Martine
I had a hectic weekend of dressage organisation planned, and it fully lived up to expectations.
South Munster Dressage were bringing in an English judge and trainer, Nikki Herbert, to hold a dressage clinic on Saturday and judge at a show the following day. The clinic and show were both to be held at Cashelane Stud, which is an amazing facility perched on the edge of the sea in West Cork - about two hours drive from where I live, but worth the trip! The plan was to travel down to Cashelane on Saturday with Flurry, have a lesson with Nikki and then compete in two classes on Sunday.
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| The Indoor at Cashelane |
Nikki (who is an old friend via Silver Spurs) was due in on Friday around 7pm, but her flight was delayed - she finally got in around midnight after spending a delightful six hours in Birmingham airport!
Worse still, on the drive home from the airport the jeep's brakes failed! I thought they felt pretty spongey driving over, but on the way home I braked to take a turn while going downhill and nothing happened.... and nothing happened.... and nothing happened... and finally they took hold halfway across the junction! Fortunately, I wasn't going fast and there was no other traffic, but the bad news was, I wasn't going to able to bring Flurry to Cashelane next day.
I still managed to have a lesson with Nikki at home though, and, despite the rain and wind, it was great. She has years of experience teaching Pony Club kids, which gives her a great insight into "ordinary" riders so she was really good at explaining stuff and helped me a lot with canter strike off - we managed to do a couple of strike-offs where Flurry stayed round - there is hope for me yet!
George sorted out a rental car first thing in the morning so we would actually be able to travel. We got to Cashelane shortly after 2pm and Nikki did a couple more lessons there, which all of the riders involved really enjoyed.
While she was teaching, I was taken to the house where I would be overnighting. It's one of nine houses on the grounds of Cashelane which are rented out as holiday homes and it's the sort of place where you walk in and go WOW!
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| Conservatory Dining room |
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| Living room |
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| The view from the back - the grey line on the horizon is Sheep's Head. It would be plain to see on a clear day |
Sunday was busy - we had seventy tests scheduled in one arena, so the show was running from just before nine to just after five.
I did a lot of scribing, which I always enjoy, and some scoring whenever someone else sat in to scribe for a class.
Nikki gives loads of helpful comments which all the riders appreciated although the scribe didn't quite feel the same way about it - my right hand was aching by the end of the day!
This is the show organiser Susi showing how it should be done :
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| The Judge's Viewpoint |
Nikki gives loads of helpful comments which all the riders appreciated although the scribe didn't quite feel the same way about it - my right hand was aching by the end of the day!
This is the show organiser Susi showing how it should be done :
Of course we ended up running late and didn't finish up until nearly six. Then it was time to say goodbye to Nikki (who was staying with another friend for the night) and return home.
I was disappointed I didn't get to ride Flurry in such a nice place, but there's always next year.
Anne
Well this weekend was all about Irish Guide Dogs, who were raffling a Ford Focus Titanium to raise much needed funds, over 80% of the money we need comes from donations.
So on Saturday we were on Patrick Street, Roxy all dressed up in her puppy walking jacket, in front of "the car" selling raffle tickets. It soon became apparent that trying to sell tickets , handle change, and control a young dog, on a very busy , noisy, street was not working too well, so we teamed up with Margaret, who approached people and sold the tickets while Roxy and I just approached people. "Support Irish Guide Dogs" was our chant, and most people couldn't resist!
After 2 hours of selling Roxy was exhausted but I wanted to see my daughter dancing at Woodford Bourne, so we trundled off down Patrick Street, but Roxy, who is only 9 months old, was showing signs of stress, imagine an overtired 2 year old child, and you'll be close! So, best go home, I thought, heading for Paul Street Shopping Centre and their car park, and there we met the Zombie Parade, upwards of 50 zombies, screaming, roaring and groaning, giving way to the odd "Ah look at the cute dog." Roxy handled it all very well, got into the car, snored and slept all the way home, and then slept some more.
Well that's the end of our raffle duties I thought, then on Sunday morning I got a call from IGDB, would I be available Sunday evening for the raffle draw at the Metropole. As Martine says, I would go to the opening of an envelope, so eight o'clock Sunday evening saw us heading into town once more !
The Deputy Lord Mayor was drawing the winning ticket, and afterwards came the photo shoot. Roxy played a blinder and sat up on a table with the Deputy Lord Mayor hanging on tight to her, while I tried to keep her attention vaguely in the direction of the camera. Can't wait to see the pictures, should be in the Independent tomorrow.
The raffle was a huge success, the figures will be published later at http://www.guidedogs.ie and I will add more photos when I get them.
Well we raised over 55,000 euros a big THANKYOU to all who bought tickets.
Here's a picture of Roxy at the draw courtesy of Patrick Hogan/Provision
Anne
Well this weekend was all about Irish Guide Dogs, who were raffling a Ford Focus Titanium to raise much needed funds, over 80% of the money we need comes from donations.
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| Anne Roxy and the car |
So on Saturday we were on Patrick Street, Roxy all dressed up in her puppy walking jacket, in front of "the car" selling raffle tickets. It soon became apparent that trying to sell tickets , handle change, and control a young dog, on a very busy , noisy, street was not working too well, so we teamed up with Margaret, who approached people and sold the tickets while Roxy and I just approached people. "Support Irish Guide Dogs" was our chant, and most people couldn't resist!
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| Well earned rest |
After 2 hours of selling Roxy was exhausted but I wanted to see my daughter dancing at Woodford Bourne, so we trundled off down Patrick Street, but Roxy, who is only 9 months old, was showing signs of stress, imagine an overtired 2 year old child, and you'll be close! So, best go home, I thought, heading for Paul Street Shopping Centre and their car park, and there we met the Zombie Parade, upwards of 50 zombies, screaming, roaring and groaning, giving way to the odd "Ah look at the cute dog." Roxy handled it all very well, got into the car, snored and slept all the way home, and then slept some more.
Well that's the end of our raffle duties I thought, then on Sunday morning I got a call from IGDB, would I be available Sunday evening for the raffle draw at the Metropole. As Martine says, I would go to the opening of an envelope, so eight o'clock Sunday evening saw us heading into town once more !
The Deputy Lord Mayor was drawing the winning ticket, and afterwards came the photo shoot. Roxy played a blinder and sat up on a table with the Deputy Lord Mayor hanging on tight to her, while I tried to keep her attention vaguely in the direction of the camera. Can't wait to see the pictures, should be in the Independent tomorrow.
The raffle was a huge success, the figures will be published later at http://www.guidedogs.ie and I will add more photos when I get them.
Well we raised over 55,000 euros a big THANKYOU to all who bought tickets.
Here's a picture of Roxy at the draw courtesy of Patrick Hogan/Provision
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| Roxy with (L-R) Eddie Murphy (MD Ford), Padraig Mallon (CEO Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind), Deputy Lord Mayor Of Cork Kenneth O'Flynn |
No wonder you ladies could not ride out today...busy....busy...(scratch, scratch...)
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