Suffolk Police said it appeared that several people had been run over at the town’s Nowton Park, with one person potentially in a critical condition.

The police said that up to another 10 people may have been injured, many with back or abdominal injuries.

They are now appealing for witnesses.

The police said that the person most seriously injured was a woman thought to be in her 40s.

They added that she “is believed to have sustained life threatening injuries”, and is being taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.

Seven other injured people have been taken to West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds.

The police added that the up to 10 other people who were injured may have made their own way to hospital.

source: bbc

Jack lost his rear right leg in an accident last year but still pulls his weight on Ian and Ruth Rees’s Powys farm.

They entered him in the canine competition run by the National Farmers Union (NFU).

NFU Cymru president Ed Bailey said the judges were impressed by Jack’s tenacity and battle against adversity.

The Rees family sent in a photo of Jack and explained in 150 words why Jack should be named top dog in the competition.

They told how Jack has suffered a serious leg injury last year resulting in the amputation but had recovered well enough to carry on working.

source/full story: bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-13287982

The venue is beautiful, set in glorious countryside in the grounds of Hampton Court, near Leomister an old castle with expansive gardens worth meandering in.  Weather permitting it will be a great day out for all the family.

You can find out more information about Herefordshire and Distric Driving Group by visiting their website. A full schedue of events at the spring show can be viewed here.

Thursday
Mitsubishi’s badminton horse trials is one of the greatest three day events around. The competition took place from the 21st April 2011 till 25th April.
The first day (Thursday) is the grassroots event, on Friday and Saturday dressage will take place, Easter Sunday will be cross contry and the final will be on on Monday in the form of show jumping.
Badminton is not usually held on Easter weekend but this year organizers ensured that the event was not held at the same time as the American equivalent in Kentucky.

17:39

Marina Kohncke and Calma Schelly have succeeded in overtaking Laura Collet and pushing her to 2nd . Sam Griffiths is sitting in 3rd . Niklas Lindback is T 4th.Andrew Nicholson is currently in fifth and Fox-Pitt and Navigator have navigated their way off the top five.

Tomorrow the show jumping will decide all. Who will win the gruelling challenges of badminton, and go home £60,000 richer?
Last year, in 2010 Paul Tapner took the lead and after the show jumping it was established that he was the winner, with Inonnothing. This year, he’s back with kilfinnie II because last year he was on the Australian WEG team and Inonothing was injured during the cross country phase. He had a chipped patella, but is expected to recover fully.

This year, between 80 and 100 competitors are riding, but some horses will be withdrawn if they suffer an injury, or turn out stiff during the trot – up, and there will be some falls during the cross country so by the end of it the numbers will have dwindled.

FRIDAY/SATURDAY
These two days are dressage. The arena is 20 x 60 metres and riders must perform a seven and a half minute long test. The percentage is good marks and the penalty points are bad marks. Penalty points are awarded for movements that are not performed, or performed insufficiently. Each movement is given marks out of 10.
0. not performed
1. very bad
2. bad
3. fairly bad
4. insufficient
5. sufficient
6. satisfactory
7. fairly good
8. good
9. very good
10. excellent

The first dressage day is over, some riders still have a test to do, but the riders who went yesterday can only look at the leader board and wish that the were at the top. The delighted laura collet is now leading, on her horse Rayef. Tomorrow Laura collet will be uner extrsa pressure to keep the top spot. If she can thrive, and perform well under this pressure, the win of £60,000 could be hers.

23rd April 2011
Ruth Edge snatches the lead with Two Thyme, Piggy French slots in behind her and pushes the young woman who was so hopeful this morning into 3rd place.

Not all is lost, Collet can still win, if she can beat Edge, French and all other up and coming competitors during the cross country, and keep that lead during the show jumping.

Ruth Edge and her horse have a very good score of 33.3 penalties in their dressage test and are currently carrying the largest chance in the cross country tomorrow..
Pippa Funnel has withdrawn Redesigned and and Oliver Townend originally entered four horses, but only one, Ashdale Cruise Master, is still in the competition.

11:30

The three time badminton winner Pippa Funnel has withdrawn her second horse. She withdrew Mirage D’Elle because she had her doubts about running the less experienced horse after having to withdraw Redesigned due to him not being 100% sound.

About half an hour to go till the start of the cross country!!
13:09 Laura Collet and Rayef are back on top! Andrew Nicholson, who was the first to go has been pushed to 2nd place while William Fox-Pitt and Navigator have not succeeded in navigating to top spot, but are sitting in a fairly promising 3rd.

Monday

07:55
Ruth Edge and Two Thyme, who were in such a promising place at one point have been eliminated after the cross country.

Mark Todd has taken the lead leaving

Marina Kohncke in 2nd

Nicola Wilson is 3rd

Andrew Nicholson is now 4th and

Piggy French lies 5th

16:45

Results 2011

NZB Land Vision has carried Todd to success!!!

Mark Todd is the winner of Mitsubishi’s Badminton horse trials!!!

2^nd Piggy french- Jakata

3^rd Mary King  – Imperial Cavalier

4^th Sam Griffiths -Happy Times

5^th Niklas Lindback- Mister Pooh

6^th Caroline Powell -Lenamore

7^th Nicola Wilson  -Opposition Buzz

8^th Laura Collett -Rayef

9^th Marina Kohncke -Calma Schelly

10^th Andrew Nicholson – Avebury

During the debate of the hunting foxes with hound bill of 2002, almost half a million people marched from countryside allover UK to Westminster to register their protest against the bill. Though the bill eventually became law in 2004 but not until over 600 hours of parliamentary time was spend on debating it.

Hunting is a uniquely countryside sport and and industry that keeps thousands of rural dweller in jobs.

On Sunday, the 9th of March 2010 the annual Carriage Driving Spring Show organised by the Hereford District Driving Group (HDDG) took place at Hampton Court in Hope under Dinmore in Herefordshire.
Set against a scenic backdrop of lush countryside and beautiful rolling hills about 20 turnouts were competing in the show ring in various different classes.
Gleaming horses and Ponies, meticulously scrubbed and painted carriages and immaculately dressed whips and grooms as well as the spectators enjoyed a sunny day. Cows and their calves were grazing in the adjoining field, curiously observing the spectacle which was a test of nerves for some of the more flighty horses.
The judges had a hard job awarding Rosettes and cups, as all the turnouts were stunning in their own right. Two of the participants brought their Dalmation dogs along into the show ring to run next to or under the carriage at the back of the vehicle. This breed of dogs was traditionally used to accompany carriages for their protection, especially at night.

Show Schedule

The show schedule was made up of the following classes:

1. Novice and disabled whips
2. Veteran classes
3. Ride and drive (part one)
4. Pure bred registered Welsh
5. Ride and drive (part two)
6. Concour d’Elegance
7. Junior driver
8. Exercise vehicle up to 13.2hh
9. Exercises vehicle over 13.2hh
10.Coloured horses and ponies
11.Private driving

For those spectators wishing to have a break from watching horses and ponies there was the option of strolling over to Hampton Court Castle or visiting the magnificent gardens surrounding the castle.
Overall the event was a very enjoyable day out for all the family and certainly something I will look forward to doing again next year.

The 3-day event sponsored by Mitsubishi motors puts bother horses and riders through their paces in three different events including cross country, dressage and show jumping. The event attracts eventers from allover the world. The 2010 Badminton horse trials expects participants such as two-time Olympic gold medallist and 3 times Badminton winner Mark Todd of New Zealand and his compatriot Andrew Nicholson.

Badminton horse trials starts with dressage, followed by cross country and concluded with showjumping.

You can find more information about the event at Badminton Horse Trials homepage.

Preparing for your first lesson
You should get to the riding school at least half an hour before you are due to start, you should consider booking your lessons in such a way that you are not the first pupil of the day, getting there half an hour early would probably mean that you will see the student before you still riding, watch other riders riding and listening to the instruction the instructor is giving usually help calm and prepare novice riders.

What to wear to your first riding lesson
You will find a list of the clothing and footwear you need for your first riding lesson below. You should not rush out to your nearest tack shop and buy all the equitment until you are absolutely certain you want to continue with horse riding, if you buy the equipment and clothing and then discontinue learning to ride a horse, you would have wasted a lot of money so it may be advisable to hire or borrow some or most of the clothing and equipment for a few lessons, once you are certain riding is for you, you can then buy your own clothing and equipment.

Riding hat: Just like cyclist and motocyclist wear crash helments when riding, horse riders must wear a riding hat when riding to protect their head in case of an accident. The riding hat you buy or borrow must conform to current British Horse Society (bhs) standards such as BS EN1384.
For young riders, buying a second hand riding hat could be an option, because children outgrow riding hat and other equipment quickly, you may find some quality second-hand riding hats for children. But some people say it is unadvisable for any body buy second hand riding hats as they may be be broken inside.

Body protectors: While body protectors are not mandatory, it is advisable to wear one as it reduces the risk of serious injury should you fall during your riding lesson. For phases like cross country they are essential but your first lesson certainly will not involve cross country.

Riding trousers (Jodhpurs/breeches): Though Jodhpurs are the ideal riding trousers, any close-fitting trousers that allow you freedom of movement and protect your skin from getting sore from rubbing agains the saddle is adequate. Avoice trousers such as jogging bottoms or other material made from nylon or related materials.

Riding boots: You can choose the long knee lenght boots or jodhpur boots providers protection for the feet and ankle. As a beginner, you may also use any sturdy shooes with stout heels such as walking boots. The one pair of shoes you should not consider wearing for your riding lesson are trainers.

One of the suggestions relationship counsellors tends to make to couples who are growing apart in their relationship is to do something they would both enjoy together. Relationship counsellors tends to suggest things like dancing, yoga and other new hobbies. One of the things that is not often suggested which couples that are growing apart could benefit from is learning to ride a horse.

Horse riding is one of the most exciting recreational sports you can think of, especially if you live in or near a rural area. Though couples who are growing apart from the complacency that tends to arise in a long term relationship would benefit from learning to ride together, couples who has just found love together (preferably via our site Horse Lovers Dating) should consider learning to ride horse together as well, it could help get the new relationship to a very Strong start from spending time together learning a new exciting pastime such as horse ridding.

This article will explore learning to ride a horse step-by-step beginning from the very first thing you need to do once you have both decided to take horse riding lessons together; choosing a ridding school.

You can find the nearest ridding school by doing a quick search on the Internet, you can also look in your local newspaper for the ridding school nearest to you. Haven identified the nearest ridding school, you need to find our if they offer lessons to complete beginners, availability of ridding instructors and prices. Usually when you book several lessons in advance you may get a discount. Group booking also tends to be cheaper than one to one tuition but you get much more out of one to one tuition than group lessons. The next article in this series will look into how to prepare for your first ridding lesson.

The decision follows a comprehensive review of the sport and has been welcomed by animal welfare groups.

However, members of the racing industry have reacted with anger, calling it “unbelievable” and “appalling”.

Racing’s governing body in Victoria had conceded that the sport was in decline because of mounting safety concerns.

Furious response

Animal rights campaigners have described racing over hurdles and fences as not only shameful and barbaric but “morally wrong”.

An official review of the industry last year recommended a raft of new safety measures, all of which were adopted by authorities in Victoria.

Despite the changes, the fatalities have continued, with eight horses dying in races this season.

The deaths prompted an urgent investigation, which has resulted in the banning of the sport.

It has drawn a furious response from some owners, trainers and jockeys.

Steeplechase events in Victoria will go on for another year in an attempt to soften the impact of their abolition on those involved.

Neighbouring South Australia, the only other state in the country that allows jump racing, has said its programme will continue and hopes to attract trainers and horses from Victoria.

However, officials in South Australia are not celebrating and have expressed deep concerns about the long-term viability of their steeplechasing industry.