More than a dozen of us descended on St Leonards Equestrian Centre, near Launceston in July 2025 for our annual summer camp. We also timed it with a mini heat wave and goodness was it a scorcher!
For the second consecutive year our annual summer camp was kindly hosted by Andy and Kathryn at St Leonards Equestrian Centre. Unlike last year when we all arrived in pouring rain, this time the sun shone throughout – it was scorching!
Most of our members arrived on the Friday evening and, once all the horses were settled into their stables, we pitched camp and enjoyed a group meal al fresco. Some members brought their own food whilst others took advantage of the rather yummy local pizza delivery service!
After breakfast the following morning (and mucking out before it got too hot), the remaining campers joined us for the weekend, and some more local members just for the day. As the first two groups prepared for their training sessions, Emily Blount arrived as our photographer for the weekend.
Throughout the day, groups of riders went on to enjoy fabulously informative show jumping and flatwork sessions with Becky Kennen out in the jump field and Jane Lavington in the sand school. We are so fortunate having such experienced, complementary instructors to train and advise us.
Saturday was so hot and sunny, topping 30 degrees at one point, that at every possible opportunity, riders and horses would be found tucked away under any available shady spots in both locations! Everyone took advantage of the swimming pool too, more than once both before and after lunch. One individual was so desperate to cool off that he leapt in forgetting his mobile phone was in the pocket of his swimming trunks… oops!
Once the horses had a stretch and a hand graze, we all gathered for our traditional Saturday evening BBQ. As well as providing the tea, coffee, milk, squash, cakes and biscuits, the club bought a selection of sausages, burgers and lamb kebabs from Button Meats and everyone then shared the salad, bread and other items they had brought along – it was a feast and a little boozy too. We were delighted to be joined by Andy and his three doggies.
Having slept well that night (nothing to do with the alcohol consumption of course) we repeated the group riding sessions but incorporated the cross country jumps this time – an exciting prospect for some of the horses, especially with pony clubbers whizzing around the course that morning. It was still hot and sunny but there was a breeze this time which helped enormously, although we could all still be found back in the pool at regular intervals.
It was an absolutely wonderful camp with such fantastic facilities, company and weather. Although everyone was very sad to leave, we all did so feeling that we’d achieved so much, inspired by Becky, Jane and one another. A big thanks to all involved, to the team at St Leonards for making us and our horses so welcome and the two littlest people who helped everyone so brilliantly all weekend. Lowenna certainly demonstrated why she was awarded the helpers trophy at our last AGM!
No sooner had we recovered from camp than it was time to organise our annual fun ride at Trebuddanon in partnership with The Four Burrow Hunt. Although both days began a bit drizzly, it soon dried up and everyone enjoyed a fantastic ride across wonderful farmland with minimal roadwork, lots of cantering on good ground and optional jumps. Within the entry fee we included a yummy burger, bacon roll or veggie option and a drink – with more than 200 horses and riders over the two days we got though a lot!
We had some great complements such as: "It's an amazing ride, super well-organised and we love all the off-road riding", "Thank you for a great ride, we had loads of fun", "Lovely ride, really good going", "Thank you for another great ride this year" and "Thank you for giving up your day for us".
Rides like this take a huge amount of organising so a massive thanks to everyone who came along and supported by either riding or volunteering their time to make sure it ran successfully. Thanks also to Rundle Weldon for use of such a fantastic venue and adjoining land.
