What a weekend! 44 lessons delivered, 21 hours taught, 24 people for dinner on Saturday evening, 5 bottles of Veuve Cliquot consumed and only 4 people hit the deck!
The feedback from the clinic held on the 14th – 15th of February has been overwhelmingly positive! Phoebe has a knack of ‘getting’ horses and riders very quickly and instinctively knowing how to get the best out of them. Every lesson I watched was delivered with enthusiasm, fun and professionalism, interspersed with some of Phoebe’s classic anecdotes. Phoebe taught flatwork until 4pm on Saturday then it was jumping all the way.
On Saturday evening we headed off to the Bieldside Inn where we had a bite to eat and a few bottles of nice champage whilst Phoebe did an excellent Q&A session – some brilliant questions and some even better answers!
Here are a few happy customers!
Findlay and Lewis were all smiles after their session!Catriona and Laila both rode very well and went away with a lot to think about.Ria and Kara happy after their session. I think Phoebe quite fancies a shot on Ria’s lovely coloured mare next time!We subsidised a group lesson for Deeside Pony Club – I think the thumbs up says it all!A well deserved glass (or 3!) of bubbles for Miss Buckley on Saturday evening!
Phoebe has very kindly agreed to fly back up on the 20th of March to deliver a lecture demonstration on the Friday night followed by SJ training on Saturday and some simulated XC training on Sunday, again at Tillyoch. We can’t wait!
This coming weekend sees us running a clinic with Phoebe Buckley at Tillyoch over two days. The response has been phenomenal and both days are (more than) sold out! Phoebe will be teaching for well over 20 hours over the two days. I did warn her when I booked her that I’d make her earn her fee!
Phoebe and Little Tiger at Badminton
Those of you that aren’t familiar with Phoebe can have a quick look on her blog here, but suffice to say that she’s been round Badminton and Burghley 11 times (9 of them on the 14.2hh grey legend Little Tiger), won the CCI*** at Bramham and a Young Rider european gold! She’s also quite well know for her ‘straight shooting’ on social media – you can follow her on Twitter here and Facebook here.
Phoebe will be coaching from 8am until approximately 7:30pm both days and spectators are welcome at no charge. Flatwork on Saturday until 4pm then jumping thereafter and jumping all day Sunday.
On Saturday, we had to head to Aboyne to pick Izzy up from Dukes Vets where she had had a little bit of work done on her teeth. Basically, she has Diastemas which is a space between her teeth – these are causing a problem because food is getting trapped in the gaps and is becoming impacted causing her a lot of pain and discomfort. In the photo below, you can see what Jim has done using his power-tools. She had 5 gaps opened up to allow food to come back out without getting stuck.
Don’t worry, this is one that died earlier!
We had the choice of two shows on Sunday; unafilliated SJ at Tillyoch and an Arena Event at Cabin. We had already decided on Saturday that we would go to Tillyoch as it’s only a couple of miles along the road and the forecast wasn’t great. Alas, at 8:30 on Sunday morning it was cancelled due to a police travel warning on the A90. I called Michael to check there was a course up and there was so we loaded a few ponies and took them over for a school round, braving the roads which weren’t too bad (see video).
As well as taking little Ollie (the wee grey 128 that we bought at Cavan sales in Ireland) we took Dakota for Millie to play with, and we also took Hannah with Piglet, Lucy with Storm and Ellis with Cruise – they all jumped round various heights of tracks and performed brilliantly. Lewis stole a shot on Dakota at the end and I think he’s fallen a little bit in love with her!
thelawsonponies 