Welcome to September’s newsletter. I would like to thank on behalf of all the members and committee, Judith Fisher, without all her hard work and commitment Ackworth would not have the quality newsletter we have today, a very hard act to follow and I wonder why on earth I volunteered to edit the future newsletters but I am sure, with Judith’s continued offer of support, I will get there.
Lynn Proctor
Farnley Tyas pleasure ride
By Karen Govier – Brackpool
Saturday morning and should been having a lie in but up at 5am as unable to sleep, so excited to be going to Farnley Tyas pleasure ride as it was our first time and I didn't know what to expect. Saffy & Buster had other ideas they both refused to come out of the stables at such an ungodly hour, Saffy turned her back on me swishing her tail in annoyance. Guess that was me told, not today mum. Buster just closed his eyes and went back to sleep. What a pair. I decided to carry on and mucked out around them then got the brushes out and the plaiting bands before breakfast and on the road for 9am. I met up with Emma Love and shortly afterwards had a hair raising moment being nearly pushed off the road by a massive lorry (where are all the police men & women when you want one? I shouted loudly) Tiah reminded me ' you are married to one mum' oh yes so I am .After a few deep breaths and a quick check everyone was still ok, we were back on the road.
The weather although dry was a little windy when we arrived but once we got into the woods I didn't notice it at all. We came across a number of jumps and had chance to play around.It was nice and quiet, no one else seemed to be out at the same time as us so there was no one passing us or jumping at the same time it was great fun and the ponies stayed nice and calm.
We came across Megan and had our photographs taken then headed off to the gallops on the second half of the course. There were no jumps on this side which would have been nice, but the views were to die for, then we dropped into a small wooded area with spooky bridges and tree roots sticking out everywhere.It reminded me of the wood on the Harry Potter film where the spiders live shudder shudder. We thenhit the open fields for a good old canter and a gallop on the way back home, not once did we get lost we managed to follow all the arrows in the right direction which was a first for me as I always seem to go the wrong way. Itwas amazing how well all the ponies managed the 7 miles without any injuries especially as they are 22 years young, 20 years young & 17 years young.They showed no signs of slowing down and all 3 thoroughly enjoyed themselves.We came back very hot and sweaty and hungry. Thank god the burger van had arrived, double cheese burgers please. I will definitely do this again it’s well worth the price.Just one little request, can they put some sand on that horrible stony track aside the pub or I will have to get Saffy some slippers for her next visit.
High Flyers at High Hoyland!
By Judith Fisher
Just home from a long but thrilling day at the Rockwood Hunter Trials at High Hoyland where there was an invasion of ADRC members all out intending to win some ribbons. And they didn’t disappoint either! Among the members were myself, Dave Raspin, Colin Goulding, Ange & Toni Ford, Sarah Ward, Francis Hodson, Anne Matthews, EllieTulley, Nicola Butler,Linda Binns, Jane Easter, Kylie Dalby, Katie Stubbs and Amy Firth! Sorry if I’ve missed anyone off but as we are such a big club these days I don’t always recognise everyone!
The course rode well and one of our first riders in theribbons wasEllie Tulley with her Ublesco Gold, who came2nd inthe under 14yrsminimus. This washer firsttime out atXCfor her lovely horseso a massive well doneEllie! Later in the morning I saw Ellie and Nicola Butler just coming out of the timed sectionin the minimus pairs,they looked to be going really well and were just out of theplacing’s.
Ange and Toni Ford were also in the minimus pairs with a youngster and finished with just one stop. Frances Hodson and Ann Matthewswent clear to finish 5thand Frances also had a clear round earlier in the day. Poor Jane Easter thought she had finished 6thin the minimusbut was then demoted to 7thassomeone was 3 secs faster and they hadn't noticed! Never mind Jane, there’s always another day!
Linda Binns flew round theminimus,“I had a fantastic time at 2.22 but unfortunately had a stop - little monkey saw a gap and went for it.Going too fast to get the steering right!” No doubt we’ll be seeing Linda flying round Campsall on Sunday!
In the afternoon it was time for the novice classes and I was determined to get my act together with Milly after a loss of confidence on my part, brought on by some heavy hedge falls last season, hunting with the Readyfield. The spurs were on, and I felt mentally ready after a schooling session round Howden earlier in the week with Dave Raspin. Millywas definitely mentally ready andjumped out of her skin over almost everything,but rider errors meant we were out of the placings. It felt great to be back in action though and I hope it’s onwards and upwards from now on! Colin Goulding was placed 6thon the ever reliable Benand is another one heading for Campsallfor the open class.Sarah Ward had the best results of the day with two 2ndplacingsin the novice rider and novice horse classes. Well done Sarah!
Kylie Dalby, riding the beautiful blue and whiteDoris had a cracking round in the novice horse and another one in the pairs with Katie Stubbs to be placed 5th. Dave Raspin and Faith Atack really did attack the pairs and both rode impressiveclearroundsto finish 6th. The hedge at the end of the timed section was causing some problems throughout the day and kept the paramedics busy, and for one heart stopping moment it looked like Dave was about to become their next customer! Ty had made a massive leap over the hedge and nearly bounced Dave out of the saddle! However he quickly recovered his seatand was ‘buzzing’ after a successful day.
See you all at Campsall on Sun 8thSeptember
Hats off to Sheila Rogerson who once again pulled another cracking summer camp out of the hat. The venue, the trainers, good company and the weather made for an excellent week.
The venue, although still under development in some areas (can’t wait to see it next year), certainly came up to standard. Decent stables, unlimited hay and straw, some turnout and arenas to be jealous of.
Monday was an easy day, with riding chiefly consisting of people meandering around the farm ride and making mental notes on which of the jumps they would aim to avoid during the XC training sessions. The evening ended, as they all did, with people sitting outdoors enjoying a glass or two of refreshing lemonade before checking on horses and retiring to bed early (not).
Tuesday morning found people milling around early and wondering what the instructors would be like; was it going to be pleasure or pain? It turned out we had nothing to worry about, both instructors were excellent; understanding when necessary, but pushy where called for. They were also flexible on times and group sizes, which gave people options to train as a group or one-to one with the instructor.
Although I didn’t get to see all of the groups training, the comments on an evening were all positive, with people having felt they had achieved something. The week was also injury-free with only one unintentional dismount during the final cross country session; as the rider landed on his feetand not all the way down he says it doesn't count!
The lemonade consumption started early on the Thursday as quite a few riders opted for an easy afternoon of relaxation and sunbathing, rather than a further training session. The horses didn’t argue with this and spent the afternoon with their hooves up. Obviously as a result of UV ray overdose, that evening witnessed quite a few of the happy campers reverting back to childhood and having a lot of fun in the process.
The following few comments from Facebook sum the week up really:
I absolutely loved it! Me and Liane Patrickson are waiting for Sheila Rogerson to organise the next one now!!!! Xx
"epic"
Yeah ace camp. Loved it. Thanks Sheila Rogerson. Had an ace time and learnt loads. Well done to everyone for achieving some great things. Job well done.
A massive thank you to Sheila Rogerson for organizing a fantastic camp not an easy task but much appreciated. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the great venue and inspiring instructors.
We were like a bunch of kids that night lol I've not laughed so much in years. It was great we were all up for a laugh. Must have been the full moon that night
Its good to be daft :) same here haven’t had as much fun & laughed so much in years, thanks ladies :)xx
Bishop Burton camp
By Heather Chadwick
Having already committed to 2 camps at SomerfordPark this year I wasn’t going to do the Area 4 camp which this year had moved to Bishop Burton in August. The lure of the camp was the use of the BE course – including possibly some of the intermediate track … so book on we did.
Having picked up my usual passenger and pony we set off ….. a little bit apprehensive as following a fantastic start to my BE season things seemed to fall apart in June … eventually resulting in an embarrassing decking at the National horse trial champs at the beginning of August. It was one of those weeks when everything went wrong, but hey ho that’s life (apparently)
Upon arrival at Bishop after getting parked up the horses were put into their stables. There was lots of activity going on as people who had arrived early were making use of the fabulous farm ride .. something that we were to do a bit later on ….. over 70 people had booked onto the camp which meant a very busy couple of days … quite a few clubs were represented but with a large contingent from Ackworth we were in for a good weekend. A fantastic hog roast salad, other bits and bats and mega puddings were provided by the college for evening meal set out on a lawned area next to the wagons on the first evening. Absolutely fabulous, wine was flowing and our very own Ian Pycock ably assisted, as he went round topping up glasses .. what Lorraine didn’t know is that every time he opened a new bottle of plonk he tried to hit her with the corks …..
Maggie had the mammoth task of sorting all these individuals into groups and what a fantastic job she did, they were then split between the 6 instructors Ian Bennett, Russ Underwood,Sue Ringrose, Tori Peter, Andrew Day and Gary Parsonage – can’t remember anyone telling me there was flatwork on offer … otherwise I wouldn’t have put jumping on my booking sheet (!!!!!!!!!!)
I ended up in a group with Richard Thompson, Ian Pycock and two other girls with a mixture of abilities from BE 90 to Ian and myself having a go at Novice this season. First session was out on the xc course with Gary Parsonage, Fly started this session as she had finished the previous one at break neck speed, think the only words I got off Gary all morning was slow down .. no I stand corrected .. Slower was used also!! Quite a few of the xc fences were not in use so we were quite limited to the fences we could jump .. which was just as well for me as it made me focus on the important things like speed and control ….. a show jumping session followed in the afternoon working on control rhythm, balance and all that stuff – quite a good session, Saturday’s evening meal was held in one of the college eating houses, again a fabulous choice of food the only problem was the torrential rain that appeared as we walked from the wagon area – thankfully brollies were provide by Messer’s Ramskill & Pycock …. (won’t mention much about the pre evening meal discussion as the thought of Sharon pushing Lorraine up onto the luton of the wagon on the Friday evening would put anyone off their supper, and Lorraine’s fly swotting skills when a fly landed on Mark Ramskill’s very poorly foot !!)
Sunday arrived and I was rudely woken really early by the noise of dogs barking … 5.00 am was not the time I set my alarm ….. played on ipad for a bit catching up on FB and the outside world .. Eventually it was time to go see to the ponies so here was the start to the day.
Our XC in the morning with Gary had been moved back to nearer lunch time, when out on the course we moved onto a different section from the previous day allowing the group to jump the Novice combination with the log drop to log – me and Fly even got a perfect from Gary …. But the key words changed for me from “slow” to “engage brain”, well that was assuming that I have one? The afternoon show jumping session followed and the fences did go a bit bigger – both Ian and I had entered Richmond BE Nov so wanted to pop a couple of fences nearer the height.
Sunday afternoon saw a lot of activity as some people prepared for the journey home, loading their vehicles back up whilst lessons went on until 5 pm. It was a steady away afternoon for me after as I was staying on another night as Rob was attending the junior camp … travelling to Bishop with Lynn Proctor & Alex.
The senior camp ended about 5pm … well for some it did, there were two members strolling between the stables and their tent that still needed taking down .. in no rush what so ever … even think they were trying to gate crash the junior camp … Kathryn Parker and Alison Knox …. The ladies had enjoyed themselves so much they didn’t want to go home … that was testimony to a fantastic weekend. Good company, good lessons, good facilities ….. roll on the next one
AND THEN THERE WAS THE JUNIORS
The junior camp for some reason was not as publicised as the senior camp so initially after very poor take up (3) it was cancelled. Thanks to input from myself and lots of phone calls by Lynn Proctor we rallied the required numbers for it to run, luckily 9 juniors from Ackworth came forward along with 3 juniors from other clubs arrived at Bishop late Sunday afternoon. The plan for the juniors was a steady ride around the farm ride before the evening meal and 2 lessons on the Monday, show jumping in the morning with a session out on the xc course in the afternoon.
Luckily for the juniors Maggie had secured Ian Bennett as their instructor, he knew all of our juniors which meant they wouldn’t be spending time with a new instructor getting to know them …. With such fantastic facilities Ian went straight into putting the groups through their paces. 12 juniors were split into 3 groups in ability levels, this worked very well. The afternoon xc session saw the youngster out on the course … in Robs group were Alex, Mary, Lill & Eliza, who were all stonking round the course towards the end of their session – some of the group even jumped through the same novice combination that we had done the previous day.
General feeling was that the one night stop over was not long enough, and hopefully next year the junior camp could run over the same duration as the senior camp. Although not sure if the parents who attended as chaperones could cope with an additional night, A fabulous day and a bit ……
By Heather Chadwick
The Annual BBQ
BY Jane Easter
The Annual ADRC BBQ or I should say...."The Garden Party" (as we are getting posh being a big club...) this year took place at a lovely venue....Sue & Ian Pycock’s rather large lovely back garden. Our sub committee had a few meetings beforehand, again at the same venue to drink wine and eat nibbles to sort out what was needed for the big event, well you can't make big decisions any other way can you??
Alex took on the task again of organising the event this year and she did a great job booking singers, DJ and printing tickets, posters and as per usual used her very persuasive personality and got lots of fantastic raffle prizes too. Thank you to other members who also donated and collected some fab prizes and a massive thank you to all the business' too ( a list will be put on our FB and web site page)
I was the mad woman in the hat badgering you for your money and you were all very kind and dug deep...we raised £275 . As a club we decided this event was not about making a profit we just wanted to thank our lovely members for their support to our club which I feel we did. The small profit we did make we decided to give to the local church just next to the venue as they were very helpful with chairs and tables and it also our way of thanking the villagers too as we are a noisy bunch and there were lots of houses nearby!!
I have renamed Mark Lovatt ....The Man Who Can... Because every time an idea came up at our meetings within seconds he was on the phone and it was sorted. Whether it was a mobile bar, a marquee, a tug of war rope he got it. He comes as a team as usual his daughter Kate and wife Karen gave up lots of their time too. Mark also did a fab job as head Barman and made sure the beer and wine was flowing and at £2 you can guess it was flowing very nicely. Your gin and tonics even came with a slice of lemon....very professional....
Mark Ramskill sorted the delicious Hog Roast,generators and even prepared the entrance to ensure no one got stuckand the veggie chilli was cooked by his lovely wife Sally.
Mark and Ian showed their impressive carving skills when the pig complete with head arrived and made sure everyone had plenty to eat for a mere £3