Staff - in April we have welcomed a new instructor to the Witham Villa team - Callie Rushin. Callie is an experienced instructor and is now teaching here on Sundays and also on a Monday evening for Pony Club.
We also welcomed Lauren Smith who has joined our yard staff.
Sadly we said goodbye to Laura Adderley who has left here to take up another position within the equine industry to further her career. Laura learnt to ride here at Witham Villa and completed her apprenticeship here progressing on to achieve her teaching exam, so she will be greatly missed. We wish her well and look forward to continuing to see her here when she comes for riding lessons.
Animal Activity License - in order to run a riding school it is necessary to be licensed by the council. In April we had our 3 year council inspection - when all of our systems and documentation are checked for compliance by the council staff and the horses and tack etc are checked by the accompanying vet. We are pleased to report that we were once again awarded the five star accreditation which is the highest rating.
Easter Holidays - we ran plenty of fun activities over the holiday period all Easter themed - games, show jumping, handy pony and riding experiences. Thank you to everyone who came along
British Horse Society - The BHS held a Pole Work Coach Training day here at Witham Villa in April. We provided the horses and riders and it was a very informative and well attended event.
Serina and Ginty (Integra) were guinea pigs for the in-hand session. Sarah W rode May, Laura rode Ziggy (Danzmayr) for a session using poles for accuracy and going around rather than to ride over. Verity rode Gaya and India rode Nalla (Vanilla P) in the pole work session for dressage riders and developing the extended trot. Olivia rode Mac and Laura rode Peg in the general session and finally Sarah rode Romeo, Olivia rode ac and Jessie rode Roxy for the poles for jumping session. All of the riders got a lot from the sessions and the day provided a CPD day for our coaches.
BHS Riding Schools National Championship - Congratulations to the riders from Witham Villa that went on to compete at this championship,
Catrin riding Mac, Beau riding May, Izzy P riding Mac and Izzy M riding May
British Dressage Winter Championships - Congratulations to India and Eddie (Escade) who had three podium finishes coming 3rd in PSG Gold, 3rd in PSG Freestyle Gold and 3rd in Inter 1 Gold. These were excellent results in Senior Competition and very competitive classes
British Dressage Regional Qualification - India and Ginty (Integra) completed qualification for the Prelim Gold with an impressive 70 and 77%.
British Dressage Area Festival Qualification - Verity and Gaya have completed qualification for the Advanced Medium Silver and Advanced Medium Freestyle Silver for the Area Festival.