When I arrived I was allocated a room and time to unpack, I then had to say goodbye to my mum and go for lunch. The first day was filled with lectures etc. and time to settle in. Tuesday morning at 6:30 was straight down the yard and muck out. We also rode too, I rode Arius , a chestnut gelding with a little attitude. We only done walk as some people on my course are slight beginners. At the end of each day you have dinner at 5pm, lectures at 6:45 ( apart from Friday , Saturday and Sunday's) and then block jobs at 8:30 ( hoovering, emptying bins etc. ) you can then go to bed and lights are out at 10:30pm. Every morning the advanced course wake up at 5:30am to start working at 6am and the beginners wake up at 6am to be on the yard at 6:30am. We then had one stable to muck out and one horse to ride for the first few days, and then the next few days we had two stables to muck out in the morning.
Most of the riding is learning about bridging your reins, the right position to have and riding correctly. At the moment we are doing a lot of trotting and no stirrups work, it's really beneficial, even though it makes your arse ache! On Saturday I as given a wheelbarrow ( thank god ) and three horses to muck out and also two lots to ride. I rode Woolston Ferry and Le Corvee - two lovely rides !! Hopefully we can start cantering this week or next week. Saturday lunchtime was also our fitness test - I passed the sit ups and press ups but failed my run by 15 seconds! I was still chuffed and 15 seconds is easily fixable.
Sunday we had a lie in and only had to be out on the yard at 7:30am, which was lovely! I had the same three to muck out, Bibiana Bay (BB) , Ellemujie and Tanager. My course then had breakfast and went to the forest for some team building , it was like go ape but a rubbish version! Was good fun though. We then came back in time for evening stables at 3:30pm and finished the yard at 5pm.
I've really settled in here and everyone is so lovely, the advanced group ( course 287 ) have so many stories to tell about their 8 weeks so far and they're all lovely to get along with - especially Evie :D ( Dillan and Cal of course )
Tomorrow we start the same time as the advanced group at 6am, riding two lots and doing the real hard work! I can't wait !
I will keep you all updated and post weekly if possible.
Bec x