News and events

Junior Pony Club for FREE!

We are pleased to announce we are repeating our FREE Junior Pony Club session offer again.

On a Wednesday afternoon from 4.30pm - 6.30pm your child is invited to come and join us for 2 hours for pony related FUN! The two hours are made up of approx one hour fun theory and one hour hands on stable management. They will learn all about how to look after a pony, from how to handle a pony safely, how to feed and groom a pony, which plants are poisonous to them, even road and fire safety. All of which they can earn their badges for. Normally these two hour sessions cost £15. These sessions do not include a riding lesson due to the large range of riding abilities within the group, they are designed to run in conjunction with our group or private lessons.

Summer Hoof Camp

The return of our ever popular hoof camp. Open to kids from the age of 4 and upwards, get the chance to experience what it would be like to own your own pony, with our half/full day or full week camp. Each session (half day) consists of approx. 1 hour riding, 1 hour hands on stable management and 1 hour of fun and creative theory.
We have an indoor school and stables so there is lots of pony fun whatever the weather. There will be some outdoor activities, so please ensure children are dressed appropriately. 

Sessions are 9am - 12.30pm and 1.30pm - 5pm
For those staying the full day, please supply a packed lunch, although light snacks are available from our cafe.

Half day (1 session) - £30 / Full day (2 sessions) - £50 

Full week £225 including a gymkhana on Friday for full week participants.

Young Equestrians, family and friends are invited to join us to celebrate their 1st Birthday, for and afternoon of BBQ, non alcoholic cocktails and a fun beach volleyball tournament.

This event is FREE, tickets are available from the office.
There will be a charge for food and drinks, with all proceeds going towards future Young Equestrian events.

Hounslow Urban Farm

We made the most of this week's sun and took some of our Pony Club members to Hounslow Urban Farm to help towards the badge they are currently working on. They started the trip by joining in on an "Animal Encounter" session. Our Pony Clubbers enjoyed cuddles with ducklings, chickens and a giant lop-eared rabbit.

The braver members got up close with a rat and even managed to try a snake on for size!

We then went on to meet some of the larger residents. The lovely people at Hounslow Urban Farm kindly gave us a large bucket of feed, so we were able to take turns feeding some of the goats, sheep and alpacas. Some of the girls fell in love with an alpaca they nicknamed Scruffy. It just goes to show looks aren't everything!

After lunch we headed over to see the owl display with Misty and Ozzie. Misty the barn owl has been with Hounslow Urban Farm since she was 4 weeks old. The children were asked to line up in the centre of the courtyard while Ozzie flew around them in a series of flights to show of his skills at silent flying and ability to catch things mid air.

The day was rounded off with pig racing, out of the four competitors, the Moorwards Pony Clubbers chose to cheer on "Harry Trotter" who was victorious, beating "Kevin Bacon" and Chops. They then got chance to hand feed the final member of the pig racing team, "Winston Churchill"

Pony Club Progressive tests

Again this year we chose not to run a Hoof Camp over the May half term holiday, but spend the week allowing the Pony Club members to focus on their Progressive tests and a badge. Tuesday was spent with the kids being assessed on both their riding and horsemanship skills and be graded accordingly. This allows the kids to see how far they have progressed in the year since their last assessment and also areas that need improvement before they take their E, D, D+ or C tests later this year. It's also a chance for those who are between compulsory minimum ages on test to not feel like they are being left behind.

The day ran like clockwork and our Pony Clubbers worked extremely hard and excelled themselves again. We look forward to awarding you all your certificates and letting you know what you have achieved very soon!

More exciting news this week! Our shiny new RDA accessibility mark accreditation plaque has arrived. At the end of last year some of our staff took part in training by the RDA so we could become an accredited centre. This means that we can now help less able bodied people learn to ride. 

As you may know, after the amazing success of the British Para-equestrian team at London 2012, RDA's already long waiting list got even longer. We jumped at the chance to join the RDA, Hoof, BEF and Sport England scheme and become an accredited centre and help even more people join in on our fantastic sport.