SAVVY FUN DAY
Moulton College
29th Sept 2007

It's 9.15am and I receive a phone call, "Hi Dawn, what time are we starting today" it's Susi and she has arrived at the venue 2 hours early. oh Dear!! Nothing I can do or suggest. Susi, check the website before setting off next time. Lol
Okay I arrive at Moulton at 11am to find others had already arrived, the RDA is in the arena till 11.30am and we have to tiptoe around as the RDA leader or what ever they are called seems to think the slightest noise will upset the horses ???????
Never mind we stay outside and chat while the others arrive. Hoppy tells us that they couldn't bring any horses, Caroline who I haven't met couldn't make it as her horse sustained a cut, Ulrike couldn't bring Casey a she'd just moved yards and didn't want to upset her and Rocky. oh Dear Rocky is at it again. We get a phone call from Carole to say she had just set off from her yard when she heard a bang. She looked in her wing mirror to see Rocky exiting from the trailer via the jockey door.. Yes Rocky jumped out of the trailer. Luckily Rocky is okay and only sustained some cuts, nothing broken.Phew!!
Carole turned up later to tell us the full details and you can't help but laugh, what a character. So who came along:

PARTICIPANTS Bryan Jones and Maxine Easey with Archie Susi Boyd with Baby Sam and Grant Chadband with Troy Cheryl Wild with Amigo Marie Weinman with Tru Lucy Heaver with Prayer Not forgetting teh adorable Lulu.

SPECTATORS Ulrike Bluemel Moira Dixon Dawn Amour Evelyn Essam Dawn Moreton Catherine Moreton Jo McOuat Jess West Carole Ryan

10am and we head into the arena and set up some props, as there are those ranging from Pre Level 1 up to Level 2 we kept the props to a handful with enough challenges to meet everyone's needs. We had a Car Wash, Poles for YoYo etc, a Maze, a large Block to sit or stand on while playing the seven games, Jumps and Squeeze. Not too much to over crowd but enough for playing.
Susi has brought Baby who is RBI, Susi heads to the other side of the arena where there is more space for her to play the circling game. Baby is so full of emotion, trots round pretty quickly looking out of the circle, the next thing I see is baby up on her hind legs, Susi quick to react runs towards Baby matching her energy. "Oh Heck, seems to be the expression on Baby's face who quickly plants her four feet on the ground to be rewarded with the friendly game.

I glance over at Sam and see her with Troy playing with the Car Wash. Troy seems to playing peek a boo as he sticks his head through the curtains and look they are both at it now. Lol
I then see Sam sitting on the arena floor patiently waiting for Troy to take that one little extra step. Sam ignores Troy or that's what he thinks. Sam plays the waiting game, not asking to much but not giving anything away wither. Sam glances around the arena keeping an eye on Troy who stands there quite happily playing his game of peek a boo.

Then my attention turns to Cheryl with her lovely little boy Amigo, standing at approx 12hh, Amigo is only 2 ½ years old but what a confident little lad he is, definitely LBI taking everything in and looking to be enjoying himself, going over the pole, round the maze, playing the games and not once looking upset. His ears are pricked listening to everything and his eye taking in all the activity.
Lucy is down the bottom of the arena getting help from Maxine while Ulrike and Jess look on, a bit too far away for me to hear what is going on.

Bryan is playing with Archie who still seems to grow another hand every time I see him. I can't help but notice how much they have improved. Marie is playing with her horse Tru (is that her name and spelt right) and looking good with the various props.

 

Its great to see everyone here, we have Mary Ann Kennedy playing her music, on the CD not in person. and it makes me wish I'd have brought Kyle or Spike..
Still taking everything in I then see Baby is invading Susi's space once again and Susi's body language says "Get outta here" I see Bryan at Liberty then on the block playing over the jump and the squeeze game then driving Archie though the Car Wash from Zone 5. Maxine is still helping Lucy and Marie is now on her horses back chatting away to Andrea. It's great for me as I am relaxed and enjoying watching everything that is going on.

Hang a mo... Where has Cheryl gone, she's disappeared..?? where's Cheryl.no one seems to know. 20min later she reappears .Hey look over there. so I do, to see Bryan and Marie over in the other half of the arena playing the back to back on the circling game. By this time Susi has come back to play with the props and sends baby through the Car Wash. Ha! This is a doddle for Baby."What's all the fuss?"
It's now 1.30pm and I ask if anyone wants to stop for lunch and a chorus of "Yes" is heard. However it's not until 2pm that everyone finally stops to eat. Time to chat and rest and soon I notice people are back up playing again making the most of the time we have left. Time . where is it, just seems to be going so fast.
Susi really challenges herself by standing on the block and playing the squeeze game and sending baby over the jump, Susi tries to get baby to go through the squeeze to zone 3 and stop. Baby has other idea's and seems to prefer just walking through. Marie then has a go on the box with Tru and then goes off to play with the Car Wash which Tru doesn't' seem too confident about. "Why on earth do you want me to walk through that? No I don't want to" lol

I decide to head off down to Lucy and Prayer who by this time are having some help from Moira. Lucy is concentrating hard and trying to take it all in and is getting some good results. Moira is showing Lucy the squeeze game incorporating the driving game and disengaging along the wall. Then they move on to the maze which is a bit more difficult both for Prayer and Lucy.
I headed back up to the top of the arena and chatted with Jo and Andrea when I could as well as Dawn Amour and Carole. So it is 4pm and I start putting away the props that aren't really needed now. Ulrike, Moira and others help and then Ulrike discovers a fantastic "PEANUT" yes that's right a peanut.. this is not a typing error.
It is in fact a physio ball shaped oval and called a peanut. Ulrike brings it into the arena I thought we were taking props out not binging em in LOL
Anyway myself, Ulrike and Carole take it in turns to find our balance point and it is a lot harder than using the round balls. I think it's a great toy as when pushed it does not go straight so gives you more to think about. I write down the web address and think about buying one. Its 4.30pm and our time is up and everyone has packed up ready to go home now except Maxine and Bryan who are still riding.

I say my goodbyes and head off to the yard to see my boys.

A big thanks to everyone for coming and a special thanks to Andrea who I noticed helped with the poo picking. Not a glamorous job. A huge thanks for the photo's taken and supplied by Sam and Grant Chadband.

To see more photographs CLICK HERE