Equus Horse Tails

Finally a new post

2009-05-17T06:33:00.000-07:00

So the last post was Jan 09 and here we are approaching June, so yes it's official, we are rubbish at updating our blog.

Well, what's new?
So the move to Lossiemouth (nee Beaumont) went ahead, for those who don't already know.
Michelle is doing a great job down there, with things going from 0 to 60 very quickly indeed, so the greatest of thanks to her and Mick for that. As they know, its been an anxious time for us, but with all their efforts things are looking good.
For those who don't know, we took over what was Beaumont Riding School (formerly Covsea) and have move the majority of our horses and ponies down there, in order to run Equus Lossiemouth as the riding school, ie Lessons etc, mainly due to the amount of land and the indoor school down there. We are currently (June 09) looking to improve both outdoor schools, so during the good weather you still get a chance to enjoy lessons outside.

Equus Roseisle has concentrated on the trekking side of things, forest rides, beach rides which has also given us the opportunity to rest some of the fields and attempt to let it fight back against the hammering it got from that hungry lot. lol.

Further developments at Roseisle has been the start of our new indoor stables, which hopefully are to be completed soon, giving us ten nice new stables, small office, menage viewing area and new tack/feed room.

We are now also looking seriously at finally putting the planning in for the new indoor school, but recent developments have meant we are now re-looking at what size we will put up.
Our initial plan was a 20m x 50m school, but with one or two people asking questions, we are possible considering a 40m x 60m school with other amenities, ie, classroom, viewing gallery etc.

so as you can see we have plenty of idea's, all of which we hope will become reality, certainly within the next two years, but as the people who know us well, they will confirm that, at this time we have a lot of other things going on, so we just need to take small steps.

We are constantly in the debt of all of those people who provide help, assistance and support and like to think that these people (you know who you are :-) ) will also benefit from most if not all of the developments.

So thats about it for now, we still promise to try to stay on top of the blog, and we are in the process of updating the website, unfortunately there is still only 24hrs in the day, and as soon as that is changed we will definitely get more things done.

If you have any questions about whats going on, or if you want any further information about riding at equus, either lessons or just a gentle hack, please drop us an email and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

All the best from
Lisa and Mike

Long time no new post

2009-01-30T02:45:00.000-08:00

Hi to all,

Well firstly let us apologise for the time it has taken to publish a new post.

We are getting increasing busy down at the yard, our name and hopefully a good reputation is getting known more and more.
As well as the lessons filling, we are now open on Sundays. Hacks and beach rides are more and more popular, we havent had as big a dip over the winter as we expected.

We are also in the process of building a new block of 10 indoor stables as well as upgrading the office and starting the build of a new house.

The future is looking not bad even in the "credit crunch" and we are currently having plans drawn for an indoor school to put to the local planners.

We hope to have more news on a possible expansion too. Not too many details on that just now, but it should mean we have use of an indoor school and a wider area to runs hacks from.

Over the next month we plan to get some photos onto the site, some of the nags and some of the construction pics and hopefully some of the new site.

So please send any comments, questions and suggestions we are always happy to read them,
though as I mentioned in my last reply we may take a while to get round to respond, though we do promise to get better, he he.

keep having fun on the horses
Lisa

Girls Just want to have fun, but why can't they do it quietly

2008-09-27T00:04:00.000-07:00

Hello again,

So what else goes on down at the Equus Ranch.
As you can see, Lisa is starting to get the boys and girls in for what has become a weekly event.
As you see, she too, can sleep standing up !!

It has now become custom either on a Tues or Weds evening (depending really on the mad nurses shift patterns, Oops, I do hope thats PC)

What we have found is the migration of quite a few local ladies who come along in a large group to in my eyes ride round and round in circles whilst giggling a lot, with more often than not, loud music coming from one of the vehicles (another job for me is to rig up the music system, I'm told) though how they can hear it above all the cackling, I don't know.

What actually is happening is the girls are having lots of fun whilst Michelle instructs them in the ancient art of formation horse riding.

The riders are of varying riding abilities, but this really is not important, the emphasis is taken from the structure of lessons and placed into just enjoying the horse, the riding and the company.

As you can imagine this one hour of what I believe is actually quite a physical event, turns into two to three hours, as they have to discuss who's horse, jodphurs, boots, hat etc looked the best, and other important topics.

After this it has been know for a few of the girls to go off for something to eat somewhere local, and we are currently looking to arrange an organised night doing a similar sort of thing.

We are also attempting to encourage more males to "come and have a go if they think they are hard enough" though not sure that will catch on, who knows?

So below is a video of the now famous "Equus beautiful babes" doing their thang.

Enjoy, and apologies for the quality, we hope to get some better footage soon.

Please feel free to leave your comments.

Hand Painting with the Kids

2008-09-26T23:06:00.000-07:00

Its Amazing the type of horses that are being bred these days, here we see mouse and his companion "mini mouse" from their Hippy Days.

What we actually find is this is a very practical exercise.

The horses love having kids about the place and the hand painting helps maintain the reassurance horses need.

More importantly, it gives the children, especially the novice learners a great boost in their
confidence around these "BIG SCARY" beasts.

They look terrifying don't they.

Equus is also looking to invite both adults and children from all walks of life who may benefit from the bonding that occurs when doing this simple hand painting.

And the most important aspect of this, is that the kids, their parents and anyone who may be on the yard has a fantastic time.
It's great fun. (as long as you don't mind getting a bit messy)

From this short video you can see it really bothers them.(not)

We are genuinely interested in what you think about this and whether you know of anywhere else in the uk that possibly uses it as a therapy.

BBC Interview Equus Riding School

2008-09-23T21:43:00.000-07:00

The BBC newsnight crew came down to Roseisle last week to do some filming for a look at new businesses being launched in Scotland during a turbulent economic time.

The BBC will be showing the first part on Weds 24th October 2008 at 2300 and have reported a small piece on their Website.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7631047.stm

which included:-

Lisa Malone started her riding school in April.
She is worried that people may spend less on pastimes like riding if they are trying to save money.
She said: "It's still considered very much a luxury item. "I think it's probably one of the first things that people would look at with their own expenditure.
"They will ask themselves whether their children really need riding lessons."

Equus Riding School is owned by Lisa Malone near Forres.

Day one -

2008-09-23T18:14:00.000-07:00

So where do we start?

We are located in Roseisle, Morayshire, Scotland.

Recently opened the riding school after requests from many people as to whether we would be teaching or offering livery and hacking.

The yard is run and owned by Lisa, with Michelle and Lisa teaching riding lessons to all ages.

We attempt to keep lesson numbers to a minimum, though we can also cater for larger group riding.

For example we have a group of lovely ladies, who regularly come down within a group, which has reached numbers up to nine or ten. This is a highlight of the week, as we normally all ride to music, and do some fun things and generally just enjoy the riding around the school without the pressure of lesson structure.

Hopefully what we provide is whatever you want, whether that is structured half hour lessons for the kids, to one to two hour hacks or a two hour beach ride, all of which are showing to be very popular.

We are always looking for new ideas and would always be interested in comments and feedback.

Lisa