting to cross the road with horses and Sally was less than impressed at the speed someone drove into the road at when she was coming along it with the tractor. So our first action is to mention this politely in the newsletter and we have ordered additional speed limit signs for the road – please do be aware though that we have number plate recognition cameras on the gate area/access road and we will not hesitate to take action if we find members speeding on the access road – actions would potentially include us removing membership – so do please be aware that our staff and client safety is something that we take extremely seriously and we expect everyone who is attending the centre to be considerate and stick to the 10mph limit.
Sadly, since we had the lovely improvements done to the hardcore track across the road, we have also noticed an increase in dog mess being left lying on the track. We have always been a dog friendly centre and think it’s really important that members can walk their dogs at the farm, but it’s not acceptable to leave dog poo lying around the place so please do ensure you take bags with you – bags should be put in the large black wheelie bin or taken home – please do not leave them hanging from a tree/lying on the track once you have filled the bag J
ADDITIONAL SUMMER ACTIVITIES
Eagle eyed members will notice that we have left a couple of weeks in the middle of the summer holidays “free” with no Pony Stars. This is because we are hoping to do a couple of training days/competition days for our riding school clients – potentially a turnout competition and dressage or equitation. So, we’re looking for suggestions! If anyone has anything specific they would like to see during the hols then drop Ali an email with suggestions!
