Hi Everyone,
A nice pic for this month’s newsletter of Seth meeting HRH The Princess Royal at her visit to ARC in August – Seth was a real poster boy both for ARC and the BHS Second Chance rehoming scheme, standing in the car park to meet everyone, and generally being delighted to be front of house!
XMAS AND NEW YEAR
We know! It seems very early to be mentioning Xmas, but time is marching on, and we are getting organised with our staff rotas so that our team can enjoy some well-deserved time off too.
As normal, the riding school will be closed on the 24th, 25th and 26th December and then the 31st December and 1st and 2nd of January. From Friday 22nd December to Thurs 4th Jan (inclusive) we run “skeleton lessons” on the days that the riding school is open – so there will be a mix of group and private lessons available, but perhaps not at the time your normal class is on so if you would like to ride during the 2 weeks of Xmas and New Year, we’d be delighted to see you but just check in with reception as to time/day that your standard of lesson is on. There are quite a few private lessons available during the festivities and as normal, the private lesson diary will open on the last Monday in November – so the 27th November for anyone who is looking for some private lessons if off work or school.
On the days the riding school is closed, one of our Senior staff works each day to ensure the horses are all happy and mucked out e.t.c, whilst our junior staff have the time off. So, Sally, Martin and Laura will all be working either Xmas Day, Boxing Day, 1st Jan or 2nd Jan and be there to hand out any Xmas presents to the horses and ponies!
The livery yard is closed on 25th and 26th December and the 1st and 2nd Jan, so liveries do their own horses on these days but services are as normal on all other days.
GIFT VOUCHERS
A reminder that we can provide gift vouchers, to any value either in person at reception or electronically by email or if you give us a call. Our vouchers are valid for 6 months and work as a credit note, so the recipient can use them for any type of session that we provide – from group lessons to private lessons, walkies to Pony Stars. They can make a great gift, so do please just give Ali a shout if we can help.
GET WELL SOON HOLLY!
As many of you know, Holly had a ligament injury last month which was scanned and she was advised to be on box rest for 6 weeks. Holly was reassessed again last week and the good news is she is showing a good improvement! We are going to give her a few extra weeks off as we are heading into a quieter time around Xmas and New Year and the longer the better with soft tissue injuries. So, Holly will be able to return to her favourite lessons early in 2024 and we’re all delighted how much she has improved.
Brewster has also had a bit of time off as he went a bit lame, but he is sound again now and just having a couple of weeks off as a holiday. The great news is that Gizmo is back doing walkies, Hippotherapy and RDA which is such great news when he had such a severe injury (broken pedal bone). He is delighted to be back doing his favourite jobs so well done Gizmo!
PONY STARS
We are hoping to start a new intake of Pony Stars in the New Year – Pony Stars are sessions for young people (under 12 years) and are designed around them learning about ponies, but also about other skills – teamwork/confidence and learning about the environment. The Pony Stars sessions cost £18 for the hour and we will be running them weekly (either after school or on a weekend day). So, if you have a young person who would love to come up and spend more time with the ponies and learn how to care for them and others, then let Ali know that you are interested in the new start sessions, and we can update you once we have a date and time for starting. There is an upfront cost of £25 in addition to the session fees which purchases the Pony Stars pack, which has a bag, book, stickers and activities – the book remains with the participant and has some great puzzles in it and lasts for a good few months.
WELL DONE LIAM AND FREYA!
A big well done this month to Liam and Freya who have passed further professional qualifications after a lot of training from us and effort from them!
Liam has now completed his BHS Coaching4All qualification, which is an inclusive coaching qualification. This qualification is designed to ensure coaches are knowledgeable in all areas of inclusivity and are trained in how to adapt sessions for different riders with different requirements. Sally and Laura already hold this qualification and it’s an important one for our coaches as we strive to make horses more accessible to everyone.
Freya sat and passed her BHS Stage 3 ride, which is part of the Stage 3 complete coach qualification. This involves Freya riding two different horses on the flat, one horse showjumping (90cm) and one horse x-country (90cm) and in Freya’s case they were unknown horses to her as she went down to England to do her assessment.
Freya has worked very hard on her riding over the last 2 years, with lots of lessons and learning so it was great to see her pass with flying colours. Well done Freya and Liam – we are very proud of you both.
EDUCATIONAL SESSION
We are going to run an educational session at 4.30p.m on Sunday 10th December titled “how horses learn” with Sally. The session will be practical (in person) with a couple of riding school horses and livery horses working and is designed to help our members understand why horses do certain things and give tips on how to ride and train to ensure a happy horse. We are aiming to use two well-known school horses – Henry and Ozzy 2 and show members why they do what they do in lessons sometimes. The session will be great for both children and adults, riding school members and liveries. If you would like to attend the session, the cost is £20 and it will run from 4.30p.m – 6.00p.m with Sally in the big school.
HOODY ORDERS
An ARC hoody makes a great Christmas gift for our riders – they are available in both junior and adult sizes and range from £14-£17 (juniors) and £19-£24 (adults). If you would like to place an order, please visit/ contact reception before Thursday 30th November to ensure they’ll arrive in time for the big day!