Activity Instructors have a go!

On Thursday evening after we had said goodbye to our guests for the day some of the activity instructors came to the stables to try their hand at horse riding. Alice was their instructor for the evening.

Brin and Teddy were called into action for this task as they are both really good at helping people who haven’t ridden much before.

Now as you all probably know the activity instructors do all kinds of things like climbing, abseiling, archery, canoeing and biking.  Teddy said that they all did really well riding, but a couple of them looked slightly out of their comfort zone! 

Teddy and Brin soon put them right on how to get the best out of a horse; he said the main and most important difference between horses and all the other activities is that horses have a brain and can think for themselves!

By the end of the evening all the instructors had tried out steering and stopping and had a little go at trotting.  Not as easy as it looks hey guys?!

Now all us horses and ponies have been chatting about this and we think we need to speak to one of the instructors and ask them to get the stables staff to try something they haven’t done before; we would like to see them have a go at something new to keep them on their toes!

Sometimes humans can be very strange creatures!

Dressed up for Dressage

Last week Henry and Hendrix were chosen to go out to represent Calvert Trust Exmoor Stables at Mullacott Event Centre. 

They were plaited up and groomed to look really shiny on Wednesday evening so we knew something was going on. 

Kerri and Richard suddenly appeared looking very smart indeed with show jackets and jodhpurs on. Nicky loaded Henry and Hendrix into the trailer and Kerri and Richard put their tack in the minibus.Off they went and we waited to hear all about it when they got back.

Several hours later they all arrived with smiling faces and two red rosettes!!  Henry and Hendrix had managed to be placed joint first in their class!  

Nicky said she was really proud of both of them and Kerri and Richard because it was the first show away from Calvert that Henry and Hendrix had ever done.

Richard on Henry and Kerri on Hendrix at the show

Henry was his usual chilled out self about the whole thing. 

Hendrix of course let everyone know how fantastic he had been at the show and that he was now to be considered the best pony on earth.  Rooster soon put him straight by telling him how many races he had won!

Tidy up time for Teddy

My buddy Teddy has been looking rather hairy lately.  He is quite an old chap, (don’t tell him I said that!), this means that he hangs onto his really woolly winter coat for ages and ages.

We are all losing hair at the moment but Teddy had obviously decided that it might still snow and was not really shedding any hair.  it has been so warm the last couple of weeks he has been suffering a little bit in the heat, so Nicky decided it was time to take action and get the clippers out. 

Teddy post-clipping, looking rather dapper!

Teddy has had an all over clip, with one little exception.  Teddy now is sporting a love heart on his bottom!  I am sure he feels much better since his haircut but I am not sure how he feels about the heart.  All the staff love him though so I guess it is quite a fitting tribute for him. 

Teddy's heart...

On the Horse Weekend things went one step further when Kerri got the paint out – Teddy soon had a blue heart! As you can see this made it stand out even more!

...and now its Blue!

Fun and Games with Midland Heart

This week we have had a large group of people here from an organisation called Midland Heart.  They have all been to visit us in the stables and have had a great time.

 They all had to work together in teams to learn about us equines, they had a go at tacking up their horses for riding with help from our volunteers.  They also helped to lead the horses while other members of their team were riding them. 

Some of them were really scared of horses at the beginning of their session but soon got used to being around us with help from yours truly and all the other lovely horses here.  It was great to see those who were a bit worried at the start get on a horse and have a brilliant time.

Brin in particular was very popular, he seemed to gain a lot of new fans this week; he's a big handsome fellow, but I'm always going to come tops as I will always be cuter!

Brin in action in the outdoor arena

Driving Demonstration

Last Friday night it was time for the driving team to show off their skills once more.  Nicky, Duchess and Hendrix put on a demonstration for the North Devon Riding Club.  Some of the riding club members came along to see what was involved in carriage driving.

All the riding club members have their own horses but not many of them do carriage driving with their horses, they are mostly riding horses. Nicky, Kerri and Alice got Duchess ready first.  She was harnessed up and did a demonstration in the outdoor arena with Nicky driving her in the four wheeled carriage. They showed how to navigate around a course of cones.

Some of the people who had come to watch had a go at standing on the back step of the carriage while Duchess was trotting – this is great fun as the person on the back has to lean around the corners to help to keep the carriage balanced. I would like to try it but sadly I don’t think my four feet would fit on the step!

Duchess at full speed (photo kindly provided by North Devon Riding Club)

Nicky explained to everyone the difference between holding the reins for carriage driving and holding the reins for riding.  Some of the riding club members had a practice at holding carriage driving reins with “Bob”, the training horse in the yard.  

Bob the training horse

This was actually quite tricky for them, because they are all used to holding riding reins. Then it was time for Hendrix to show his stuff.  He was harnessed up and put to the 2 wheeler carriage. Hendrix had two sets of reins on so that a few people could have a little go at driving with Nicky. 

Hendrix said that all the people thought he was marvellous; but then he would say that wouldn’t he?  I did roll my eyes at him! 
The riding club very kindly gave a donation to Calvert Trust Exmoor at the end of the evening. Maybe some of them will now want to try carriage driving. We horses are so versatile and fantastic at doing different things; got to go now, I feel an agility workout is on the cards for me! 

Open Day

Last Monday we had an Open Day at Calvert Trust Exmoor. These days are always very busy but great fun. 

This time the weather was really great; we had a day filled with sunshine.  Most of us horses and ponies had a lovely day out in the field but two special horses were working hard.

Duchess and Hendrix spent the day giving carriage rides to people who had come to spend the day here.  Duchess and Hendrix shared the workload between them although if you listened to Hendrix you would think he did it all himself!  As it was such a hot day and they are both black horses they did feel the heat of the sun so each time they had finished their turn pulling the carriage they had a lovely shower to cool them down.

Duchess hard at work

Duchess tells me they also had plenty of food to keep them going all day, I am sure Hendrix was glad about that.  The Open Day is a great opportunity for local people to come and see us.  They can learn a little bit about what the Calvert Trust does and can also have a go at some of the activities. 

Teddy was out in the field which looks over the reservoir all day with some of the other horses and he said they all watched people on the boats all day enjoying the sun. 

Open Day Visitors enjoying the boats

Horse Weekend Fun

We recently had another lovely Horse Weekend.

One of our regular visitors Bryony came with her friend and also a group of four young ladies came to stay with us and have fun in the stables. We were all pleased that the weather was good as it is always nice for us and the guests to get out in the sunshine.

Bryony and her friend, with some of our lovely volunteers too

Our guests all helped to feed us and muck out our stables, Tana was very good at pushing the wheelbarrow. On Saturday I had a bath which was lovely, its certainly helping my winter coat to come out. On Sunday Teddy and Henry had a good time practising a dressage test with two of our guests. Teddy was made to look especially smart with some plaits and ribbons in his mane.

Teddy showing off his plaits and ribbons

He did perform his dressage test wearing these, but one fell out during the test so Kerri used it as a cheerleading ribbon!

Kerri Cheerleading! 'Go Teddy Go, rah rah rah!'

Some of the guests also had fun with Hendrix and his carriage; as the weather was good they all had a carriage drive outside along the track. Hendrix told me he had worked really hard, but then he always thinks he has worked hard! In my opinion he doesn’t do any more than any of the other horses and ponies. 

I did some agility with Bryony on Sunday too which is always fun, I love to show of my skills to people.  At the end of the day our visitors went home tired but happy with their rosettes and certificates. A job well done once again by all the Calvert Equines!