Spare HOYS tickets up for grabs!

Conquest have two tickets for Horse of the Year Show @ NEC going spare. They are GOLD tickets for Weds 5th October so include daytime and evening performances. Any offers considered! Funds go to Conquest.

End of Term

Well, it’s the last week of term already. How quickly has that come round?! Loking back over the past year, we have had some fantastic achievements from our riders and from the centre.

This year has seen a big upturn in the number of fund-raising activities taking place. Often they fall on weekends, so we have to beg, borrow and steal volunteers to come and help us. Luckily, we have fantastic helpers who are willing to give up their time to help us in the arena and out fund-raising. As well as raising vital funds for the centre, these activities raise awareness and attract new volunteers and riders.

The centre itself has had lots of improvements this year, the biggest of which has probably been the hoist. Having the hoist means that more people can benefit from our wonderful horses. We have also started learning Horse Boy method, which hopefully will help us to meet the needs of some of our autistic riders, and offer something a bit different.

Every year our riders seem to progress more. This year has been no different – we have had lots of riders passing RDA Grades 1 and 2 in Riding, and in Horse Care, and trying new things.

As always, we owe a massive thank you to all our volunteers and supporters – without them we simply couldn’t run this centre. So THANK YOU from all of us to all of you!

Horse Agility Training

There is Horse Agility Training here tonight. Come and have a go at some of the obstacles in a non-competitive environment. £15 per entry. Call 01823 433 614 for more details.

Equine & Country Fair on Sunday

The Conquest Centre’s EQUINE & COUNTRY FAIR is being held Sunday 22nd May 10am – 5.30pm at the Conquest Equestrian Centre, Taunton, TA2 6PN.

Former International Dressage Rider and pioneer of Natural Horse Management Lucinda McAlpine will be here with some of her home bred horses and also talking about De-stressage, we also have Vanessa Bee with Horse Agility, Dressage to Music, Classical Horsemanship with Pip Unwin. Roger and Joanna Day, Feed and Nutrition lecture demo with Robert Fowler form Pure Feeds and much more. There is plenty to do for all the family, childrens games and bouncy castle, pony ride, family dog show, dog agility trade stands and more.

Entry £4 per adult, £2 per child (under 5’s free), family ticket £10. For more information visit www.conquestcentre.org.uk

RDA Autism Training

Jess, Charlotte, Chantal, Imogen and Sophie all attended Regional Training in Exeter this week. The topic was Understanding Autism, which is something we have been keen to improve here at Conquest Centre. The training was delivered by the National Autistic Society, and the content was excellent, so hopefully we will all be bringing a bit of this knowledge into our lessons. NAS have a fantastic web site full of information and resources http://www.autism.org.uk . They also offer a parent to parent phone line for anyone who needs a bit of support.

Video Clips From Horse Boy Method Demo

For those of you who could not make the Horse Boy Method demo held at Conquest Centre last weekend (or for those who would like another look!) check out my YouTube channel for a few clips of Mickey doing some sensory work and India and Dylan back-riding http://www.youtube.com/user/ChantalB99 . Thank you for all the lovely feedback about the demo. We are currently organising future events, so watch this space!

Horse Boy Demo This Saturday

There is a Horse Boy Method Demo here at Conquest Centre on Saturday 2nd April 7pm – 10pm, with an interval. Tickets are £12 if bought in advance from Conquest Centre. Light refreshments will be available during the interval.

Saturday Night at the Movies

Jess, Imogen and myself went to the movies Conquest-stylie on Saturday night. Avon RDA Centre were screening the Horse Boy film, and as I have recently completed the Horse Boy Method training we decided to go along and watch.

We set out in plenty of time. We’ve been there loads of times before but we took the Sat Nav just in case. Just as well – we got lost! We spent a good 10 minutes driving past it. All I can say is that it looks different in the dark!

Once there, we snuck in just after the film had started. The film documents the incredible journey of Rupert Isaacson and his family across Mongolia with autistic son Rowan. The viewer sees a family pushed to their limits during an incredibly challeging journey. The profound effect of the horses and of the shamanic healing is obvious.

If you are a parent of an autistic child you need to see this film. If you are a special needs teacher you need to see this film. If you like horses you need to see this film. Basically, you need to see this film. If you don’t want to see this film, then you should read the book.

We were lucky enough to meet Gillian (who organises the Horse Boy camps in UK), Dawn (who delivers the training) and Rupert (Rowan’s father and author of Horse Boy) afterwards for a question and answer session, and gained some valuable advice. We are hoping to hold a Horse Boy demo at Conquest Centre in future – keep checking our website for updates. In the mean time, if you see me riding holding a giant teddy bear in a pink dress I haven’t taken leave of my senses, I’m just practicing back-riding!
Chantal x

Horse Boy Screening

There will be a screening of the ‘Horse Boy’ film at Avon RDA Centre in Bristol on Saturday 5th March at 7pm.

It’s a fantastic, inspiring documentary see this for more information. For tickets / equiries please call Gillian Naysmith on 07934 628 326.

New Website

Have you seen our lovely new website? Same address www.conquestcentre.org.uk There’s lots of information about upcoming events and it will be updated regularly so keep coming back!