H&C

15
Sep
2009

1 Comments

Introducing Contessa Riding Centre

Pony Clubbers Zak and Tommy enjoy a day at Contessa

"Welcome to my first blog. In this first blog, I'd like to introduce you to my yard and what we do.

Contessa Riding School began when I left school with five horses that needed to earn their keep. In 1977, I rented stables and a field, and took out individual, accompanied hacks. Eventually, we moved and expanded new premises and, with the much appreciated involvement of my parents, we slowly grew into the busy riding school and training centre that we are today. Along the way, I have achieved my BHSI, UKCC level three Tutor in Sport, NVQ A1 assessor, UKCC level two in Vaulting and many other qualifications.

Today we have 36 horses ranging from cheeky 11hh ponies to Advanced dressage schoolmasters. One of our most important residents is Tessa, a blue roan Welsh Sec A that arrived as a yearling in 1972, straight out of the Welsh mountains having never been touched by humans. In the 37 years she has spent with us, she has been a much-loved member of the team and has taught hundreds of children to ride, including some of our now adult riders and staff and more recently my son, Zak. Another precious member of the gang is Pik Dame, my international Grand Prix mare who I bought from Germany as a three-year-old and who at the age of 26 still likes to come out, show off and give the students a feel for the advanced movements.

We offer private and group tuition in dressage and jumping (although we specialise more in dressage), as well as side-saddle taster lessons, vaulting, student training towards NVQ/BHS and UKCC exams, day courses, unaffiliated events and lots more. We are a Pony Club Centre and an ABRS exam centre. We are BHS approved to teach and train to A5 (BHSI). Our yard has a great, relaxed atmosphere and we have a very happy team of horses, ponies, myself, my family, my staff and students.

We have had a very busy summer full of pony days, pony camps, day courses and competitions. We welcomed four new students - Sam, Elly, Elizabeth and Madeleine, who have come to train towards exams. They'll train alongside me, my head girl Sarah Ganney, yard manager Amy Wright, and senior instructor Dawn Elliott-Moulden, joining our existing team of office manager Jade, my personal groom Sarah J and junior instructor Crystal.

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Kirstie, Liz and Kate who have completed their training and gone on to pastures new. Another sad farewell was to one of our much-loved loan ponies, Seren, who has gone home to recover from a tendon injury. Seren was worth her weight in gold to us; a true schoolmistress, she worked on the bit and in a double bridle, and being just 14.2hh offered our younger riders a chance to learn about softness and more advanced work. But Seren comes into her own when teaching riders how to jump; she gave lots of riders renewed confidence and would happily pop fences for the most nervous or novice rider. She'll be really missed by staff, clients and the other ponies. Finding horses and ponies suitable to work in a busy riding school with clients of mixed abilities, heights and weights is a real challenge, so it's a real blow when one as good as Seren has to be turned away.

Next week we have a UKCC Teaching/Coaching Skills day course, a John Adams show jumping clinic, ‘Have a feel for piaffe’ day course and an open unaffiliated dressage competition, which I'll tell you all about in my next blog. We run lots of events to offer clients a varied calendar of activities and everyone is welcome to book into them with their own horse or by hiring one of ours."