Thank you, thank you to everyone who supported our Open Day on the 18th July! What a lovely day we had. The weather was kind to us after the horrors of the day before and all my flags and decorations (put up in the pouring rain the night before) managed to stay intact! We saw lots of new faces and were pleased to book lessons for both brand new riders and those wanting to come back to riding after several years out of the saddle. Hilary Wakefield from National Pony Club gave a presentation and eighteen children immediately joined Pony Club. We will be having our first Pony Club session on Friday 7th August (between 2.00pm and 3.30pm at a cost of £12.00 per session) and the children will be working for their Handling and Grooming badge under the supervision of Deana Tarr, one of our BHSAI instructors.
Chris Milby popped in on the Open Day to give a demonstration on his work and several people who had never seen a farrier at work before were very impressed. Lauren Wood gave a demonstration on plaiting a horse ready for a show and then gave a “taster” session in jumping on Sally in the indoor school. During the day there were also examples of riding lessons with our livery clients acting as students. Perhaps the most sought after job of the day was that of running the ice cream van. Never have I seen so many volunteers for a job or realised that quite as much “testing of the stock” had to go on before it could be sold!! Our livery clients were wonderful and we thank them all for their kind help and support. Thanks also to Helen Barlow of the Old Mill for the dreamy strawberry tarts and scones. These went down a treat particularly with a glass of fizz.
We’ve decided that we like all the flags and decorations so much that we have decided to keep them up for the time being!
The real stars of the Open Day turned out to be the Shetland ponies and Speedy the donkey. We now offer Shetland Pony Birthday Parties at a cost of £20.00 per child (including food) or £15.00 (excluding food). The theme throughout will be pony orientated from the tablecloth to the cake!! Our young guests will enjoy grooming the ponies, a ride on the beach or in the school and games with the ponies before settling down to tea in the Common Room.
We also offer “Adopt a Shettie” half days at a cost of £40.00 per child for four hours. We hosted our first half day earlier this week and it was difficult to see who enjoyed themselves more, the staff or the children! Certainly everyone was worn out. Thanks so much to June Wood (Lauren’s mum) who stepped into help out when I was ill. I am told that her rendition of ABBA songs was amazing and that the Shetland Pony version of “pass the parcel” was much better for it!
Speedy is enjoying masses of attention since the Open Day and since the subsquent report on him in the Evening Mail. He has decided that he WILL sign autographs and if in a good mood, he might be persuaded to pose for a photograph. I didn’t think his head could get any bigger, but it has.
During July we also hosted a five week course for Barrow Sixth Form students during which the students came to us for a 30 minute private riding lesson each and then some practical stable management skills. We met eight different students over the five weeks and all were an absolute pleasure and very receptive. If you know of any group or school who would like to offer their pupils something a bit different, then please let us know and we will be our best to help.
The beach rides/hacks out are increasing daily and this week we met four ladies who had travelled from Preston for a ride out as a birthday treat. They hadn’t ridden at all before but Frank Bruno, Winston Churchill, Charlie Watts and Poppy (oh and of course Deana, Lauren, Pat and John!) looked after them and they came back glowing. We were amazed to receive a booking only last night from a family in Manchester who also want a ride out and who will come to us for the day for that. I guess we forget how incredibly lucky we are having such a private beach and literally on our doorstep.
Just a reminder that we will be running the BHS Horse Owner’s Courses from Monday 7th September 2009. Level 2 will run from 5.30pm to 7.00pm at a cost of £150 for the six week course (this includes your folder, notes, exam and certificate fees) and Level 1 will run on the same evening from 7.00pm to 8.30pm. Everyone who has taken the courses has done extremely well (99% – Sandra – well done you!!) and really enjoyed it. Whether you own a horse, are thinking of buying one or just want to know a bit more about the practical side, then this is very informative and also great fun.
We will start the Dressage Course again on Tuesday 8th September 2009 at 7.00pm until 8.00pm. Numbers are limited to four so do please give me a call if you would like to reserve your place. The cost of the six week course is £75.00 (six lessons for the price of five) and this includes the test at the end. If you don’t have your own horse then we would be happy for you to hire one of ours for a nominal fee and subject to assessment of you on the horse beforehand.
Looking further ahead (we are always doing that at Moat!!), Luci Camaish, one of our helpers, is organising an Intelligent Horsemanship three day course and also some evening classes from the 13th September 2009 at Moat. Do please get in touch with either Luci or myself if you are interested. Luci has some “Early Bird” special offers so it is well worth a chat with her as soon as possible.
Please don’t forget that if the weather deteriorates and we don’t get the Summer that we were promised, then our indoor school is available to hire. We received over nine phone calls by 7.30am on the day of the North Lonsdale Show from people who had already loaded their horse up and then found the show cancelled due to the appalling weather. We managed to accommodate as many people as we could so at least they had a bit of a day out. The diary, I am pleased to say, is now so busy (a record 76 lessons last week!) that Deana has agreed to offer riding lessons for a few hours on a Thursday as well as her regular Mondays and Fridays to take the strain off Lauren a bit. Both girls have been working flat out, always smiling, always calm and for that we are very grateful.
Come and see us soon.
Caroline and John
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