Hi Everyone, and welcome to the September newsletter! What a brilliant August show we had – Achil is pictured above proudly wearing his Best Turned Out rosette! Time is marching on though and we are heading into September with busy times ahead with rider assessments and new Pony Stars dates!
AUGUST SHOW
A huge thank you to everyone who took part in the August show – what a brilliant bunch of members we have! It was so lovely to see how much everyone enjoyed the show and how much family members/friends/parents enjoyed watching, helping and supporting! As always, a huge thank you to our staff team who all worked hard to make the weekend a success. Thanks always to our members committee, who organised the show and volunteered a lot of time towards it and finally a big thanks to all our liveries who volunteered over the weekend to make sure that the riding school members all had lots of support and assistance to ensure everyone had a great day. It was a brilliant way to celebrate our 20th anniversary so well done everyone!
OCTOBER HOLIDAYS ACTIVITIES
We will be running Pony Stars during the October holidays and bookings for the Pony Stars open on Wednesday 6th September at 10.00a.m. A £50 deposit is payable on booking (for riding option) and full payment is required on booking (for non-riding option).
Mon 16th Oct – Thurs 19th Oct inclusive – Dartmoor Dazzlers Pony Stars. This course is suitable for those who have not done any Pony Stars, or those that are mid-way through Dartmoor Dazzlers. The riding option (has limited spaces) and runs from 10.a.m – 2p.m with an hours riding lesson. The cost for the riding option is £185. We also run a non-riding option from 10a.m – 12p.m each day with grooming/Pony Stars activities and these are £30. For anyone who needs a pack they are £25 and we will check on booking if you need one as we need to order them from BHS a few weeks in advance.
Mon 23rd – Thurs 26th Oct inclusive – Welshie Wizzers – this course is suitable for those who have done Dartmoor Dazzlers courses and are cantering in their lessons. Riding and non-riding options and pack prices are exactly the same as for Dartmoor Dazzlers above.
If you would like to book a slot, then either pop in or call Ali on the Weds 6th Sep at 10.00a.m
We are also running one day of Leadership Training – We are doing one day of Teenage Leadership sessions on Monday 23rd October from 10.00a.m – 2.00p.m with Sally. This day will cover some of the topics in the teenage leadership awards programme – so groundwork and some horse handling, but no lesson. Areas covered are role models, responsibility, communication and teamwork – the leadership awards sessions are proving really popular so this day is suitable for anyone 12 years and over regardless of any riding experience and are a great way for teenagers to develop some confidence and make new friends. The Leadership Day can also be booked from 6th September and costs £45 per person for the 4 hour session and is open to members and non-members (we do a intro membership for non-members for it).
LESSON ASSESSMENTS
We are going to be doing our annual assessments commencing the 25th September and running to Sunday 1st October. We will be assessing all junior group lessons but not doing adult lessons this year (we don’t tend to do adults as regularly as they tend to ride in lessons with pals/times that suit rather than standard) – however we are happy to assess any adults who wish to be assessed – if they let Ali know we can organise it.
Please remember (and remind your young rider) that the assessments aren’t tests – they are our way of ensuring that everyone is following the correct syllabus and in the right level of group. During assessments you may find you have a different coach for one week as Sally does the majority of the assessing with Martin supporting, so Laura and Liam do the actual coaching. Your lesson will be the same as a normal lesson, but someone will be sitting at the side taking notes and you can then collect your assessment form (which details your ribbon colour standard) the following week from reception. If you are going to miss your assessment then you can check with your coach after assessments that you are still in the correct group, or you can request an assessment is done at a later date, which we do in a private lesson slot.
RIP FREDDIE
As many of you will have seen from our closed Facebook group, we said a really sad goodbye to Freddie last month when sadly he had an irrecoverable rotation of his pedal bone – despite all of our, the vets and the farriers’ best efforts there was no way to save Freddie and it was the kindest thing to put him to sleep. He will be hugely missed, both by our mainstream and therapy riders – he was such a kind, sweet pony who gave so many people the opportunity to ride. RIP Freddie and thank you for all that you did.
FLYNN
Flynn has settled in really well – he has done a few group and private lessons and is about to start his training for therapy riding sessions. He will learn to stand at the hydraulic mounting platform and work with sidewalkers as part of the training. He is already a firm favourite and has settled in well with his field mates so make sure you stop and give him a pat when you next see him!
A SPECIAL VISITOR
We were very honoured to welcome Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal to ARC on Tuesday 29th August when she attended a British Horse Society career transition Stage 4 training day. It was lovely to show Her Royal Highness around the facility and tell her all about what happens at ARC. It was a great day with our staff team and invited visitors all being introduced to Her Royal Highness and Squirrel and Hagrid both said hello and received a pat! Seth took pride of place as part of the welcome line up in the car park for arrival! We will be releasing pics as soon as they are approved so will share some lovely images with members when we can.
Thanks
THE STORY OF TEDDY
Teddy is one of the school mares – a 14h.h. dark brown 11 year old mare who has been at Anguston for around 6 years. She moved to Anguston initially as a first pony livery and did her job well, being quiet and calm to ride with nice comfortable paces. Teddy is a very clever mare however and she started to show some behavioural issues in her private home – she would nip occasionally when the girth was being done up and would try to be the boss of her owners – misbehaving in the field when being caught in and refusing to leave the field e.t.c.
When her rider was giving up, we agreed to buy Teddy to ensure her behaviours could be managed and that she stayed at ARC – so we have owned her for around 3 years now. Teddy loves living out and isn’t’ a fan of being stabled overnight – this suits her management however as prior to us getting her, Teddy had suffered from a couple of colics, so living out is the best management for her. We need to keep a constant eye on her weight – with native breeding, Teddy is a “good doer” who has a tendency to gain too much weight just by looking at grass or hay!
As our members will know, our Senior staff manage Teddy – we catch her in, tack her up and bring her round to the arena for members who are riding her – this is so that we can keep her management constant and ensure that she is handled in the correct way as any slight change in handling can result in her behaviour deteriorating again. She will nip people if she is given the opportunity, or is feeling a bit less confident, so she needs experienced handlers who know how to keep both themselves and Teddy safe and happy. She is very happy with this arrangement and tends to come down to the gate for “her people” when we go to get her J
Teddy is nicely schooled to ride -she can be a bit behind the leg at times, but this works well for the level of rider that she normally carries. She enjoys working in both group and private lessons and particularly enjoys poles/jumping. She wears an anti-slip pad as she is a little round in her conformation, but this is a good test for riders as if your balance is central the saddle won’t slip – it most commonly slips to the outside, so remember to keep your weight over your inside seatbone! We always request that no one feeds Teddy titbits – this is because we use treats as her positive reward when working with her to keep her behaviour good – so please don’t offer her titbits in the stable or when you are getting on.