• Home
• Ponies
• About Us
• Club Events
• Contact Us
• Image Gallery
• Forum
• Thordale
• East Isle
• Trondra
• Petshow
• Gymkhana

 

 

CRUAN EASTER CAMP

Eight members of Filsket Riding Club have been in Orkney attending the Easter Riding Camp held at Cruan Riding School, Finstown.  Bethany Laurenson, Alanah Young, Caitlin McKearney, Vanya Johnson, Kate Chivers, Kelsea Leask, Sinead Blance and Leah Setrice, were accompanied on the trip by Tracy Blance, Helen Setrice, Jane Leask and Marcia Scobie. 

Originally the plan was for the group to travel down to Orkney on the ferry on Wednesday the 31st of March, but due to the cancellation of that boat, the girls had to ammend their plans, (many thanks to Jane and Charlene at Northlink for sorting things out for us), and travelled on the Friday the 2nd of April’s boat instead, which meant that due to their arrival in Orkney late on the Friday night they missed the first two days of the camp.  This was unfortunate from the girls point of view as Sarah Reid from Cruan had hoped that some of the girls would be able to enter the B & F Kemp Haulage Working Hunter Show held by the Orkney Riding Club, at the Market Stance, Kirkwall, on Sunday the 4th, however Sarah felt it would be unfair to expect the girls to compete after only getting to know their horses the previous day. 

Nevertheless, Filsket was represented in the show by Jessica Johnson from Scalloway, who was attending the camp as part of the Shetland Riding Club group,  Jessica competing on Conis her new horse for the camp, and in her first working hunter show, did really well and came away with the second place rosette in the eighth class – PC Minimus.  All the girls attended the show at the Market Stance, which Sarah felt was a good experience for them for next time!, and they actually gave up one of their lessons on the Sunday to support and cheer Jessica on.  Accommodation had been arranged at Finstown Public Hall, for all the camp riders, which  enabled the girls to bond and meet with the other camp attendees.  The girls have been getting at least two riding lessons a day, and because Sarah has been able to pair them with a suitable mount for the stage they are at, all the girls have benifitted  tremendously from their attendance which is what we had hoped would happen, and have already taken their riding to new levels which can only be of a benefit to the club and to Susie. 

It has not only been horses all the time in Orkney though, a trip to the Swimming Pool (for a much needed wash!), a late night shopping trip to the Tack Store in Kirkwall, a visit from one of Orkney’s vets with a talk was arranged, an acupuncture clinic, one of the Orkney farriers came along and did a hot shoeing demonstration  for the girls.  The girls and the adults all say that this weekend has been a brilliant experience and the adults will probably have to pull straws to decide who is lucky enough to accompany the eight members who have indicated their desire to attend the October Camp.   Filsket Riding Club committee extend a huge thank you to Sarah and the Reid family in Orkney for hosting us.  Roll on October.