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Extracts from the Branch Newsletters
Articles are re-printed from Grampian branch newsletters and the
editors of this website take no responsibility for their contents.
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| June 2008 |
Congratulations to our Branch members who took part in
Lothian’s Hillhead ride:
Kate Robertson with Lady Bathsheba won the 120
km ER, in a phenomenal 9 hours 46 minutes, at a speed of 12.90 km/ph with an
amazing Heart rate of 52 bpm!!!!!!!
Lorna Hogg and De Marco came 5th in
the 120 km ER in 10 hours 16 minutes at 12.27 km/ph with a fantastic Heart
Rate of 60 bpm! after only a few minutes.
Katie Keith and Jakhiri achieved their Gold
Thistle Final in one attempt, a distance of 85km, at 13.53 km/ph with a Gold
Heart Rate of 48 bpm!!!
Well done to you all - incredible achievements which
take years of dedication, enthusiasm and commitment.
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| June 2008 |
Changes to Grampian Castles ride
Following on from the Grampian reps. offer at the Central Committee
meeting to shrink Grampian Castles to give the long rides in the other
branches either side more of a chance, Grampian branch committee met to
formulate this proposal and agreed the following with the ride organisers:
That we will honour the commitment to running the
Pasquille Championship Ride. Otherwise the event will drop down to a branch
one day ride on the Sunday.
The programme will therefore now be:
Saturday:
80km ER (1st leg of the Pasquill
Trophy class)
Sunday:
60km ER
50km CTR
30km CTR (2nd leg of the Pasquill Trophy class)
20km Pleasure
Riders can therefore enter the Pasquille two day
(80km ER + 30km CTR), or an 80km ER Saturday (stand alone) or any of the
Sunday one day classes.
Please would members note that Grampian Castles will
no longer be part of the Pleasure Ride Series.
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| June 2008 |
Sad news from Ruth
There’s no easy way to say this.
Samee died suddenly last month. She was found dead in the field in the
morning with no visible injuries or evidence of trouble in the field. This
was a huge shock as she was looking great the last time I saw her and she
was only 22 (her mother lived to 42, not that I expected Samee to reach that
age, but I did think she would make around the 30 mark). This happened
while Malcolm and I were away on holiday and I couldn’t get back to be there
so it’s been hard to come to terms with it. I bred her from Hameda who I
had bought after knowing her since the '70's (before some of you were
born!), so it's a huge chunk of my life. Ruth Riddell
The Committee and members offer their condolences to Ruth at this sad
time.
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| March 2008 |
An enjoyable
“Drop in”
Those of you
who were unable to come to the “Drop in to Endurance” morning on Saturday
missed an enjoyable and informative time. This was a very friendly and
informal gathering and those who did turn up, ranging from newcomers to very
experienced riders, all chatted freely and went away better informed. We can
all learn from each other’s experience, and there was a great deal of
swapping boots (horses), trying saddles, discussing the merits of massage
therapy, heart monitors, how the new rules might affect you, etc. all on a
one to one basis.
Our grateful
thanks to Lorna who made it clear that the rules are not that difficult,
Katie Keith who showed individuals how to use heart monitors, Arlene and
Emma Parvin who brought (and sold) some lovely tack, Janice Thomson, who
brought her car loaded with half her tack room and gave lots of advice; Kate
Robertson who discussed the training of horses up to the highest levels,
Leon who showed most of the stuff you may need in your crew car or back at
the venue to get your horse ready for the vet; and Clive Pollitt who had a
great deal of interesting (and often home-made) kit and gave advice on
getting through vettings. Jane and Douglas were on hand to answer and
ask any questions and Douglas performed the essential office of catering
with tea, coffee and chocolate biscuits.
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January 2008 |
Breaking
news ..Argent of Ballydougan announces his retirement from Grampian Branch
rides - at age 15 and a half.
Lizzy
Thornton sent this piece last November,
Archie is sure
there will be a few sighs of relief from various Officials and Clipboard
Ladies as he was notorious for breaking loose, scattering all and sundry
persons/equipment/articles in his wake. His usual excuse was to see what
other equines had in their buckets......
more
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January 2008 |
The Versatile Quarter Horse By Susan Jacyna
Simon and I live in Keith and are lucky to have really beautiful riding
country on our doorstep. Orinoco (sire Venture Max, dam Waccabuc Jr) is now
ten and I bought him from Joan Cadzow when he was a just-backed and very
green 3 yr old....... more
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| September 2007 |
My
Versatile Arabian
Katie & Jack’s view of the SRGAHS Versatile
Arabian Event
The summer of 2007 has been memorable for most
people as incredibly wet, and for me, as one of many some amazing highs and
crashing lows. The week of National Arabian week I should have been
travelling down to Swindon to compete on the Scottish team at Barbury
Castle....... more
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| July 2007 |
Blackhall ride
report from Highland branch member Fiona Monro
Fiona & Nico
– intro to Grampian
Well our first
Grampian ride has come and gone. We were fortunate that the venue field was
nice, big and flat and Nico found the grass very tasty!! The usual nerves
kicked in with me, from the moment I awoke that morning and by the time I
reached the yard I had probably double dosed on Rescue Remedy as did Nico
before loading. Lorna came with me to support our first ride back to SERC
after being off since July last year. Nico’s pre-ride heart rate was 48 and
I (or rather Lorna) found us fabulous riding duo in Donna and Sameh. Their
paces were very similar as were their spooky moments!! Would have enjoyed
the ride even more if there were more canter opportunities, but the ground
was hard and very stony in part. We managed a couple of canters passing by
the river though. Nico and Sameh found the ascending hills quite a chore
towards the end, but soon perked back up when we were descending down the
final section to the venue which was a particularly fine moment, given that
Donna & I were both soaked through by this point. Always nice to see a
photographer on route and Nico suitably posed for her, so dying to see how
that looks. We came through the finish and averaged 10.7km/hr. No need for
cooling down as the dreach day managed to do that for us. Post ride heart
rate was 52/50 and if it hadn’t been for him straining himself to look at
something else, we may very well have been down to 48!! My horse was a
little star given that he did the ride carrying more weight than he should
be (he, not me, I was referring to his tum). But I am just glad that the
two of us enjoyed being back at SERC and it wouldn’t have been possible
without Lorna, (not forgetting Monty), Donna & Sameh. Topping off my day
was Nico loading in his new trailer without too much hassle. Big smiles all
round. Thanks very much Grampian Branch for making my first ride back an
enjoyable one without the threat of getting lost on route due to fabulous
marking.
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|
May 2007 |
A wonderful Surprise at
Balmoral
A report from Yvonne Thomson
The BHS Diamond Jubilee Ride at
Balmoral this year turned out to be a real surprise.......
(more)
For photos
of the event, click here For
further information, contact www.bhsscotland.org.uk
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May 2007 |
Drummuir
Ride report
By Mary
Stelmach
Drummuir is
always a popular early season ride offering distances from 80k downwards. It
attracts riders from our neighbouring branches who are ready to try an early
80k or wish to use it as a training ride for the Golden Horseshoe.
......
(more)
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May 2007 |
Greens of
Afforsk, Blairdaff (alias The Easter-Egg Hunt Ride!)
Ride report
by Lynda Keeler
Little did I
realise when Lorna said there would be a surprise for us at the Greens of
Afforsk ride that it would be a hunt for Easter Eggs!
.......
(more)
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March 2007
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Australian Physiotherapy Pilates
Kate Robertson is restarting classes on Monday,
Tuesday & Wednesday evenings at Kemnay, Alford and Huntly respectively,
commencing 16th April.
Pilates can improve your core stability, fitness,
flexibility, improve posture and help you feel invigorated. Do you
think a fitter rider would benefit your horse? If so contact Kate on 019755
62436 for details.
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March 2007
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Therapeutic Grooming
Eight lucky horses and their riders attended Pauline
Kidd’s Therapeutic grooming session at Drumnagesk. Lucky, firstly because
the weather was kind enough to allow it to happen, and secondly because it
was such a unique and beneficial experience. Pauline began by observing each
horse in walk and trot to assess its general well-being, i.e. stiffness or
lameness, and then embarked on a process of all-over touch and light
massage. Her infectious enthusiasm and practical hands-on approach, using a
very laid-back demonstrator horse (unlike our jumpy Arabians) was a
memorable way of getting to grips with each individual horse’s sensitivities
and thus its aches and pains. As a point of interest I think all the horses
exhibited at least one sore bit. Likewise most of the riders admitted to
sore bits, often a mirror image of the horses’ problems. Therefore surely
our individual imbalances greatly affect our faithful mounts – a point to
consider and work to eliminate, maybe using this technique.
Therapeutic grooming is an all-over assessment and
gentle massage of every muscle in a horse’s body – I would recommend it for
every horse.
Of particular interest to endurance riders, this
technique could be used during and post ride, at vet gates and pre-ride
vetting as a way to identify any tightness in muscles, sensitivity or
soreness.
Tony Comerford
Our thanks to Tony for organising this interesting
and useful event.
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March 2007
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Glen Tanar Ride Report 2006
From Yvonne Thomson, Ride Organiser, writes an
interesting story on organising a new ride........
(more)
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| March 2007 |
Kirkhill – A Great Success
Ride report from Ruth Riddell
Congratulations to Gundula and Lorna for a great
success with the Kirkhill ride on Sunday. We were very lucky with the
weather, not only the wet weather beforehand to soften some of the hard
tracks, but the wind during the previous week to dry off the surface to
provide some of the best going we have had at Kirkhill for some time. Then
on the day, we had a nice cool wind which was excellent for everyone except
the vetting team – I hope they have all thawed out now.
The new tracks seemed to ride well – no compulsory
walk or industrial estate, less tarmac and in their place a few new “less
well known” connecting tracks to give a bit of variety. Added to that, one
or two planes coming in to land and the occasional train going under the
bridge all added to make the route a nice outing after what seems like a
long winter.
We had lots of new faces (and some old – or should I
say well-known – faces too) and lots of smiling faces at the end of the day
which makes it all worthwhile.
But the main reason for the success of the day was the
time and effort put in by both Gundula and Lorna beforehand and the
attention to everything to ensure that the ride ran smoothly. Well done to
you both.
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|
March 2007 |
New Members
Grampian Branch
would like to give a warm welcome to the following new members: Donna
Hemmings, Angus Nesbit, Mark Nesbit, Iona McDonald, Arlene Killoh, Judith
Barker, Claire Wallace, Freya van Midden, Christina van Midden, Katharina
van Midden, Jenny Milne, Morven Lawson, Jacqueline Christie, Susan Duncan,
and Mr & Mrs Duncan Hynd
And welcome
back to Linda Taylor, Yvonne Monro, Kathy Meyer, Michael Lomax, Willie and
Janet Keith and Angela Horrod who have all rejoined us after having had a
break.
Please be
assured that most members enjoy sharing experiences and advice relating to
endurance so don't be afraid to ask- although preferably not if we're
standing waiting to vet our own horse!
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| January 2007 |
Christmas Fun Day on 28th December
Our thanks to Tony and Karen Comerford who ran this enjoyable
day. A number of riders expressed regret at not being able to attend as it
was a very icy morning. Tony and Karen wrote the following report.
.......
(more)
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| November 2006 |
New trophy
This new trophy is called the Schadow Trophy. No, my wonderful
Haflinger Schadow is not dead or sold on; she is still very much with me and
still enjoying her endurance.
I decided to give this trophy to Grampian SERC to encourage and
reward the riders that for reasons of their own do not do big miles or very
long distances and have the pleasure of achieving a reward for their efforts
and enjoyment. Riders going the longer distances already have many trophies
to aim for.
This trophy is for the most Golds for 30 miles (48 km) and under. The
Golds can be from other SERC branches as well as Grampian. It is
surprising how many miles you can ride in a year just doing twenties or
thirties.
( I hope to win it myself some day!)
You may say that we already have a Gold trophy. Yes, I gave that one too;
the Cresta Lee Trophy, for the most Golds in a year for all
distances.
Yvonne Thomson
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| November 2006 |
Strathdon
Ride
Report from ride organisers, Karen and Tony Comerford.
From the organisers’ point of view, the ride on 15th October was
a breeze! A small entry, all of the riding variations on a 36km loop, and we
had lots of helpers. .......
(more)
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| November 2006 |
A Happy/Warm
day for Whitehaugh 2006
Ride Report from Kate Robertson (with a sigh of relief)
Happy – because we had strong,
knowledgeable people in charge – including Dawn Saunders as first-time Chief
Steward, Janice Thomson as Vet Writer, and my husband Hugh as essential
background support. These three were the back-bone of the organisation on
the day and proved a formidable team. The warm glow came from
Mandy Craik’s Mum’s gorgeous chocolate cake, sampled by the majority!
Huge thanks go to Yvonne and Dawn for marking the pleasure ride, Robert
Keeler for sense of humour and start/finish timekeeping; Kathleen Howie and
Pat Williams for Caravan/results, sign-maker Anna Craik; typing expert Leona
Whiteoak; Forest Enterprise for lovely riding tracks; and Hugh for all his
hard work cutting back broom and gorse. Apart from the memorable chocolate
cake, Mandy found helpers, made all the packed lunches, and most important
of all – boosted the morale of the fraught ride organiser – what a friend!
Hugh and I demarked all the routes ourselves – no offer of help with that
task. Thanks also go to Raynet, vet Heather Simpson and Farrier – the
special Ken Playle.
Perhaps new members and those who do not help with rides might realise just
how many people we need to put on even a small ride – just 16k and 33k –
making together a 49k. Even though it is hard work, you make new friends
and have good fun.
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| August 2006 |
Jack in the Box
Have you ever watched someone trying to load a difficult horse? Wanted to
help? Felt sorry for them? Shaken your head in disbelief? Like many
problems, it looks less complex from the outside looking in. .........
(more)
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May 2006 |
Coloured Tail Ribbons - by
Marlene Arthur
I've always assumed most equine
owners are aware of the "colour coding" of horses tail ribbons:
Blue for stallions ie. if you have
a mare in season, you'd better steer clear of him.
Green for novices and youngsters
ie. please pass wide and slow and at a reasonable speed.
Red for kickers ie. please look
out and stand well back (my horse falls into this category).......
(more)
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May 2006 |
A Finnish Horse's First Year
in Endurance - by Lynsey Gordon
The best thing I ever did was to buy Valittu, otherwise known
as Dino, a 14.3hh palomino Finnish horse which I bought from Kirsi and Mika
Malaska when they came over to Hayfield Riding Centre. He had spent his
first years competing in trotting races ......
(more)
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May 2006 |
Helping at Rides - by Tracey
Banks
Yes, these 3 horrible words that everyone
loves to hear – helping at rides. Our rides can only take place if we have
enough volunteers to run them. There are a number of jobs you can do so
I’ve decided to give a brief description ...........
(more)
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| July 2005 |
20 Mule Team 100 by Clive Pollitt
In 1880 a team was established to haul
borax from the Harmony Borax Works in Death Valley and the Amargosa works
near Shoshone to the railhead at Mojave. These 20 Mule Teams soon became a
legend, .................(more)
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| February 2005 |
GRASS
SICKNESS – my part in its downfall – by Dawn Saunders
Like Tony and Karen (Comerford), I too lost a pony to grass sickness.
Within 24 hours of being diagnosed he was gone. So five years down the line
I was devastated to come home from holiday and find our little black
Shetland, Magic, obviously in the throws of it too......
(more)
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| January 2005 |
Mud Fever: Getting It Right by Kieran O’Brien MA MVB PhD MRCVS
EqWest Equine Veterinary Clinic, Tavistock, Devon PL19 8QA kob@eqwest.co.uk
Mud fever is very common in the Arabian breed, due at least
in part to the high prevalence of white legs.....(more)
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December 2004 |
Equine Grass Sickness
Just over a year ago I
lost my horse to Grass Sickness. It has taken that year and a new horse
before I felt able to write about it....(more)
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| October 2004 |
Hitting The
Wall and Electrolytes by Clive Pollitt
In a recent ride at St Fort, I had the pleasure or riding with a group of 40
milers, one of which was using the ride as a Silver qualifier. This was to
be her first 40 miler and she was full of confidence that, based on
previous rides, both rider and the horse were well prepared and would have
no problem doing a 40.....(more)
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| October 2004 |
Drumtochty 2004 Ride Report
(This was sent to your
editor from a member of Tayside Branch)....(more)
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| August 2004 |
Grampian Rider To
“Go The Distance” For Scotland
The profile of Endurance Riding has been raised considerably
recently as a local member of Grampian Branch of the Scottish Endurance
Riding Club has succeeded in being selected to represent Scotland in October
2004.....(more)
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| August 2004 |
75 Miles at Cirencester (76
actually)
Cirencester Park, is part of the 14,000 acre Gloucestershire
estate owned by Lord Bathurst. It is home to the Cirencester Park Polo Club
but on the 18th of June it hosted a 75mile and 100mile FEI ride
run under the auspices of Endurance GB....(more)
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| August 2004 |
A Short
Ride in the Hills by Simon Jacyna
The West Highland
Pony Camp is an innocuous title for one of the most unusual and demanding
challenges in Scottish riding. Started in the 70s by Teddy Gray of the Garry
Gualach Outdoor Centre the challenge is simple – organise a horseback
expedition in the Scottish Highlands covering at least 35 miles with one
night away to finish at a given destination on the first Friday in June.
.....(more)
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| April 2004 |
And Finally, Some Thoughts From Rob Winmill
The US standard railway gauge is 4 ft 8.5 ins , a very odd number : why was
that used ? -- Because they built them that way in England and English
expats built US railways.....(more)
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| February 2004 |
A Small Drama Turns Up Some Interesting Information By Elaine Wafer
If you are thinking of starting the 2004 ride season with a
new riding hat you may find the following story of interest.
My preferred model of hat is the Advanced Tech Helmet made by
International Riding Helmets who are an American company.....(more)
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December 2003 |
Afraid! Be Very Afraid (Riding
on the roads)
For once the sun was
shining and there was just a gentle breeze as I got ready to ride, the usual
saga of white hat and fluorescent tabard and almost white horse surely I was
visible. So off we went hoping for a pleasurable couple of hours.....(more)
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| August 2003 |
Horse and Pony Cremation
Disposing of the body of
your best friend after the fateful day finally comes is not easy. This
service, offered by the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC), may be of
interest to many Scottish horse owners now that on-farm burial of livestock
is banned....(more)
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| March 2003 |
"No Shoes, No
Clothes, No Hoose!" A poem
Here is a Little Poem which Angi Long
wrote. (It was inspired by a comment from Morag (Nickki
Groat’s sister) when she found out that Angi and Karl Leye’s horses are
wintered out and barefoot)....(more) |