We are a friendly riding club that runs events and activities in and around Badminton, South Gloucestershire. We arrange rallies, competitions and social events for members of all ages all year round.
MEMBERSHIP
We currently have just over a 100 members and regularly compete both senior and junior teams at the area qualifiers. We have nearly 500 members on Facebook - so there's plenty off interest in our Club. We have an active Committee who meet every few months - usually in a pub! We have some very dependable helpers (you know who you are!) - but would love all members to get involved and help out at rallies or competitions its a great way to meet other members and show your support.
TEAMS
British Riding Clubs (BRC) run team competitions across the UK which offer a wide range of opportunities for our members to compete at local, national and international level across a range of disciplines. Our club enters teams and individuals to most of the area 9 qualifier competitions, and has had a number of our members through to the various national finals over recent years. The junior section of riding club offers a low key way to have fun and enjoy your ponies. We have the same competitions as the seniors and you can be in a team if enough people come forward, or go as an individual which gives you the chance to perhaps have a go without any pressure and at a higher level than you would have if in a team. The juniors have had lots of success at the Winter Championships in the past with both dressage and show jumping.
We do run lots of rallies covering all disciplines and levels of both horses and riders. We are very fortunate that we are situated in a very good area, where we have access to excellent trainers and facilities.
For the last few years we have hosted the Area 9 Dressage to Music qualifier at Burrows Court. This has always been a very successful day and also very popular.
We are fortunate that we have a wealth of very experienced helpers within the Club for this event.
Aside from mounted events we also run several non mounted days for our members. This has included a day at Carl Hesters yard, a quiz night, our AGM where we have a guest speaker. Last year we had Beanie Sturgis, a local event rider, and this year we were honoured to have Hayley Watson-Greaves as our local international Grand Prix dressage rider. A visit to a local stud was also very well attended. We ran two days of instruction on a mechanical horse which was great fun and very enlightening. We donate a lot of our profits to charities, including the Wiltshire Air Ambulance for instance.
We also provide mounted stewards for the Grassroots eventing at Badminton Horse Trials, as well as providing members for score sheet collecting in the main arena on the dressage days for the actual event.
None of this would be possible without a very hard working committee!
