There are many different riding disciplines ranging from simple local shows to top class eventing.

Although most shows have a certain dress code, for local shows you can get away with smartly dressed, but anything higher you need to wear a proper show coat, long boots, beige jodhpurs, and certainly a riding hat with smart cover up to the current BHS or BSI standard, (if you are doing cross country body protector is an absolute must.)

One day event
A one day event is for those who are not at top level quite yet.
Iti s a mini version of three day eventing, and is dressage, cross country and showjumping all in one day.
The cross country is about twenty jumps long and stretched over several fields, the dressage is about two minutes long, and the showjumping about fifteen jumps long.

Eventing
The first discipline is dressage where the horse performs complex movements, the second is cross country and the third is showjumping.
The showjumping course is high and spooky and the horse is expected to jump clear without time faults, knocked rails, runouts and refusals. The cross country consists of barrels, solid wooden jumps and drops into water.

Jump cross
if you want to have a go at cross country but dare not risk your horse on the hard jumps, try jump cross, knockable show jump like jumps in across country situation.

Polo
At top level,Polo is a sport involving specially trained and bred polo ponies, and riders with their ‘mallets’.
There are two teams and each team are made up of four players. They play in a special polo field with a 3 inch ball of willow and bamboo which needs to be scored between the goal postsof the opposing team.
The game is divided into 71-2 mins long parts or ‘chukkas’ and each chukka has a three min interval afterwards.
You can play with your pony at a local club, but ponies must be agile and fit.

Endurance
For endurance ponies need ro be fit and healthy and have plenty of stamina. All breeds of horse and pony can be sufficiently fitenned to make endurance ponies but arabs are generally chosen because they are strong, willing and coragous.
Endurance ranges from pleaure rides beginning at about 10 miles going up to over 100 miles spread over several days.

For all of these riding disciplines ponies need to be fit, and have stamina.
Driving
Not strictly a riding discipline, carriage driving is done single, in pairs, in threes or in teams and requires skill and constant attention to the situation .
The harness looks daunting and complicated at first and must be correctly fitted. It istraditionally made of leather but now a days is made up of lots of man-made materials.

Countryside Blog

Western-Style Horse Riding – Cowboy style riding, not as bad as you think

Riding a horse (or doing anything else for that matter) cowboy-style tends to be a byword for not doing it correctly or properly hence the expression such as cowboy builders, cowboy plumbers etc. When the author of this article was learning to ride a horse at a riding centre in Herefordshire, one of the instructor’s way of rebuking his student for not holding the reins correctly or doing things incorrectly was to say “we do not want to ride cowboy style”.

An article in The Guardian of the 15th of August 2010 where a rider describes how she learn to ride a horse Western-Style seem to contradicts what the instructors at the ridding centre in Herefords seem to consider cowboy style ridding to be.

Describing Western Style riding, the rider describes how she was asked to slacken off the reins so that the horse has control of its own head and can see where its feet are going, this if very interesting and directly contradicts what English riding instructors tends to say which is to maintain rein contact .

One the whole the article on Western style riding seem to suggest a much more human and laid back way or riding which probably helps the rider enjoy riding more and the horse more freedom. Comparing English style riding and Western style riding Katherine Blocksdorf said ”

Western riding developed according to the needs of ‘cowboys’. The Western saddle is made to distribute weight more evenly over the horse’s back so horse and rider can counterbalance the weight of a roped cow. English riding takes many of its traditions and equipment from European mounted military styles”. If indeed most of our our riding schools in England takes their riding tradition from the Military, no wonder we are so strict about so many riding postures and position.

There are many western style riding centres in the UK, if you want to learn to chill out and learn to ride like a cowboy, you may want to visit some of them, list of some Western-Style riding centres in UK follows:

Western – Style Riding Centres

• Sycamore Ranch Western Riding Centre – http://www.sycamoresranch.com/show/english/contact_us.aspx
• Unicorn Trails Western Riding Holidays -  http://www.unicorntrails.com/ridecategories/westernridingholidays/
• Rocky’s Western Riding Adventures – http://www.rockyswesternadventures.co.uk/
• burlea Villa -  www.burleyvilla.co.uk
• Rock’s Western Ridding Adventures – www.rockywesternadventures.co.uk
• The Mendip Stud -  www.themendipstud.com
• Valley Farm – www.valleyfarmonline.co.uk
• Fairfield Stables – www.fairfieldstables.co.uk

Countryside Blog cowoy horse riding, western riding, western-riding centres Uk

Radion 4′s women magazine programme Woman’s hour is know for tackling issues dear to women’s heart from HRT in older women to various niches of dating for younger women. Woman’s hours seem to have been discussing dating issues especially dating that are now your usual man meet woman and they live happily ever after. Earlier this year there was a discussion about cougar dating, a term used to describe older women who prefer to date younger men. A few week ago, there was a discussion about married dating, also know as affairs dating. Today, Woman’s hour did yet another programme on dating, this time, its a very different kind of dating, one of the guest interviewed on the programme described it as Dating services for vegetables, it can also be called garden dating or gardening matchmaking services.

Garden Matchmaking is not what it appears to be. On hearing the name you probably have an image of a dating services introducing garden loving singles to one another but no, it is actually a service run by a group in Bristol which match people who has gardens but do not have time to look after it with people who would love to do some gardening but could not get an allotment nor have a garden of their own.

Garden Matchmaking is said to be working very well in Bristol where the group running the Garden Matchmaking services has been paring gardeners with garden owners. Both groups benefit, with the garden owner getting free gardening and the gardener getting to improve and get the fulfilment of having a garden to work on. The scheme is said not to be for garden owners who are very strict about what their garden must look like because the tenant gardener is given some creative freedom to do what he or she wants with the garden. The Garden Matchmaking services is said to have work very well, plans are in place to introduce it to other parts of England.

Countryside Blog dating services for gardeners, garden matchmaking, gardening matchmaking, online dating, soilmates, soulmates

The story below came from BBC website under the title “rural consumers less aware of money complaints process” but I prefer to call it “rural consumers do not moan as much as the city dwellers” its is an interesting article. The article focuses more on migrant workers who are usually temporary resident at rural areas, even if they are aware of how to complain, giving that the complaint process is very slow, most of them are probably back in their country before investigation into the complaint gets underway not to mention the language barrier which is a major issue for them:

People living in rural areas in the UK are less aware of their rights to complain about financial companies than those in towns, an ombudsman has said.

Those in urban areas have greater access to information about banking, insurance and investment complaints, the Financial Ombudsman said.

Rural residents were more likely to be low-paid or in seasonal work. Complaints include a Lithuanian farm worker who was offered translation by his bank – into Polish. Access to the internet was highlighted as a key reason why people might not be able to access consumer advice.

The new chief Financial Ombudsman, Natalie Ceeney, has been in the job for a month. The free ombudsman service is set up by law to settle complaints between consumers and financial businesses on anything from pawnbroking to mortgages.

As the service prepares an annual review, expected in May, it has highlighted groups who are less aware of what it does.

“People living in rural and more remote areas tend to know less about the ombudsman service – and their right to complain – than people living in urban areas,” it said in Ombudsman News.

“The nature of much of the rural economy – traditionally involving low-paid employment, seasonal jobs and less skilled work – can mean disproportionately more people in poverty and unemployment.”

Those in the lower income scale were less aware of their rights as consumers, the group added.

full story here: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/10093176.stm

Countryside Blog finance in countryside, rural money

We are in the age of new media, rural and countryside dwellers have been using the new media just as much as the townies (Broadband availability permitting). There are quite a few fantastic rural blogs out there that give you information about countryside in general or a particular aspect of the countryside from buying, selling a horse, generating revenue for your small holding to rural lifestyles. We bring you some of the leading rural blogs out there, we hope you find them informative.

Farming Related Blogs

• DEFRA Blog -  department for environment food and rural affairs needs no introduction if you are a farmer or lives in a rural area. Their blog can be informative, though when this was being written they were talking about the General Election.

Horse Related Blogs

Badminton Horse Trials – Sponsored by Mitsubishi Motors, Badminton horse trials in Gloucestershire is one of the most important horse trials on horse lovers calendar. This blog gives you the low down on this annual event, who is hot in what event and so on. Visit this blog to get the low down including information you may not necessarily find on the official Badminton horse trials homepage.

Other Countryside/Rural Blogs

Field Day – A nice humorous blog about countryside issues ranging from food and drink to wildlife conservation.

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