SADDLE CLUB 2026 TERM 2 WEEK 5 NEWS

Hi Saddle Club Members!

We are officially half way through the term. Congratulations! If you missed it on the Facebook page, you can watch this week’s reel here.

PLEASE KEEP TO THE SPEED LIMIT WHEN ENTERING AND LEAVING THE SITE. This week we had a horse spook and a rider fall because a car came around the back of the arena too fast. Hats off to said rider, who admitted that she got a fright but nevertheless got back on to continue the lesson. She was clear that she did not blame the horse, was okay to continue, and still helped lead in the lesson after hers. Congratulations to this rider, you showed real horsemanship on Saturday.

In addition to driving slowly, please consider: 1) can you see horses anywhere on the driveway? 2) are there horses in the bottom arena? 3) are there horses in the top arena?

You should be able to see all of these things before you actually get there. If the answer is YES to any of these questions, PLEASE drive even more slowly, especially as you come around the corner of the arena just before the carpark.

Horses are prey animals and have a natural flight response, which means we need to be extra considerate and aware of our surroundings. Some of our herd have sight issues, traumatic pasts, or reeeaaalllly small brains (looking at you, Tradie).

Your cooperation is appreciated - and if the above information doesn’t convince you, keep in mind that we WILL publicly shame cars who speed up the driveway :)

LESSONS TODAY covered the final of the show prep series. We built on things we had focused on over the last four weeks, such as:

• Listening and following directions

• Getting a horse away from the group

• Patience and commitment

• Rider poisition

• Arena ettiquete

See if your kids can explain the above dot points and why they might be important things to learn as a rider.

HORSE SHOWS include something known as 'a workout’, which is a series of movements done in a specific order and direction. Workouts can be given to the riders by the judge, or invented by the rider themselves (and you often won’t know this until you’re already riding!).

Workouts can be done one at a time or in a group, so things like rider control over a horse in a different environment are absolutely crucial for the safety of everyone!

For example, if a group of riders are asked to trot at the same time, and one horse chases the one in front, you can have a very gnarly situation on your hands! Think about the horse in front kicking out, the horse that is chasing being kicked, both riders falling off, two loose horses at a show, the other horses being silly, and the judge and fallen riders in danger of being run over. This is why we expect such a high level of sensibility and control from our riders.

All students were asked to ride in a group, demonstrating halts, walks, and trots (to check for control). They were then asked to participate one at a time in a workout given by the instructor.

WHY DO WE GO TO SHOWS?

So what is the point of going to a horse show? What do you expect from your horse? In general, judges will be looking at things such as:

• manners and obedience

• fluidity of horse’s movement

• position of rider

• evidence and strength of partnership between horse and rider

Horse shows have a very long history and the manner in which they are held is always changing. This show was a ‘green horse, green rider’ show and was put on for young horses, horses with minimal exposure, and riders who were new to showing.

NON-RIDDEN WORK - a special shout out to some of the yellow group, who blew us away with their initiative and organisation towards the end of the day!

This week, the groups had the following tasks -

Silver: make feeds for show horses, assist instructing one lesson, help with leading in one lesson.

Bronze: make main herd feeds, refill bins and clean feed landing, EDIE helped with instructing this week, lead in one lesson.

Purple: make coloured feeds, clean stable waters, help with leading in one lesson.

Blue: rake and bag hay in hay shed, fill Fuey and Violet’s water, help lead in one lesson.

Red: rake up hay in the run, ramp and stable yards, help lead in one lesson.

Yellow: clean the spare brushes

Green: clean pony brush bags

Fortnightly: clean and refill bit water, remove all poo from driveway, yards and arena.

All students were reminded to ensure gear and brushes were clean and tidy before they left, that they had someone check their rugging, and to clean the scoot boots before they were put away. Extra tasks for those that had time included weeding corners of both arenas, and check all brush bags had everything they needed.

SHOW KIDS were responsible for taking their tack home at the end of the day (with a few exceptions) to clean and check everything over before Sunday.

We had 13 riders in the show using Cheval horses, and 1 rider using her own horse.

A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE SHOW KIDS, IT WAS AN AMAZING DAY AND YOU ALL DID CHEVAL PROUD.

There will be more information on how everything went soon.

SNIPPETS of WEEK 4 TERM 2 below. We did not manage to get the fortnightly group (again)! I am sorry.

We look forward to seeing you all again on Saturday. Show prep is over, let the games now begin!

Thank you for your support.

Hobart Horseplay.