What's on with Vale of Usk Riding Club
Happy 2018!!
Membership!
It’s that time of the year again! Memberships are due! If you’re not a member you can’t compete for the club.
2018 is going to be an exciting year for VOU RC. There’s loads in the pipeline - training, socials and competitions!
It’s easier than ever to re-join as you can pay your membership by bank transfer and email the membership form to Natalie. You'll find the forms on the how to join page on this website. Any questions contact membership secretary Natalie Parsons at natalieparsons51@yahoo.co.uk
Rider fitness talk.
It’s on Tuesday!! (February 6th)
VOU RC talk and social at the Clytha Arms, with chartered equine physiotherapist Sarah Price, on Tuesday February 6th, at 7.30pm. Find out how your fitness affects your horse and what you can do to improve your riding in 2018.
Free to members, £3 to non-members (to SWHP)
Well done!
To everyone who competed for the VOU RC last weekend. The weather was not kind at Pencoed for the Novice Winter Dressage Area Qualifiers.
Well done to Claire Nowicka Price, Emma Bevan, Ruth Wootton, Kelly Jones, Ruth Gregory, Coral Ducroq and Chrissie Owens.
Kelly Jones writes: “Well what a day! A very, very, long day! Big well done to everyone who braved the weather and boggy warm up to compete!
“But pleased to say yet again we have brought home the ribbons!!! Unfortunately the team was outside the top six placings but Ruth Wootton had a 6th and me and Newbs somehow managed a 4th! I'd like to thank everyone for coming and competing for the club and also a big thank you to Ruth Gregory for taking over and looking after everyone when I went home to get Newbs! Thank you to Southerndown RC for organising and making us feel welcome and all the helpers who were there for over 12hrs you deserve medals!”
Also don’t forget we have the Intermediate Dressage Qualifiers, on 25th March, at Pencoed. We’re looking for Prelim, Novice, Elementary and Medium riders for this. If you are interested please get in touch with Kelly at kjones262@btinternet.com or text 07528185934.
Horse Simulator Sessions
Fancy a go on a mechanical horse? We’ve got two sessions on Saturday 17th March, at the Clytha Arms, with Esther Groen, and her mechanical horse.
The 'mechanical horse' is brilliant for improving your position and making small adjustments to your riding to be more balanced and effective – and all without the complications of a live animal. Esther recently did a day with Golden Castle Riding Stables and received rave reviews.
There are two sessions, one at 10am and one at 2pm. There will be up to six people in a group and the lesson will be a mix of theory and riding on the machine – each person will get a total of half an hour on the machine. It’s a fun morning both on and off the horse! The Clytha Arms is also kindly providing tea and cakes. The cost is £25 per person and is only open to VOU RC members. Spaces are limited so please contact Phillipa asap to book your place (pip@shoutnews.uk)
What do you want from you club in 2018?
Another ask! This time it’s for your comments on what events and training you would like to see VOU RC run in 2018.
Please email training officer Angharad with any suggestions or ideas you have for events, both ridden and social, you would like to see VOU organise in 2018. Email huskimo24@hotmail.co.uk
Angharad added: “Thanks so much for all your support this last year. VOU has had an amazing year. Hope to see you all out and about at training and events in 2018!”
AGM
Huge thank you to everyone who came along last night. So many people and it was great to put faces to names!
The committee are back in place for 2018 apart from Craig Stachera who stood down – although he’s very much staying on as a member (and helper). Thanks again for all your hard work Craig over the past years.
Following a question from one of the members the club will be introducing a feedback form for club competitors to fill in after area qualifiers to let the committee and area know about any problems, praise or other feedback from the day.
The club awards this year honoured the volunteers who gave up their time so that others could compete. Thanks to Becky and Liz for Sapey; Leanne’s husband and dog; Alison Heath and Nikki Watson and then special awards for Jo and Craig and Phil and Sharon who have helped out time and again at qualifiers.
Also receiving extra thanks were three of the committee members. Angharad for transforming the club’s training; Kelly for her hard work as Chef D’Equipe and Lauren for stepping in at the last minute so many times to save the day at qualifiers.
A big thank you to Protexin for the lovely goody bags and to Sarah and her family for hosting us, providing mulled cider and a great buffet. The Clytha Arms has provided hospitality to the riding club year round for years. Thanks again – the club wouldn’t be the same without you.
FINALLY: If you were there and have any questions; or if you were unable to attend and want to ask anything, make any requests, or raise any issues; then please get in touch by replying to this email. Without members there wouldn’t be a Vale of Usk Riding Club!
British Riding Club Volunteer Awards
This is a great new initiative by BRC to reward members who help out at club events, regional qualifiers and national championships. This will start on 1st January 2018. There’s a poster attached and also a volunteer league card you need to fill in.
Its great they are recognising the hard work of all the club volunteers. More info at http://www.bhs.org.uk/enjoy-riding/british-riding-clubs/brc-volunteers/volunteers-league
We won!!
Well done to all the riders and helpers who turned out for the Festival of the Horse qualifiers, at Leyland Court, in Sunday’s soggy and windy conditions.
The 90 team won and are off to the National Championships! They are Natalie Parsons, Ellen Whittingham (now Morgan), Ann-Marie Collins and Sophie Tranter.
Congratulations to you all! Amazing result!
Our 80 team was Leanne Davies, Sarah Canning, Natalie Parsons and Nerys Lewis
Natalie did amazingly, first time at a water jump and she came 6th. Nerys on her borrowed Rocky, flew around for 9th. Unfortunately Sarah found the ground too deep after two slidey stops and saved Baldy for another day and finally Leanne was a star – first time out competing for the club and everyone is so proud of her.
Coral was due to compete for the club as an individual but also saved her boy for another day as by then the ground was so cut up.
The 100 class was abandoned, so big mention to Phil Norrish who was there at 7.45, stayed to help till 12, then drove home, came back with his horse Oscar only to find they had cancelled that class. We’ve got everything crossed he gets a ticket to the finals. We’re gutted for him and Oscar.
And thank you to those who gave up their day to fence judge - Craig Stachera, Sophie Tranter’s Gran, Leanne’s husband and to Sarah Canning who competed, took her horse home and then returned with daughter Millie Cottrell and fence judged.
We couldn’t have competed without you all so thank you.
Finally thanks to Riders 2000, after the weather, we were lucky it ran at all. They tried their hearts out.
Team Quest
Members of the Vale of Usk Riding Club had an amazing weekend at the My Quest and Team Quest Regional Championships.
The Dressage Donuts made up of Kelly Jones, Ruth Gregory, Samantha Pugh and Becky Pugh won the regional Team Quest and will now go to the national championships – congratulations, absolutely amazing! Special mention to Becky Pugh who won novice both days and scored the highest novice score to date in Team Quest with more than 70 per cent. Kelly had a 6th in My Quest and Ruth was 13th too.
Summer Dressage Qualifiers
Well done to the VOU team members who competed in the area summer dressage qualifiers on Sunday - Chrissie Owens, Ruth Wootton, Ruth Gregory, Colin Davies and Judith Powell
We finished as team 5th and Ruth Wootton had an amazing score of 75.77 and was individually 1st. Brilliant!!!
Well done everyone it was a lovely day!!
Dressage to Music
Huge well done to VOU RC member Liz Lucas who represented the club at Area 15 Dressage to Music Qualifiers. There’s plans afoot for next year – watch this space!
Area 15 Summer Show Jumping Qualifiers
A huge thank you to all the volunteers and helpers from VOU RC and their friends and family who made it possible. Especially to Sarah Canning and Natalie Parsons who did most of the organising.
Fabulous results for the VOU teams. We won!! The 80cm seniors are off to the National Championships, at Lincoln, in September. Congratulations to Sophie Tranter, Coral Ducroq, Jess Blackford and Colin Davies.
The Style Jumping Team is off to the regional championships at Hartpury – Cerys Davies, Ruth Gregory, Rachel Rodden and Sophie Tranter.
Brilliant. Well done to you all!
Sapey Area 15 ODE qualifiers
Sarah Canning writes: “I had the best day ever with everyone at Sapey. Even Nikki Watson managed to make me look presentable. She had to tidy me up!
Such fab results! Coral Ducroq flew the ditch and managed 8th place we are mega proud!
Sophie Tranters first ODE ( I think that's right😊) double clear well done Soph! She helped our 90 team into 4th place
Ann-Marie Collins first riding club outing and she flew around on her baby horse fab job
Angharad Lawrence jumped a 100 fence by mistake but we are mega proud of her & Lilly ( I walked the course with her so it's probably my fault for talking to much )
Ruth Gregory had a fab dressage and SJ but sadly the 80 was tough and Silver said `Nope’ to a ditch, but we know Ruth will be back for more. We all have big love for Silver
Lauren Pardoe was poorly and we missed her boo and Samantha Pugh went and sold her pony so she couldn't come. You were both missed girls xx
And me and Baldy had 2 stops XC but I made it through the flags what more could a girl ask for 😀
You all know, but just in case Becky Pugh came 1st I think it's her 1st one for years well done!
Natalie Parsons a storming 2nd PB in the dressage 27.5 !!!!
Ellen Whittingham 1st ever ODE on Tod came 3rd
And Jess Blackford stormed around the 100 for 1st place !
We couldn't have competed without our volunteers and an extra special thanks to Joanne Drinkwater for being volunteer liaison officer!!
So proud of the VOU!!”
VOU RC Training
The club had an incredibly busy Bank Holiday weekend for members with dressage and SJ training on Saturday and XC training on Monday.
For those of you not on Facebook, Trainer Andrew Williams wrote on the VOU page: “I am sooooo pleased and proud of how well everyone is doing . The club should be proud of the people that are representing it . You have all come on so much in every phase . The green horse / riders clinics have really paid off and you guys are out competing and enjoying it now.we have had a full weekend of dressage , show jumping and XC training and you are all so dedicated well done. This weekend we have taught 41 people .. Speaks for itself. Now for the areas xx”
Thank you to Angharad for all your hard work organising everything, Andrew for teaching and to everyone who took part!
Congratulations
It was a great day at the Combined Training Area Qualifiers – even the sun shone! Congratulations to Ellen Whittingham and Natalie Parsons who will be going to the Festival of the Horse national championships to represent the club! Brilliant! Ruth Gregory came 4th in the 75cm and Becky 4th in the 85cm, Team Sprouts were 5th and Team Peas 6th. A great day! Well done to everyone who competed for the club!
More congratulations.
Not horsey but well done to VOU RC member Joanne Drinkwater who ran the London Marathon for Marie Curie. Brilliant! There’s still time to donate - https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Jo-Drinkwater3
Well done!
It wasn’t the easiest day with the weather – ice first thing and heavy rain for the rest of the day. But the VOU riders did the club proud at the BRC Area 15 Intermediate Dressage Qualifiers.
VOU Spots – Ellen Whittingham, Sarah Canning, Judith Powell and Liz Lucas came 2nd.
VOU Stripes - Claire Nowicka-Price, Becky Pugh, Cerys Davies and Alison Payne, came 4th.
We also had individual placings! Ellen Whittingham came 8th in the Prelim; Judith Powell came 3rd in the Novice 30 and Becky Pugh came 5th; Cerys Davies came 6th in Novice 34; Elizabeth Lucas was 3rd in Elementary and Alison Payne 5th in Medium.
What great results! Well done to everyone who took part.
AGM
Thank you to everyone who came along for a great evening! There were loads of trophies and prizes presented by VOU Chairman Colin Davies (breakdown below), great freebies from Protexin thanks to VOU member Jess Blackford and a fun quiz given in a unique style by Sarah Canning. Thank you to the Clytha Arms for their hospitality and great food for everyone.
Prizewinners
Lauren Pardoe - Best VOU Member 2016 for all her volunteering & competing
Becky Pugh - VOU Best Rider who can turn her hoof to anything
Kelly Jones - VOU Best Championship Rider
Ruth Gregory - VOU Best Team Member
Liz Lucas – VOU Best Dressage
Coral Ducroq – VOU Best Turned Out
Cerys Davies – VOU Bravest Rider
Rita Pugh - VOU Best Mum
Alison Payne – VOU Most Determined Rider
Best VOU Bacon butties – Jackie & David Jones
VOU Cutest Bottom – Eric the cob who went to the dressage qualifiers after not being ridden for 16 months.
Out and about
Jess Blackford - VOU Best Eventing & SJ
Ellen Whittingham and Claire Nowicka Price were both VOU Best Dressage, for their My Quest successes
Willberry Wonder Pony
A massive thank you to everyone who helped and came along to the Jon Stroud talk last night. Absolutely amazing! Never seen before footage of Valegro at home and being galloped by Charlotte through the fields, photos of Carl juggling competing and coaching at Rio and the behind the scenes moment when Peter Skelton realised he’d got gold. A fantastic presentation for a fantastic cause. The charity has a lot of events and announcements planned locally and Jon has promised to keep us all updated and involved.
BRC opportunity for Vale of Usk members
The Grassroots Points League is a new opportunity for all BRC Members. All Dressage (Walk & Trot and Prelim Level) and Show Jumping (60cms & 70cms) competitors can gain points at BRC Club organised competitions. Area Qualifiers and National Level competitions will not count. Points can be gained when competing at BRC Club organised competitions only. More info at http://www.bhs.org.uk/enjoy-riding/british-riding-clubs/brc-assessments-and-training/brc-points-league
Combined Training
A great opportunity for club members!
British Riding Clubs are teaming up with BD to allow Vale of Usk RC members to compete at BD Combined Training Events. This is an exciting opportunity for competitors to compete in Combined Training at prelim dressage and SJ heights 70 and 80cms and novice dressage tests with SJ at 90cm and 100cm. Any paid member of BRC will be able to enter these competitions with the chance to qualify for two finals held over May bank holiday 2017.
http://www.britishdressage.co.uk/news/show/2772-combined-training-jumps-back-onto-bd-calendar
Showing demo
thank you everyone who turned out to the showing demonstration by Andrew Williams at Goytre. It was a really informative and fun evening and a big thanks to the riders who braved being critiqued!
Dressage qualifiers
Sarah Canning writes: “Wow what a fab day at Broomes. Thank you to Cricklands and Hannah, what a fab relaxed day
“Liz Lucas was 1st in the novice, Cerys Davies 4th in prelim. Colin Davies, Lorna Davis (welcome on your VOU RC debut!), Kelly Jones & Judith Powell did fab tests I'm so proud of you all
“Team was 6th we only had three in one team as we had to pull out lame horses. Ellen Whittingham you were missed.
“Huge thanks to Kelly Jones who’s own horse is ill so she brought her mum’s cob Eric out of retirement and took him with just three days’ notice.
“Poor Eric! He was scared of everything snorting like a beast but somehow manged to stay between the white boards and pull off a 62.59 % test. – although he was very surprised he did so well.
“But it's not about the rosettes or the placings, it’s about the people and the friends in our club and in other area 15 clubs. I'm proud to be a riding club member. Thank you everyone that gave up your day to steward and help.”
Congratulations
Congratulations to so many VOU RC members who reached the regional finals of the British Dressage My Quest and Team Quest. It was an amazing achievement in itself but have now qualified for the national championships.
These are Ruth Gregory, Becky Pugh, Claire Nowicka-Price, Sarah Canning, Liz Lucas and Ellen Whittingham. Not to mention Sarah’s 12-year-old daughter Millie Cottrell who qualified for the championships too in the BYRDS section, despite having a tough few months.
Congratulations to you all and good luck at Bury Farm on 28-30 October.
NAF BRC National Championships
Kelly Jones writes: “A huge thank you to everyone who braved the soggy weather conditions at Lincoln last weekend!!
“We had some great rounds of show jumping over some beefy courses all the guys doing a great job. Unfortunately with me, Colin, Cerys and Becky having poles in the first round all but Colin decided against the 2nd round. (Colin did a fab job in 2nd round steering the big HB around a very muddy course!)
“Becky went on to brave the Intermediate Show Jumping but unfortunately no placing. Well done Becky that track was huge!! Ruthie and I did the style 75 and 85 Newb was a star and pulled off a score of 82 and got place 5th!
“And onto the dressage,, Liz and Dee had their differences in the warm up but really got it together and did a great test pulling off a 4th place in the Novice! Well done Liz! Prelim dressage Becky again, with Cerys, Ruth and myself did the dressage. Everyone did lovely tests and our team came just outside the placings in 13th. Newby did a fab test 73.58% and pulled off a win!!!
“Well done everyone you did a fab job in all the mud and rain!!
“Thank you to mam dad Rita Lauren an Jon for all your help we couldn’t do it without you! And not forgetting our great chairman's efforts on the BBQ!! Well done Colin and dad for getting that going and feeding us!!!” Kelly xx
S Wales and West of England Riding Clubs Championships
It was a great day for our riders. VOU got team 6th in dressage, while Ellen was 3rd individually and Becky Pugh 6th. Alison Payne was individually 9th in the Style Jumping on Rumba with a lovely round. Well done to everyone for braving the awful weather.
What an amazing day!
Everyone came home with a ribbon from NAF BRC Area 15 Summer Dressage national and regional qualfiers.
Prelim Team Blue - Coral, Rhianne Rebecca and Natalie came 6th in the national qualifiers.
Prelim Team Red – Kelly, Becky, Ellen and Lauren came 2nd in the national and 3rd in the regional qualifiers which means they are off to the regional finals at Hartpury next month.
Becky was individual 2nd and Kelly was individual 5th and both qualified for the national finals, at Lincoln, in September.
We also had two individual riders competing for VOU RC. Alison Payne came second in the elementary dressage and third in the Novice Riding Test. She's qualified for the nationals, at Lincoln.
Liz Lucas won the Novice dressage and will go to the championships too for the VOU.
Congratulations!
What an amazing day! Jones, VOU Chef d’Equipe, said: “I’d like to say a huge well done to everyone who competed today we have had some great results and plenty of laughs along the way! Thank you all for a fab day!”
BRC Area 15 Horse Trials Qualifiers
What an awesome day at Sapey!!! Team Vale of Usk bringing home a 3rd place!!! Well done Colin Davies, Natalie Parsons, Ellen Whittingham, Alison Payne! Alison also getting individual 4th!
Fab job done by our individual riders too,, Kim Young, Angharad Lawrence and Jess Blackford. Top 10 placings for Angharad and Jess well done girls!!! Huge thank you for Ruth Gregory, Kelly Jones and Lauren Pardoe for giving up their day for our members to compete! It was a long day but well worth it to see the happy smiley faces of our members out enjoying themselves! Thank everyone who competed for us and very well done!!!
FOTH Championships
Well done to the VOU RC team who took part the national championships of The BRC Horseyx Senior Combined Training last weekend. They were Kelly Jones, Becky Pugh, Ruth Gregory and Judith Powell.
Team member Kelly Jones writes: “We had a fabulous couple days. Becky, Ruth and I travelled up on Saturday, got the horses settled in then had a lovely evening around the BBQ with team helper Lauren and some proud parents!!
“On Sunday all horses and riders handled the pressure of the big occasion very well, after a few excitable moments in the spooky dressage warm up we all managed lovely tests all scoring 31/33 penalties!
“Onto the show jumping! Ruthie found 5th gear with her lovely Silver and jumped a great round inside the time rolling just one pole! Next up were Becky and Derrow, a lovely round just rolling one pole and a sneaky one time fault! Unfortunately the one pole down was catching and we continued the trend with me and Newbs having one down inside the time and poor Judith rolled two and had a couple time.
“But great rounds over a tough twisty and very bright, dressed up course with a tight time allowed!!
“We ended up just outside the placings in a decent 12th place!!! Newby and I did manage to hang on to 10th place and brought home a ribbon. Becky and Ruth just missing out in 13th and 11th place 😕
“I like to say a massive thank you to the club for its support, making these type of occasions possible to us members and also a massive thank you to Lauren Pardoe for giving up her weekend to come along to support us and be our volunteer/helper.
“Thank you to my team mates, Ruth, Becky Judith for a great weekend.”
British Riding Clubs training videos
Please find the links below for the videos for Riding Test and Style Jumping
BRC Riding Tests - Understanding and Improving Performance
https://youtu.be/Mjio6BkuH70
BRC Style Jumping - Understanding and Improving Performance
https://youtu.be/H5bBcCI274g
