News and Views Page
Titlington Sale Day
Titlington Training & Demonstration Centre will hold a "Sale Day" in March 2010, when sellers can bring horses, ponies, tack to Titlington, have full use of all arena facilities (show jumps and dressage) to work horses, to show their potential to interested buyers. To advertise on the website prior to the sale, pictures and details can be sent to me (Jane Patterson) by emailing - Sienna226@hotmail.com
After only 2 enquiries and all the bad weather we have no choice but to postpone the Sale until further notice, but the indoor school is always available should anyone wish to show their horse to a prospective buyer.
Corbridge & District Riding Club Summer Camp at Titlington
As a new member of CDRC, I quickly signed up to Titlington summer riding camp. To me, this represented an opportunity to meet new members, improve my riding and have a weekend away from being a teacher, mother and wife. Married to a chef and having zero cooking skills (my children always look suspicious if I have cooked the food), I managed to convince my husband that it would be a good idea if he did the food for everyone for the Saturday night BBQ (at least I knew I wouldn't starve). I was also delighted to take the camping bit out of the equation and be one of the four people, along with Caroline, Penny and Judith who stayed in the on site cottage (spotlessly clean and very comfortable).My excitment for camp was still tinged with some anxiety. Would Titlington Training and Demonstration Centre be easy to find? Would my pony, Tasmin, a dominant and bossy mare settle, or would she be the "Tit of Titlington"? What if my level of riding was horribly different to everyone else's (as in much lower!) and I ended up a screaming wreck?
I can honestly say that all those anxieties were totally unfounded. Firstly Titlington, near Alnwick is easy to find and has everything you could wish for: good hacking countryside (which Anne May, Caroline and I tested when we arrived Friday afternoon), a huge indoor arena, two outdoor arenas and cross country course.
Vera, owner of Titlington, organised outside paddocks and stables and all the horses settled incredibly well. Secondly, Penny who organised the camp, sends out a detailed questionnaire before camp in order to allocate horse and rider in the right group for ability and interest. In terms of ability, I classified myself as a competent rider, but nothing wonderful. What was great was the support from other members. We all watched lessons when we weren't having ours and noone was bitchy or critical. "I thought she said her horse had a nice outline" or "that's an interesting riding position", were not the kind of comments ever said or heard. There was genuine encouragement of one another. The instructors, Wendy Murray and Margot Tiffany also had a knack of sussing out horse and rider quickly and despite being in groups of 3/4 for most lessons; I felt I did receive a fair bit of individual tuition.
As we all sat down together on Saturday night (some members showing particular innovative and artistic ability and making hats out of paper napkins and newspapers to avoid the mosquitoes), the mist settled and you could just see the hills and outlines of the trees surrounding us - a truly magical sight. Food, alcohol and laughter were plentiful and most awoke on Sunday feeling a little tired around the edges.
The instructors sensed the need to remove the pressure and Margot's afternoon flatwork lesson turned into formation riding or what was supposed to be formation riding, but some wheels lacked a distinctly wheel-like shape and riders veered towards each other in car crash style! However it was of enormous entertainment value to both spectators and riders alike.
Thank you to Penny, for a meticulously well organised camp and to Vera for the venue. See you all at next year's camp,
Susannah and Tasmin (and yes, my husband will do the food again!) CDRC
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