Durham & District Riding Club
Newsletter – July 2009
Hello everyone
The newsletter is bound to look a bit plain this month, but my computer is STILL playing up and if I try to put anything fancy in it just crashes and I become very unladylike!
It’s the height of the summer and we’ve got rashes, hay fever, allergies, fly bites for the horses plus swine flu for we humans. Isn’t it ironic that we were over-prepared for bird flu and then it was the pigs that got us in the end – haven’t they read Animal Farm????
The club has helped out at two Area events recently – the horse trials at Northallerton and, on Sunday gone, the show jumping and style jumping at Holmside. The committee would like to thank all of you who gave up your horse riding/housework/family time to go along and help make the events successful – and we hope you all got a money-off voucher in return.
VARIOUS REQUESTS/ADVERTS
As membership Secretary, I get quite a few advertisements and requests by e-mail. Some, from other riding clubs make absolutely no sense to me at all because they seem to just expect you to know where they are from and why they’re sending the information! Anyway, don’t want you to miss any vital information so here’s a selection for you:-
- New family run business – 3.5T Self Drive Horsebox Hire, Newcastle upon Tyne
or contact 07966365071 (Val) or 07759853503 (Kathryn). - 10% discount for BRC members of any orders placed on or before 31st July for the m-Power AssetTrack or EquiTrak products (tracking for horse boxes etc)
or contact Frankie on 01844 281818 - First Aid Training based in North of England. All courses are tailored to be horse-specific. (First Aid is on people at events, workplaces etc - not horses). or Carolie Hayes on 015395 52031
- Hilary McKenna (Area 2 organiser) has made a personal plea for books for her daughter who is going off to University. She has a list of 29 veterinary/anatomy/horse books that she would like – I have the full list if anyone wants more details.
- Wendy Suddes has made a request for helpers with Hunwick Horse Trials (near Crook) on 30th August. Her e-mail is if you can help her.
- Hilary McKenna sent me a map of GosforthPark – dressage competition venue. If anyone wants it please let me know.
- I also had an e-mail about Northern Trailer Training but unfortunately PC crashed when I tried to open it (!) but I’m sure if you googled it you’d get more information.
- Also there’s a new website called that you might like to look at.
The last piece of information I have is from Thomas and Carolyn Hargreaves who have been taking the lovely photos at our dressage competitions. I’d heard quite a few people saying they didn’t dare ask how much the photos were or didn’t know how to pay for them. I have the following information – and I think it’s on our website:
Prices range from £10 per print (7 x 5”) to £15 (15” x 10”) and a JPEG image for your computer is £8 per image and you can print 3 copies from it (you’ll get more details after contacting Carolyn). Once you’ve chosen the photo you want – make a note of the image number (eg IMG_5578b) and contact by e-mail or 077294 598 98 and they will let you know how to pay by cash or cheques. You can see the images on the Thomas Hargreaves website or Thomas Hargreaves on Flickr – I can recommend their photos as I got a couple of really nice ones.
RALLIES + OTHER EVENTS
We’ve had some good rallies over the last month or so + more excellent sessions with Elaine Herbert. Elaine is off back to work in Portugal soon so we’re hoping to catch her before she goes – so watch out on the website for private lessons in mid-August.
We surprised Elaine by asking her to do an off-the-cuff ridden demo for us which was followed by a BBQ at Cocken. Elaine did really well considering she’d never done one before and had an unhealthy amount of black coffee and ciggies to psyche herself up (we must be a scary lot). We had a super BBQ until there were 3 large drops of rain then a torrential downpour of biblical proportions. Shaun Carman is now legendary for her love of BBQ’d sausages and, at one point, could be seen running through the deluge to rescue a last sausage which was being steam-cooked on the BBQ by then! I really hope no-one went off bad tummies after my appalling cooking – all I can say is that at least we were serving best Organic meat so if your tummy was aching it would be a healthy ache!!!!
On that subject – we’d like to make a plea that members keep us informed about your attendance at events. Some people don’t book but turn up (risk is you don’t get fed), some say they will turn up and don’t (risk is that the club goes into the red at the bank), others book, turn up and have a good time! Please remember that the committee and other organisers run the club as a hobby – not a business – so we really don’t want to waste time/money putting on events that no-one turns up for (lesson for today now over...... )
We also had a really good visit by the World Horse Welfare – they gave a good talk and then weighed and condition scored horses that members had brought along. I have 3 DVDs that I can send to members if anyone is worried about their horse’s weight/condition.
WHAT’S ON
Please remember – you can suggest ANY event/rally and we’ll do our best to organise it. Or you can volunteer to organise it yourself and we’ll put it on the website and advise as to cost etc. We’ve still got a few suggestions that we’re currently working on for future months.
JULY 2009
Monday 20 July - Evening Flatwork Rally at Runnymede, Redworth, with Pam Broom - for adults and juniors - 6:00 and 7:00. To book your place, contact Sandy (07769 513 551) Cost: Adults - members £10, non-members £15; juniors - members £7, non-members £11.
Sunday 26th July - PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF DATE!! Summer Dressage League Competition,Baxter Wood Farm, Crossgate Moor, Durham (Club members only). Judged by Sonja Hessel.Classes for juniors, seniors and veteran horses will include:
walk & trot test - DDRC W&T2 - download from website
prelim test - British Dressage Prelim 12 (2005)
novice test - British Dressage Novice 36 (2002)
Entry fee: £10 per class. Hot & cold refreshments & light lunches provided by Caffe Connexions.
For more information, if you would like to take part or to help as a steward, please contact Vikkie (07957 123 844)
DATE CHANGED BECAUSE OF NEED TO PROVIDE STEWARDS AT AREA COMPETITION ON 12 JULY
Sunday 26th July - Area Show Jumping and Dressage Training - Blue Sky Equestrian Centre, Potland Farm, Longhirst, Morpeth, NE61 6PY.
Monday 27th July - Show Jumping Evening Rally at Runnymede, Redworth,with Michelle Dowson, for adults and juniors. 6:00 and 7:00. To book your place, contact Sandy (07769 513 551), and download a booking form here. Cost: Adults - members £10, non-members £15; juniors - members £7, non-members £11.
Wednesday 29th - Evening Rally at Edenwell Equestrian Centre,with Gail McAuley, for juniors and adults. 7:00 and 8:00. To book your place, contact Sandy (07769 513 551)
AUGUST 2009
Tuesday 4th - Natural Horsemanship Demonstration by Lorraine Wilson - Leasingthorne Farm, Leasingthorne, DL14 8ET - 7pm till approximately 9pm. Lorraine will demonstrate her amazing relationship with her horses, and let us into some of the secrets of her training techniques. Cost (including refreshments): Members - adults £4, juniors £2; non-members - adults £5, juniors £2.50. To book, contact Patricia (07946 869 824). (Rescheduled from 9 July).
Wednesday 5th – Rally at Fieldhouse EC, Howden le Wear. Juniors 6.30pm, Adults 7.30pm. To book your place, contact Sandy (07769 513 551) Cost: Adults - members £10, non-members £15; juniors - members £7, non-members £11. Tanya Crosby is the instructor for this one.
Tuesday 11th - Committee Meeting and Bar Meal, Stonebridge Inn, Nevilles Cross, DH1 4PJ, from 7:30pm. Come along and meet the committee, and give us your ideas for future events. Everyone is welcome!
Monday 10th - Evening Flatwork Rally, Runnymede, Redworth,with LorraineWilson, from 6:30. Cost: Members - adults £10, juniors £7; non-members - adults £15, juniors £11. To book your place, contact Sandy (07769 513 551).
Sunday 9th - Summer Dressage League Competition, Baxter Wood Farm, Crossgate Moor, Durham (for Club members only). Judged under British Dressage rules by Sonja Hessel. Don't worry if you don't have formal competition dress - just come along and give it a try!
Classes for juniors, seniors and veteran horses will include:
walk & trot test - W&T3 - PLEASE NOTE CHANGE TO TEST INITIALLY ADVERTISED
prelim test - British Dressage Prelim 4 (2002)
novice test - British Dressage Novice 26 (2006)
Entry fee: £10 per class.Hot & cold refreshments and light lunches provided by Caffe Connexions.For more information, if you would like to take part or to help as a steward, please contact Vikkie (07957 123 844)
Monday 24th - Evening Show Jumping Rally at Runnymede, Redworth, DL5 6NP, with Michelle Dowson. For juniors and adults, 6-7pm. Cost: Adults - members £10, non-members £15; juniors - members £7, non-members £11. To book your place, contact Sandy on 07769 513 551
Saturday 29th - Show Jumping Competition (Members Only) at Runnymede, Redworth, DL5 6NP
Classes for juniors and adults: 30cm, 45cm, 60cm, 75cm and 90cm, and clear-round competition. Rosettes to 6th place and for clear-round competition. (Don’t worry about being last because they’ve told me I have to enter – Pam)
SEPTEMBER 2009
Saturday 5th - Coach Trip to Burghley International Horse Trials on Cross Country Day
Leaving Durham at 7:00am. Cost: Adults £40; accompanied children aged 12 and under £28. Please contact Patriciaby 16 August if you are interested(07946 869 824), as we have to buy tickets in advance to get a group discount. Non-members are also welcome.
Sunday 13th - Summer Dressage League Competition, Baxter Wood Farm, Crossgate Moor, Durham - final competition in our summer league (for Club members only).
Classes for juniors, seniors and veteran horses will include:
walk & trot test - DDRC W&T 2 - download from website
prelim test - British Dressage Prelim 12 (2005)
novice test - British Dressage Novice 36 (2002)
Entry fee: £10 per class.For more information, if you would like to take part or to help as a steward, please contact Vikkie (07957 123 844)