October Newsletter 2026

Hi everyone and welcome to the October newsletter! The weather is definitely starting to turn now with colder mornings and the school horses are all getting their hair clipped off as their winter coats have grown in very hairy this year! Find out later in the newsletter why there is a close up of KoKos face!

GET WELL SOON MARTIN!

As most of our members will now be aware, Martin broke his arm in September, so has been off work and at home recuperating. At the moment we don’t have a return date for Martin – he will update us after his next fracture clinic appointment, but we adjusted the October diary prior to opening and have arranged cover for his group lessons for October (Liam, Laura and Sally will be covering them) as we have to work ahead with lesson cover prior to the diary opening to ensure the remaining coaches are happy to do the additional hours required to cover the coaching. Hopefully Martin will feel better soon, and fingers crossed his fracture continues to heal well!

PRIVATE LESSON DIARY

For November private lessons, there is a slight change to the diary opening date in that for this month only the diary will open on Tuesday 27^th October rather than Monday 26^th October – this is because Sally and Ali are both away on the Monday at a business development workshop that Sally is presenting at and Ali is attending for professional development. So do please try to remember that date change and Ali will be there on the Tuesday to take all bookings as normal.

A reminder also that our private lesson diary always opens one month at a time and (other than November’s diary) usually opens on the last Monday of the month for the next month. The reason we have always opened the diary in this way is to ensure that everyone gets fair access/choice of lessons – for the same reason we limit peak-time private lessons to 2 per month per member initially – although we can often then let the member book a few more if needed if there is still space for peak ones a few days into the bookings opening.

There are lots of software packages that allow online booking and we’re very aware of these and regularly check them and their capability – however each system is designed to maximise profit/payments which sounds ideal to the majority of businesses, but at ARC we have always strived to ensure horses are accessible. We have a hugely diverse range of members from those who ideally would want to have two peak-time private lessons each month, through to those who have to budget really carefully to have their one or two lessons a month. We also have shift workers, school pupils, those who work weekends, those who’s shifts change at short notice, those who are retired or not working at the moment and those who are trying to fit in working alongside busy family lives – if we open the diary months and months in advance with no limits on bookings, what tends to happen is that those who have disposable income at that point in time book all the lessons and then there are none left for those who may have to budget more carefully, or who don’t get their shift patters early e.t.c.

So, the fairest way is to open the diary a month at a time and try as hard as we can to keep everyone happy 🙂 We know it’s not perfect – but its closer to perfect than a system which prioritises those who spend the most – that’s not what ARC is about. Electronic systems also don’t allow for conversations around booking/adjusting things like having a sim lesson rather than a real horse lesson, or Ali adjusting the diary where she can to fit in requests from members – so whilst it can be frustrating if you forget about the diary opening day and there is limited availability by the time you get in touch with us, it is still currently the fairest option for all our members, but we will continue to keep looking and if a better system becomes available we’d be happy to use it.

KOKO THE MUNCHER

KoKo had a rather alarming incident last Sunday when a hard lump on her cheek was noticed when her bridle was being put on. Liam did all the correct things first in checking she was able to eat fine, taking her temperature (normal) and observing her and then Sally came up to check her in the early evening. When Sally had a good prod inside her gum area, she felt something like a tooth sticking out sideways into Koko’s gum L

Yup – KoKo had managed to fracture a large molar tooth that morning at some point and it had rotated round and was basically stabbing into her cheek. Most horses may stop eating at this point as chewing must have been fairly uncomfortable as it rubbed her cheek more, but not KoKo – for KoKo, food is life! So, we called the vets we use for the school horses and they came out that evening and removed the broken fragment of tooth (see pic below!) – it shows both how quickly dental issues can arise and how stoic horses can be. KoKo has very regular dental attention from Alice who is a vet who specialises in dental work, but even with these regular dentals, problems can arise in between. As flight animals, horses are pretty good at masking discomfort as they don’t want to be the weakest one in the herd, but KoKo takes it to extremes by still happily using that side of her mouth to eat!

Thanks to Bennachie Equine Vets for coming to see KoKo so promptly on a Sunday evening and to Alice for all her great work on our horses’ teeth – KoKo will be getting to see Alice at her next visit to check all is ok going forwards with the remaining part of that tooth.

LEADERSHIP SESSIONS

Our new start BHS Leadership group on a Saturday (4.00p.m–5.00p.m) are making great progress through their Bronze level award but during the Bronze sessions we can take new participants onto the course so if anyone is keen to join the Leadership group then do please let us know via reception!

OCTOBER ACTIVITIES

We still have one space on Dartmoor Dazzlers (first week of kids’ holidays) and one space on Welshie Wizzers (second week of kids’ holidays) if anyone would like to take a riding space on the course. We are also running a Leadership week the first week of the holidays and have a couple of spaces still available for those sessions if anyone would like to join the sessions – again just let Ali know in reception.