Horses looking for an easy life

Bannockburn RDA is looking for happy hacking permanent retirement homes for the following horses, these horses are offered for a donation to the centre. If you are interested please contact Sara - 07736 731 743.

Marley
14.1hh - 16 yr old, bay, cob, mare, loves being brushed and handled, is a lively ride off the lead rein but a great hack and would hack anywhere. Marley has been with us for 4 years. She is at her happiest living out, rugged in the winter and just needs the size of her belly watched in the summer. For those of you that know Marley you will know she is a friendly, lively little mare with loads of character - could you be the one to have fun with this lovely little person and give her the 1 to 1 pampered life that she now deserves.

Pabay
17hh - 16 yr old warmblood , bay, gelding - Pabay is our current vaulting horse is big dark and handsome, he has seen life as a dressage horse, an RDA horse and a Vaulting horse, he is a pleasure to have around and really is a lovely big boy, he really does now need a life of being hacked and enjoyed - maybe a smaller RDA group might benefit from his vaulting skills, again he deserves to have the chance of a 1 to 1 life being pampered and loved - does need to live in in the winter - or out but well fed and rugged!

Monty
15.1hh - 3yr old cob gelding - Monty has been a real star here teaching everyone about handling young horses - sadly he has sweet itch and we have lots of Midgies - not a good combination. Monty's mum was a big black cob and his dad an appaloosa - but sadly he has no spots, he is a black handsome boy, he leads inhand, has worn a bridle and has done a wee bit of lunging, he has had his feet trimmed regularily. He will go in and out to the fields on his own and has travelled in our trailer with no problems. He is a special little horse who in a midgy free area will beable to have a great life and give someone a lot of fun.

If you are interested in any of the above contact Sara on the number early in this message, please remember that we like to ensure that our horses will have a great life in their retirement and would check all prospective homes before agreeing to move our horses on - they give so much to us and we must ensure they have as good a life after they leave us.

Sara

Hartpury Team returns with Great Success

The Group sent a team of 7 vaulters and 5 riders down to the National Championships at Hartpury College on 10 & 11 July and returned home on the Sunday night with great stories and news to tell.

We took the opportunity to enter our vaulting team this year, coached by Lynne Blore, following the success of demostrations at Dobbies Garden Centre in March and a competition at SNEC in May. The vaulting competition takes place in the main Hartpury Arena, which can be daunting for everyone involved. However, the team put on a fantastic show with a resounding performance to come away with a 2nd place, only missing out on winning the title by the smallest of margins. This was a great achievement and one the whole team can be proud of. The team consisted of Kayleigh McDougall, Lyn Dumbleton, Leanne Peters, Louise Lawson, Ellie Simpson, Aileen Russell and Jonathan McDonald.

On the dressage front, Saturday saw Lyn Dumbleton compete in Test 11, coming away with a 6th place. Sunday saw Daniel Harper doing Test 11 and even though he was unplaced, this was the first time Daniel has competed at such a level and no doubt will do so again. Zoe Fulton and Leanne Peters entered Test 31 (LD) test with Zoe being highly recommended and Leanne rode a good test but wasn't placed. The Test 31 (grade 3) class was rounded off by Fraser Mathieson who won the Restricted Section and was 2nd overall.

All helpers had a fantastic weekend and all worked hard to keep everything running to schedule, but a special thanks goes to Puzzle who done the vaulting and dressage test. He took it all in his stride and was just unbelievable. He was so pleased to be home as he galloped up the field when he was turned out.

We will be gathering photographs of the weekend and these will be on the website. We have a solid foundation to work from towards Hartpury 2011 and we aim to build on this success.

Collecting Tins Appeal

We are heavily reliant on fundraising to cover the operational costs of the centre and would welcome your support, by participating in our "collecting tin appeal" here at the Bannockburn RDA.

Do you know of a safe place we can put one of our collecting tins for a period of time to help raise some money, places can vary from a large supermarket, a shop in the town centre or even in your local newsagent store...no place is too small!

Or do you work in a large firm ad think that your employer would help to support our centre by encouraging all staff to donate loose/spare change in one of our collecting tins?...If so please don't hesitate to contact the centre. All interest generated would be greatly appeciated by everyone here at the centre.

Thank you!

Manager News

RDA Qualifiers - we had the dressage and handy pony competitions on Tuesday 1st June. We done extremely well and we won all the qualifying classes on offer. We have 4 riders currently heading down to the Nationals at Hartpury next month.

Well done to all riders, staff, volunteers and horses for putting on a great display and lets hope for more success next month at the Nationals.

Sara