Trans Wales Trails Christmas Newsletter 2014 We wish you a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year. 2014 has been a super-busy year at Trans Wales – heres a quick round-up! Family News This year there have been no new additions to the human family although Mikes cousin Maggie has moved down to live closer to us all in Talgarth. Pauls wife Emily has been working full time at Llandaff in Cardiff with the BBC producing a few shows including Hotel 24/7 observational documentary about the Celtic Manor where Obama stayed for the G4 summit, as well as a daytime cop show about police warrants called The Wanted. This has made Paul a stay at home father at the end of the year! Their children (Nye 5, Nesta 3 & Della 2) have been progressing well at the Welsh Language School in Brecon – Ysgol Y Bannau. In October we all had a scare when Maria was struck down for 10 days with Polymyalgic Rheumatism which was only sorted out with the correct concoction of steroids. On a slightly less critical note Paul managed to break his ribs twice during the year – getting bucked off Cariad without a saddle, hat or bridle in the Spring Fayre car park in May and the again (same ribs) while being kicked over the pole by Summer Lightning... Happy but painful days – he couldnt do anything with a g and h in it for 6 weeks after each incident :-( We are now looking for a new, lovely, fun au-pair to help with the kids for the next year now that weve lost Marie to her career. So if theres anybody out there wanting to get plenty of riding for a bit of easy going child-caring the please get in touch as soon as possible... Daddy day-care Paul is desperate and cant get on with the 8 or so youngsters needing to be broken in... Horse News In 2014 we only bred 3 foals – one of whom was born in our famous writer neighbour Owen Sheers field on mid-summers day... So we reckon that chestnut colt needs to be called Solstice! The other two foals were brown fillies – both very nice friendly things. We managed to break in Cleo, Ester and Summer Daze AKA Crazy Daisy this summer. If you are lucky and she is okay youll be able to see Daisy in action in the New Year – what a nutter! Paul loves her! As ever Ollie did us proud in the Hunt Relay at the Royal Welsh Show but we didnt get anywhere this year... this was due to bad team selection from their chef dequipe (Paul)... Llinos and Gemma were great but we still need one more brilliant player! During the year we had an Irish Cob called Lump AKA Lumpy Bumpy on loan from Colin Lewis and many of our bigger riders seems to have enjoyed him before he went back to his easy life hunting job with 72 year old Colin... Mind you he seems a handful out with the hounds again recently! Rosie loved him anyway! We have sent 12 of the working horses down country to grave digger Alan Thomas in Llanelli again this winter as well as Peter to a book club mate of Emilys down by the Skirrid near Abregavenny. Similarly we have 6 horses sent away to Hartpury College again - namely Hogyn, Murphy, Julius, Ebony, Isabelle & Georgia. Isabelle? I hear you say – wasnt she sold 3 years ago? – well yes, but now shes been swapped back for Lord as the lady who owned her found her too sharp. We have sold May Day Diamond at the Royal Welsh Sales in October and she is now being a good girl in Berlin... Finally recently we have been having 5 or 6 outings with the local hunt with Viking, Neptune, William, Ollie etc with James and Richard and Tony among others. However when Christi went out for the first time from the meet at the Farmers Arms, Cwmdu she managed to lay out a hound as well as kick another followers pony – so not welcome back... Trail News We scheduled 7 Trans Wales Trails in 2014 but in the event ran 9 of them after Jenny Bradley and crew booked an early-bird trail in April and Tanaka San booked an extra Freedom Riding Club (FRC) trail early in August. Most were really well subscribed. In fact we ran a National Park Trail the same week as we ran the FRC TWT and also at the end of the year we ran a Friday – Monday Hay Triangle as a trial. This was very successful and so we may well run further 3 day weekend trails in the future. We also returned to riding to Llanthony which we may roll out again for a two day trail in the coming year or two. Our Black Mountains Trails have been quieter than the longer trails this year but many people have chosen to come on short breaks instead which is a great option. The weekends have been busy as ever throughout the year and many people get to enjoy the delights of riding in the Black Mountains on a budget while doing this. Guest News We have welcomed many new folks to Trans Wales this year as well as many old faces who we are always very happy to see returning. As ever Stuey visited us twice for 2 weeks at a time in May & August although this year he lost his job at the Cooperative supermarket. We hope that he gets a job again soon which is not easy these days it seems. Once again we have welcomed the three-generational family Pippa & Heather Russell and Rachael Saunders - Heathers grandmother... We have had Jo Hitchins and Nicole Gallagher visiting us many times as well as smiley James and Land-Rover Dave regularly coming along. We have had a few great groups visiting us often this year such as Els, Jen, Rosie and that crew. Similarly we have had the Poynters crew visiting us for about the 12th year in a row as well as a few family groups such as the Butters family and Karen and Jessica Hatcher. We are always very happy to welcome Don Kennedy, as well as Helen Hayes, and the growing Polish crew including Dagmara and Kinga. As ever we are always happy to catch up with folks who have previously purchased horses from us (Butcher) Pauline Ingram and Sam Hooper who love Blondie as well as Lindsay Arthurell and Kate Prior from Trent Park. Similarly we are very happy to see Ali and her daughter Bronwyn back after a bit of an unfortunate TWT injury in May... There have been groups from Reading and Surrey University as well as Southampton this year all of whom have enjoyed themselves. Freedom Riding Club from Japan made a welcome return, and we have had many customers from agents in Germany (Pferd & Reiter), France (Randocheval) and Canada (Hidden Trails) as well as Far and Ride from Britain. We also welcome aboard Hippotours from Denmark who we hope to be doing brisk business with this coming year. Its all good! Finally we are sorry top report the passing of a couple of lovely chaps this year – Martin Rimmer and Barry Godden who were both great characters in their own very different ways. RIP. Farm News The summer of 2014 was wonderful for weather and so we made plenty of good hay both at Cwmfforest and with the 23 extra acres that we have taken on at Blaenau Bach outside Talgarth where Paul and Emily now live. The horses therefore have done very well on the good grass this year. At Cwmfforest the old barn had the roof blown off and the end of the house has been sand-blasted in an attempt to make it more water-tight. There has been a string of building projects conducted at the Blaenau including the conversion of part of the house into 4 twin en-suite rooms, and the knocking down and slow rebuilding of a yard there too and a biomass project which should be finished and commissioned by the end of the year. We hope to welcome guests there in increasing numbers over the next year, as Maria and Mike finally get to slow down a little. Staff News This year we have had more staff than ever. During the season Darleen from Germany was here from February until October whilst Kirsty has worked hard with us all year, and even learned the first day of the Trans Wales Trail. Weve relied heavily on our local guides and trusted friends Rowena, Tresta, Tamson, Ellie, Llinos, Jemma and Beth to guide local rides – and even our French au pair Marie has been able to take rides in the later part of the year. We have also welcomed many Helper Exchange folks such as Nico, Paul Arthur, Jade, Hans, Elise, Kate and Emma as well as our current helper Jade. Finally at the moment we are reliant on Patrik from Slovakia. Trails in 2015 The Weekends cost £250 winter season (GMT) and £280 summer time (BST) for a regular 2 day Friday - Sunday weekend or £370 for a 3 day weekend or £450 for the 4 day Easter weekend... Trans Wales Trails - TWT (7 rides) - £1250 (low season) & £1350 (high season), 2/5, 30/5, 27/6, 25/7, 8/8, 29/8 & 19/9 National Park Trail – NPT (7 rides) - £940 (low season) & £990 (high season) 4/4, 9/5, 6/6, 11/7, 1/8, 15/8 & 5/9 Black Mountains Trail – BMT (16 rides) - £700 & £770 11/4,18/4, 25/4/15 - £700 16/5, 23/5,13/6, 20/6, 4/7,18/7, 22/8, 12/9 - £770 26/9, 3/10, 10/10,17/10, 24/10 - £700
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 21:38:58 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015