You never quite know what’s going to come up next when our members get together, but it’s been fun and we’ve certainly left the winter blues behind us!
As always, our training sessions with Becky and Jane have been well supported in a variety of indoor and outdoor venues across North Cornwall and thanks to everyone who’s kindly hosted us. Lots of flatwork and jumping to get us competition ready for the coming season (or just to get going again with our horses).
We had a super quiz night at The Old Inn St Breward with Quiz Master Ian testing our general knowledge – a great opportunity for partners and friends to get involved too. There were plenty of horsey-related prizes up for grabs and we all enjoyed their delicious range of pizzas.
We then had more pizza at our annual AGM which took place at St Mabyn Inn and was, as ever, well attended by our members. There were no changes proposed to our committee and those generous volunteers were all voted back in. Our chair Janet took us through the formal proceedings before announcing our award winners for the last year – massive congratulations to:
Celena Wolfe – Most Improved Award (presented with a brand new plaque generously donated by one of our members)
Lowenna Coad - Best Helper Award
Liz Freeman - Endeavour Award
Sara Penter was drawn as this year’s winner of the Sam Fry £50 training voucher, presented each year in memory of former member Sam Fry who was such a wonderful equestrian.
It’s Liz’s perseverance that has seen our members heading out to Team Quest dressage events on a regular basis, putting their training into practice. We fielded a successful team at the Showjumping Qualifiers at Duchy and a strong team at the Arena Eventing Qualifiers at Bicton – enjoyable experiences for all concerned and we’re now looking forward to the summer dressage qualifiers at St Leonards.
The idea of a two-day Spring Camp at Pontispool in Somerset popped up and the level of interest was such that committee member Carina took on the challenge of making it happen, and what a success it proved to be. Members got together to share travel for themselves and their horses, the weather was super sunny and under the guidance of Becky and Jane we made full use of the superb school and cross country facilities. The horses settled well into their stables and enjoyed hand grazing nearby, the humans’ accommodation was equally ideal with either shared or individual lodges, and we were superbly catered for by the Pontispool team. There were lots of ‘empties’ and beaming smiles at the end so clearly a fun camp was had by all!
Many members are still doing pilates with Jane Stevens, and Jane kindly ran an online pilates class for us during the second evening of our Pontispool camp – members taking to their mats in the canteen to stretch out after such super riding that day!
