Golden Castle

News

Another busy month and a bit since the last newsletter - including the Ball which was a great success – thank you so much to everyone who came along and made it such a great evening. Sadly, our riders could not go to the Oliver Townend Eventer Challenge the day after – the venue was changed from Maidenhead to Lincoln and from Saturday to Friday making it impossible to go which was so frustrating for everyone who had worked hard and trained for the event, although it was a lot more fun at the Ball knowing we didn’t have to get up at 4a.m. the following day to drive to Berkshire! Hope everyone enjoys the Xmas holidays and look forward to seeing you all at the yard and at future competitions and events – Happy Christmas! Fiona and Sam

Out and About!

Pauntley SJ and XC – November 4^th

Kate and Benson, Rhiannon and Bonnie, Sarah and Ceri, Chris and Maverick and Fiona and Toby tackled the 2’3 show jumping and xc course with Rhiannon taking 4^th place and Fiona 3^rd in the show jumping. Dense fog hanging across the cross country course made for an interesting ride around the jumps – after clearing one jump it was difficult to see where the next one would be – you had to head off in the general right direction and keep a look out for the next flag!

Talygarn – November 7

A first outing for Sam and her new horse Goose (and Sarah and Maverick) for indoor showjumping. Sarah and Mav had some fences down in the 2’3 and 2’6 classes but the Gooseman walked away with the first place trophy in the 2’3 class. A great first competition for him – next stop Intro!

Two Day Trail Ride – November 9 & 10

Six riders took part in our first overnight trail ride from GC to Pengenffordd, 20km from the stables over the mountains and along the Cwm Du valley. The ride was great fun, challenging in places and something everyone would love to do again – see the full write up across the page.

The Ball!! – November 23rd

GCs first Xmas Ball was a huge success – 68 people attended and enjoyed good food, good wine and an opportunity to catch up with everyone from the stables. Great to see so many husbands/partners/wives/friends there as well as our regular riders. A big thank you to everyone who was involved in organising the evening and to everyone who made the effort to dress up and be there. Look out for our 20^th anniversary event in February!

 Trail Ride to Trewalkin

“Fantabulastic” was the comment written on the noticeboard at the end of our inaugural overnight trail ride. The intrepid six set out at 10.30am on Saturday morning and covered over 40kms before returning back to GC at 4.30pm on Sunday afternoon. The riding was varied, taking in mountain trails, valley paths, quiet country lanes and open common land with some great opportunities for fast, long canters along the way. More than anything, the route showed off the Black Mountains at their absolute best (helped by some clear, dry and sunny weather) with stunning views of the hills and along the Cwm Du valley. On the first day we rode down off the mountain and through Llangyndir, across the A40, followed by a long canter along the Gare, twisting and turning along the bridleway. After lunch in Cwm Du we climbed steeply up onto Mynydd Llangorse at Pen Tir before enjoying a fast canter on the top of the mountain (thanks to Rhiannon for leading the way!). After catching our breath we descended off Mynydd Llangorse near Cockitt Hill and followed the bridle track around the base of Mynydd Troed and on to Trewalkin Fach. Once the horses were untacked, rugged, fed, watered and turned out/in for the night the riders tucked in to home made cake and tea before heading off to a local pub for dinner. After a hearty breakfast of free range eggs and home-made bread the team headed off up onto the Black Mountains, climbing steeply to the saddle of Mynydd Llsiau before heading down to Cwm Du and the day’s lunch stop. The climb and descent took just over 3 hours and provided spectacular views down the valley – as well as some challenging riding. After the tough morning we enjoyed a quiet walk back along the lanes and tracks back to GC. Feedback on the ride was terrific – and we are planning to organise other longer-distance trails next year. As well as the fantastic scenery it was a great opportunity to spend all day with the horses, looking after them in the evenings and mornings and waking up to see them first thing in the morning. For a first hand account of the ride just ask Andriette, Cath (Murphy), Rhiannon or Jackie C.

Chili Bean – the first six months…..an update from Rose

I first met Chilli when he was barely a month old and fell totally in love with his sticky up mane, spotty bum and ‘butter wouldn’t melt’ eyes. Suddenly I had another man in my life. I was beside myself with excitement and I have to admit more than a little terrified at the prospect of owning and shaping a young horse. The first few months with Chilli was a getting to know each other process which involved lots of brushing, cuddles and – with this years infamous rainy summer - an unusual amount of time getting soaked while standing in the field ‘watching’. Chilli’s mum Lollypop kept a close eye on me at first, watching me watch her son. Fiona has nine other horses of various ages and observing the herd hierarchy and how it works was fascinating. Chilli was, of course, the lowest of the low as far as the pecking order was concerned and earnt himself quite a few bumps and scratches in the early months. No one ever did him any serious damage of course, him being the baby of the family, and he soon found his very own place in the herd – all be it at the bottom! So, Chilli and I (and Lollypop) got to know each other and it wasn’t long before he started trotting up to greet me when he heard me at the gate.

When the warm weather finally arrived we spent our afternoons lying in the grass while he slept (yes – he snored – a lot!) All was well with the world. Soon though I knew it would be time to start his training…………Learning to have your headcollar on doesn’t sound like a big deal to most of us – after all we put them on our horses all the time, but to a young foal this simple process appears to be a mind blowing concept! Chilli Bean was not impressed! In fact he put on quite a strop for a while. Both Sam and Fiona stepped in to lend a hand, but Chilli still had trouble believing that any of it could be a good idea. And then Fiona appeared one day with a handful of FOOD. Suddenly the headcollar didn’t seem so bad – it being the stairway to yummy heaven. Bribery may not be the ideal way to halter train your baby but hey – it worked. Chilli is now quite happy in his new head gear and is leading nicely. The next lesson was all about picking up his feet. This was a little less traumatic, or might have been if he hadn’t developed an abscess in his back foot. In fact he was incredibly brave about it all and let the vet look at his foot with no fuss and thereafter allowed Fiona and I to replace a poultice each day for almost a week until he got better. Allowing that, in the eyes a baby horse, getting yourself caught and ending up immobilised because something is hanging on to your back leg is not at all what you should be doing (running fast in the opposite direction is the preferred response) he really did behave very well. Once Chilli recovered from all this excitement Fiona and I made the decision that he should be gelded before weaning. Fiona wasn’t to be there for the operation so this was to be the first time Chilli and I would have to work together to get things right. Just me and him. The vet arrived and immediately threw me by announcing he was going to do the operation lying down. Previously I had seen the operation carried out standing up (when Boo, Dice and Jeeves were gelded last year) and I thought I had a pretty good idea about what was going to happen. Now I had no idea at all. Here’s how it went. As is often the case when the vet appears, a bucket of warm water was called for, which I obediently fetched while the vet prepared his needles and gadgets. By the time I arrived with my water all was set neatly on a tray ready for …whatever. We tied Mum Lollypop by the fence with some hay to keep her happy and the vet gave Chilli a sedative to make him sleepy. When he was looking sufficiently dopey I led him to a part of the field where the grass was clean. He was pretty wobbly at this stage so I was surprised when the vet gave him another injection. This one would make him go to sleep, or rather much more heavily sedated. The idea at this point is that said foal should gently lower to a ‘sitting’ position then lie down. Chilli dropped like a sack of spuds. Most undignified! One of his hind legs was tied back out of the way with clean white rope in a rather complicated pulley arrangement and the vet covered his eyes with his overalls (Chilli’s, not his own ) From here there was nothing for me to do except watch. I won’t go into details so all you boys can uncross your legs but in short the operation went well and Chilli was soon up and about again, looking quite sore and sorry for himself but otherwise fine and grateful that Lollypop had saved him some hay. Soon Chilli will be coming to GC to be weaned and we’ll be starting another adventure together. The first six months have been unforgettable and I’d like to say thank you to Fiona and Sam for their unerring patience and support in helping me bring Chilli up to be the amazing horse I know he will be and to my long suffering husband Mat for giving me the opportunity to live the dream. And last but certainly not least a special thank you to my beautiful loan pony Buttons for sharing the love, cuddles & carrots. Rose

Pauntley – again! – November 25^th

Rhiannon and Bonnie, Sarah and Maverick, Sam and Goose and Fiona and Toby tackled the 2’6 SJ and XC courses as a combined class, with everyone completing the xc course safely and Rhiannon and Bonnie taking the 5^th place rosette. 

Trailer Training – November 30th

Andriette and Cath completed our first trailer training session – including a test drive of a trailer with Mini on board. A follow up session on the 12th was completed by Rose. This 1 hour session should be undertaken by anyone who wants to travel with their horse.

Ride a Pony Bareback…..December 13^th

Sarah, Kate, Rhiannon, Arianne, Jenny and Sam spent an hour trying out mounted games with the ponies – Beau, Mouse, Corinna, Buttons, April, Duke and Fudge – all bareback. Ponies were swapped part way through the evening and a high level of competitiveness and gamesmanship shown throughout. No-one fell off and the ponies and riders thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Crychan Forest Ride – December 14^th

Rose (Buttons), Andriette (Murphy), Sarah (Toby), Fiona (Angel), Chris (Merlin) and Cath (Hollywood) completed one of the trail loops in Crychan Forest (part of over 100kms of riding and walking trails in National Forest land).

Coming up – things for the diary

Friday Dec 21^st – trailer training

Sunday Dec 23^rd - Mounted games and Show Jumping (all heights up to 2’9)

Monday Dec 24^th – 10.30 adults fun ride (mulled wine and mince pies provided)

Friday Dec 28^th – Beach Ride (Pembrey Sands)

Monday Dec 31^st – morning ride

Wednesday Jan 2nd – fun ride (mixed)

Thursday Jan 3^rd – adults fun ride

Friday Jan 11^th – first aid for horses

Please also see the Events list attached – these are competitions taking place at venues close to GC (within 2 hours’ trailer drive). If anyone is interested in going to one of those competitions then talk to Sam or Fiona.

Endurance insight……..

With the new season about to start, take a look at the article attached looking at natural horsemanship and training for endurance. We’ll be flagging pleasure rides and endurance rides in the events list as dates are confirmed – if anyone is interested in finding out more about how to get started in endurance then please ask Fiona.

Joiners and Leavers

Welcome to Jenny who moved to Wales a few months ago and has been helping with mucking out at the yard. Jenny has also bought Jeeves who is being looked after down at Ty Mawr. And Sarah has bought Dice – he’ll be leaving Ty Mawr at Christmas and moving down to Sarah’s until he’s old enough to start his schooling work.

Goose joins the stables as an event prospect for Sam for the 08 season, aiming to start him off with some Intro competitions at the beginning of the year before moving up through the levels. Goose is a TB ex race horse and is already showing lots of potential for jumping and cross country.

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A very sad goodbye to Louis who had to be put down on Sunday 16^th December after suffering from colic. Louis had really started to come into his own at the yard and has real talent for flatwork and jumping. We’ll all miss him.

Goodbye to Michelle and Mouse, with Mouse moving to a yard near Blaenavon and closer to Michelle’s home. Michelle started riding at GC two years’ ago and previously had Hollywood on loan before buying Mouse. Sam has visited them at their new yard and hopefully Michelle will come back with Mouse to take part in future events here.

Louis jumping last week……