www.westwalesridingclub.co.uk

Welcome to West Wales Riding Club! 

Some News

Combined Training Photos - Anna Rudge is currently setting up a website which should be ready in the next week. As soon as it's ready I'll put a link on here so you can view the fab photos of you competing!

Congratulations to our dressage and show jumping teams who went up to Hartpury to represent the club at the national champs. The teams consisted of Jill Ridge, Catrin Owen, Kate Gillam and Louise Wheeler with Catrin's husband acting as Chef D'Equipe (despite his allergy to horses!). The Show Jumping team came a very commendable 9th overall and Catrin Owen came 10th individually in the dressage. Well done to all!

Photos from the Area Qualifiers are available from Storm Development at the following links:

http://www.storm-development.co.uk/equine-events/moor-farm/dressage

http://www.storm-development.co.uk/equine-events/moor-farm/show-jumping/march-3rd-area-21

Festival of the Horse Hunter Trials being held at Alps Court, Cardiff on Sunday 7th April, 2013. Shelley is acting as co-ordinator and Chef d'equipe for this.  You will need to give her your name by Tuesday 12th March as preliminary entries have to be received by BRC HQ by the 15th.  The fee shown on the schedule does not include the cost of initial entry to BRC HQ.   Please contact Shelley for further information - shelleyhigham@rocketmail.com or phone 07974777107/01437 541411.

10th March Dressage - the Intro 3 in this competition is not a W&T test. It includes a small amount of canter and is designed for those wanting to progress to Prelim but who are not quite ready for a full Prelim test. It also offers some variety from the usual Intro 1 and Intro 2. The test is available on the Downloads page.

Area 21 aren't running a Festival of the Hunter qualifying event, therefore wehave been invited to join the next Area's event ... schedule on Downloads page. 

BHS TREC Rulebook Updates 2013 are now available

Abbey Park, Stareton, Kenilworth, Warwickshire  CV8 2XZ
Tel: 02476 840591  •  email: competitions@bhs.org.uk
www.bhs.org.uk

A messgae from BHS:
You may have seen the recent news stories concerning an outbreak of Equine Herpes Virus (EHV 1) in Gloucestershire. Two horses have been shown to have the neurological form of the disease and one the respiratory form. It appears that others are also showing signs but have yet to be definitively diagnosed.
Although not a legally notifiable condition, EHV 1 is contagious and does have the potential to be quite a serious disease. Indeed, the neurological form can lead to paralysis. In most cases, EHV 1 is spread via respiratory transmission so wherever horses are brought together from different yards there is the possibility for the disease to spread if one of the horses present is affected. For this reason the Heythrop have very responsibly suspended hunting for a week.It is important to be aware that the risk of your horse contracting EHV 1 is very small and there is certainly no need to panic. However, as with any disease, spotting it early is the best thing for your horse so the BHS felt it would be useful to provide a short refresher on EHV 1 and its signs. For most people this will just be precautionary information but the recommendation is that anyone who has hunted with the Heythrop since 24 January should put their horse into quarantine for a minimum of 10 days. The same should apply for all horses on the same yard, even if they have not been hunting.Although aimed at a different disease (Strangles) our STEPS leaflet provides lots of useful information about quarantining and isolating horses.
Many of the clinical signs of EHV 1 can be confused with other diseases. A high temperature is a key indicator and it is essential to monitor the temperature of ‘at risk’ horses. Affected horses will tend to be disinterested and off their food, as well as showing typical respiratory disease signs such as coughing and a nasal discharge. If a horse is affected by the neurological form of the disease you may see some incoordination or just general ‘wobbliness’.
Should you have any concerns at all that your horse may be affected please contact your vet immediately.
The BHS is part of the group that produces the HBLB Codes of Practice. There is much helpful information about EHV in the Codes which you can access here.
If anyone has any further concerns about EHV or would like more information, please contact our BHS Welfare Team on 02476 840517 or email welfare@bhs.org.uk

We have had a message from Vicki White, a sports massage therapist who  has recently moved to the area. She is offering sports massage services to riders and has found that riders need to be educated about injury prevention to get the best out of their training. She has discovered that riders tend to suffer from incredibly tight lower backs, gluts and inner thighs. 

Please see the below message from Horse Watch!

Hope all is well in the rural community and that you enjoyed your Christmas? We have been experiencing a few rural thefts lately, mainly opportunist with items taken from farm yards that were highly visible in some instances, so can I take this opportunity to request that you lock things up and keep things out of view. Most of you have your regular scrap collectors that you deal with, but can I please remind you that the laws have now changed regarding transportation and transaction of scrap, we are keeping regular checks of our scrap dealers and stop-checking vehicles regularly. I would urge you to take number plates, dates and times and forward on to us please so we can monitor any illegal or suspicious incidents.

We are also experiencing problems again with loose horses in our county. These horses tend to be coloured and are owned by the gypsy fraternity, but are generally kept on farmers land with or without consent. I would like to bring to your attention the below as farm owners are deemed liable if they escape and cause criminal damage. We would encourage you to think twice before allowing the horses there in the first place as once placed on your land it then becomes very difficult to get paid and also have them removed. Please read the below message which has been sent from SWP from our partners in Community Safety:

 “It has been identified that a number of persons who own and breed horses will approach farmers with a view to rent land to lodge their horses. An agreement will be made with regards to rental costs. These persons will pay an initial fee however will not pay over any more money. Once the horses are on the land the onus is then on the farmer to look after the horses thereby incurring huge costs.

 The original owner of the horses will then attend the farm after a number of months with a view to recovering the horses without paying the outstanding fees. They will use intimidation and threats to recover the horses.

 Farmers should therefore be wary of the tactics being employed and should only consider renting land to persons they know or have been vouched for.”

 In addition to the above I would ask that you keep a watchful eye on these coloured horses that are usually seen in very large herds in fields around our county. If you have any concerns for their welfare, especially at this time of year when grass is in short supply and the fields are so very wet and muddy, please contact us direct and we can alert the RSPCA as we have a good working relationship with them and you can remain anonymous! Either email or ring via the 101 number to bring to my attention, also inform all of your “equine” friends and family of the above messages and spread the word around.

 Haverfordwest Rural NPT

Report from British Riding Club British Eventing 80 Training National Championships held at Brooksby College, Melton Mowbray, 23.09.12
 
In only her first full season competing at British Eventing West Wales Riding club member Catrin Owen Weatherall and her lovely Steve qualified for the National Championships at BE80T level. On 23rd September 2012, they travelled the long distance to Melton Mowbray to contest their first national eventing championships. The dressage didn't go exactly to plan with nerves kicking in, but on a positive note she did remember the test! However, with their usual style the jumping phases were excellent with an unlucky pole in the showjumping complimented by a storming clear cross country inside the optimum time. Overall she finished a commendable 15th, having thoroughly enjoyed the experience and leaving with the attitiude 'I'll do better next year!!'
 
These BE80T classes are run at a number of venues around the UK with the successful riding club combinations qualifying for the national championships. These classes are aimed at introducing people to eventing and support is available throughout the event to help you. Anyone interested can get further information via the BE website or have a chat to Catrin at any of the RC events.