RYDE PONY CLUB NEWSLETTER

MAY 2007

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President & Zone Representative

Kelly King

9736 2181

kelly.king@sunrisemedical.com.au or kelly210@optusnet.com.au

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Secretary & Mentor

Janelle Miles

janelle@studibaker.com.au

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Treasurer

Bob Sadler

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Instructor & Zone Representative

Lisa Umlauff

lumlauff@au1.ibm.com

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The following members volunteered for an impromptu working bee on Sunday which saw the club house cleaned and cleared to a huge extent, the graffiti painted over and a coat of paint on the uprights. We now have a beautiful clean kitchen and cupboards and a very neat office. So thanks to Julie A, Lisa, Tyson, Penny, Adelaide and friend and sister, Kate, Giselle and myself, it was a fun day with a lot achieved, even dead rabbits removed (thanks Adelaide). Now all we have to do is keep our eyes open for vandals and anyone riding up there make sure you have a mobile with you and don’t dismount to confront these people just ring the police.

We had three riders compete at Northside Riding Club’s Hunter Trials in April with amazing results –

Starter Class 1^st place Tyson King

Intro Class 1^st place Julie Clark

2^nd place Michelle Noga

Prelim Class 5^th place Tyson King

Once everyone gets there dressage up to scratch our riders should do very well at One Day Events throughout the season.

Also we had Coco Miles riding at Sydney Royal with some wonderful rounds, she also looked wonderful at the Copabella Classic with Tijuila and Candle, we will see Coco in action at our Zone Showjumping and Metro Cup.

A huge thanks to Megan and Stephen from Galloping Grapes who have very kindly donated a back hoe to level our dressage arena which should really get the ball rolling. All we need is the letters cleaned up and painted and then riders can spend lots of hours practicing all the right moves for their dressage.

ALSO

Thanks to Fran who has been hard at work with our website so don’t forget to check out the pictures and download your entry forms. Plus it is a great place to read this newsletter.

Coming into to winter with horses getting their winter coats and riders loosing a lot of daylight hours. A few tips to keep your horses fit and well through the colder months

Make sure that you layer your rugs, with a cotton and then wool and then canvas. Especially if your horses are to be clipped, which is a benefit if you are riding in the dark and can’t dry them off. Also on warm winter days they will be more comfortable. There are many different clipping styles which suit different needs.

Another area to watch is the hoof, make sure all clay and mud is cleaned out as it is easy for rocks and sticks to put pressure on the soles and increase the risk of stone bruises. Plus it lowers the risk of thrush and keep an eye out for greasy heel due to constant wet conditions.

Make sure that you take into account your horses getting less work as they can become quite fresh through winter due to extra feed for warmth and less exercise.

Clipping

One of the main reasons for clipping is to avoid excess sweating and subsequent loss of condition, another purpose of clipping is to aid the comfort of the horse during the winter months. The longer and coarser winter coat usually starts to grow in Autumn. This extra insulation causes the horse to sweat more during work, which if not dried off may cause chills.
A clipped horse is also easier to clean and groom .

Styles of clipping

Three common clipping styles are illustrated below. The darker brown is the unclipped hair.

Hunter Clip

Hunter Clip

Blanket Clip

Blanket Clip

Trace Clip

Trace Clip

The more hair that is removed the less tolerant the horse will be to the cold and wet. So the hunter clip is only suitable for horses kept stabled all the time, immediately after the horse is exercised a rug should be applied to avoid chills.

The blanket clip is similar to the hunter clip only the hair on the back area is left to provide a little more protection for the kidney and rump areas.

The trace clip leaves most of the exposed areas of the horse unclipped and is suitable for horses turned out during the day and stabled at night. You will notice in the illustrations above that the hair is removed from the 'midriff' area of the horse, these areas are the most prone to the accumulation of sweat.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

6^th May Rally Day – Show Jumping with Colleen Brook

plus theory with Lisa on Horse First Aid and Bandaging and horse handling skills.

13^th May Zone 23 Show Jumping at Ryde Pony Club –

see website for entry form

27^th May Zone 26 Show Jumping at Hills District Pony Club – see Kelly for entry form

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3^rd June Rally Day – Mounted Games/ODE Training

10^th June Avondale ODE – see website for entry form

17^th June Rally Day ??

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1^st July Metro Cup

14^th July State Show Jumping - Grafton

15^th July Rally Day ?? / ODE Training

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4^th August Rally Day – ODE/Mounted Games Training

12^th August Zone Mounted Games FHPC

26^th August Zone ODE – Dural P/C

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2^nd September Rally Day – Hacking/Games/S/J

23^rd September Zone Gymkhana – hosted by ESPC – held at Ryde P/C

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6^th October State Mounted Games

7^th October Rally Day – ODE Training/Dressage

13^th October State ODE

14^TH October Rally Day ?? - Dressage

28^th October Zone Dressage Avondale P/C

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4^th November Rally Day – Jamboree Prep

10^th November Area 1 S/J TBA

State Show Riding

18^th November Rally Day ?? – Jamboree Prep

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2^nd December Rally Day – Jamboree Prep

8^th 9^th December Jamboree TBA

We would appreciate support by older members at Rally Days to share the experience you have gained over the years and to boost up those Rally Days needed for Zone Events. Please ring Lisa or Kelly to see how you would be able to help, unmounted if necessary.