I hope all our members are coming out of hibernation and looking forward to getting going again this spring. Of course, some have been riding all through the winter and continuing to support Club activities which is great.
There is quite a lot to catch up on with this newsletter, not least our Annual Members’ Meeting and prize-giving, which took place back in December.
Around 40 members came to Madderty Village Hall for the AMM and enjoyed a very informative and entertaining talk from Erik MacKechnie Guire about his experiences as a paralympic coach, before a delicious meal courtesy of Hazelnuts catering.
There were prizes and trophies galore with the Annual Performance Points trophy and £100 in McCash Country Store vouchers going to Lesley McNaughton Wells with her young horse, Saxon. Very well done Lesley, who also picked up 6th place with Dell.
Other winners were: 2nd, Sue Gaden and Fox; 3rd, Marjorie Grant and Lexie; 4th, Tammy Halsey and Spider and 5th, Erika Hay and Prince.
The SRC Gleneagles dressage and showjumping leagues were won by Erika and Sue respectively, while the most improved member was Joanna Lockhart and the most helpful member was Linda Morton. Lesley and Joanna are pictured above with Erik and Sue and Linda below.
We have kept going with lessons and rallies over the winter, some have been very well attended and some we have had to cancel, but that’s just the way it is over the colder months. Linda very kindly allocated special Club days to use her lovely facilities at Linfield Farm but again some of them had to be cancelled due to the arena being frozen.
Something a bit different was a display by Riders of the Storm, organised by our Chairperson, Shonagh at her Braefield Farm. This was a fantastic insight into how they train the horses (and riders) for vaulting and tricks and some of our braver members even had a go!
Going forward, we have lots planned. Check out the events page on the website or keep an eye on facebook to keep up to date with what’s happening.
Sadly we have had to cancel the Scottish Charity Air Ambulance talk this Thursday as only nine people had booked in. We do try to provide a variety of events for members to attend, with or without their horses, but we never know if we are getting it right, so please contact us if you have any ideas about what else we can do.
We are so lucky to have great venues and talented, inspirational coaches in the area and recently a working hunter lesson was organised at Netherton with Blyth Brewster, which proved popular.
There were also sessions with the mechanical horse at SNEC organised through Club member, Jackie Henderson, which everyone who attended said were great fun! No photos I’m afraid as only videos were taken and my techie skills are not good enough to put a video on a newsletter!!
Outwith Club activities, the Area 22 camp takes place from 20th to 22nd May this year at Auchlishie Eventing. Anyone who has attended camp before will testify it is great fun. Excellent instructors and facilities and a fantastic social occasion. It caters for riders and horses at all levels so please don’t be frightened to put you name forward.
The application form is on the downloads page on the website. There is usually a waiting list for this popular camp, so don’t delay in getting your form sent off if you want to go.
The Area 22 Competitions take place on Saturday 1st July at Brechin Castle Showground. We will be looking for teams to represent the Strathearn in dressage, riding tests, showjumping and style jumping. However, we, as a Club, are also co-hosting the event – responsible for running the showjumping and style jumping, while Deeside and District will be responsible for the dressage and riding tests.
SO, WE NEED YOUR HELP!! We need super-hero volunteers to help with judging, scoring, timekeeping, pole-picking and stewarding as well as a team manager, secretary and general dogs bodies to help with score running and the main gate. Anyone who can give us even a couple of hours on the day will be very much appreciated. I don’t need to remind you that theses events do not run themselves and Strathearn has not been responsible for one for a long time, so we really need to take our turn and we are relying on our members to make it all run smoothly.
Sadly the Riding Club championships scheduled for September had to be cancelled, and we do not want the summer competition to go the same way.
The best way to communicate is to email the info@strathearnrc.org.uk or post on the members facebook page.
We shall look forward to seeing lots of you out and about on your horses and ponies in the near future.
Happy Riding!!
