The Latest News
Horse Boy
As part of our growing portfolio of services on the 2nd June, Conquest hosted its first Horse Boy day with some of the autistic children that attend the centre. It was a hugely successful down and the method is now incorporated on a regular basis as part of the sessions we provide.
Dressage
This year Conquest has been busy in providing further equine events to its repotiore and in the last few months we have run an un-affiliated dressage event and an inter-branch Pony Club event both of which has a great success. Results to published soon.
Equine Fair
Despite the very windy conditions the first Conquest Equine Fair was a great success with some great display equine displays and dog agility and interesting stalls in the indoor market. Conquest raised over £2000 from this event which will go to help support the centre in all that it does. Next year we are hoping to expand on ideas from this years event to provide some amazing experiences for next year.
Marathon success
Despite thinking she was not going to get round, Lois managed the London Marathon in 4 hours 35 minutes which despite the heat and her feet is not a bad time. The money is still be counted so watch this space for the total amount raised.Easter Competitions
Even though it was the holidays Conquest was as busy as ever with lots of events to keep everyone occupied. From a stable day for the younger members to a fantastic Dressage Event and an equally fantastic Show Jumping Event, it seems there is no rest for the staff this year. Results for both events can be found in the events section.New Affiliation
Conquest are proud to annouce and new affiliation to the Equine Tourism website as a way of promoting the events and activities hosted by Conquest and to be associated with events organised by Equine Tourism. Equinetourism.co.uk promotes equestrian activities, horse holidays, horse and pony breeds and good horsemanship – UK and worldwide. There is now a fantastic new Equine Tourism Community with Forums, Blogs, Chat, Photo Galleries, Videos and Articles section, where you can meet, connect and explore horsemanship with like-minded people. It’s easy to sign up and become a member of the community – and it’s free! Visit www.equinetourism.co.uk
2010/2011 Winter Dressage
This years Winter Dressage Competition has been a huge successes with additional riders taking part on each event. Abig thank you to all the riders and horses that made this event so successful and for raising money for the Conquest Centre. Congratulations to all those that took part, especially Liz Taylo on Millie for 1st in the Tim Whitcombe Plant Hire Cup, Janine Paterson on Wilscombe Willowin the Equine Performance Dentistry Cup, Ellie Pearce on Murphy in the Peggy Metcalf Memorial Cup and joint 1st for Ellie Pearce on Murphy and Janine Paterson on Wilscombe Willow in the John Cross Memorial Cup.
Conquest would like to thank all those that help on the day, especially for those wonderful bacon butties and everyone that takes part. We hope to see you all for next seasons dressage competitions (click here for dates).
Fund Raising at Taunton Vale P2P
A team of willing volunteers headed across a couple of fields, using the roads of course, to set up a stand at the Taunton Vale Harriers P2P at Fennington Farm. This year Conquest were thrilled to be nominated the charity for the event, which meant not only receiving the sponsorship from the charity flat race, but we could also wander around with our buckets and try and persuade people to part with their money. This was especially successful as we had the wonder team of Muffin and Jo who did not let anyone by without giving. We also had a fantastic team at the gate to the car park stopping every leaving visitor and helping them part with their money too.
After a very cold start the weather did warm up and so it seems peoples generosity. At the end of the event Jess was presented with a cheque for £1,000 raised by those participating in the charity race and with Jo's magic and the help of all the other volunteers a total of £1586 was raised.
Conquest would like to say a very big thank you to Taunton Vale Harriers, to those that raised money for the charity event and to everyone that gave so generously.
Here are few pictures taken from the event.
The Wonder Team |
The winner of the Charity Flat Race |
Muffins new friend |
Jo and Muffin in the winners enclosure :-) |
Jess receiving the £1,000 cheque. |
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Pony Club Dressage
The Conquest Centre Pony Club held its first dressage competition during half term. Eight of our members competed in three classes. They all arrived at the Centre early in the morning to groom and plait their horses. They all looked very smart after a lot of hard work as they were all very muddy! Then it was the competitors turn to smarten up. Joe, our only boy competitor looked particularly dapper in his black jacket, the girls opting to wear their Pony Club sweat shirts over their shirt and tie.
The first class was for those still on the leading rein. Joe rode Micky and Natasha rode Dell Boy – she looked tiny on him!
1st – Natasha Looker 2nd – Joe Young
The next class was the D1 test, walk and trot. Six of our girls entered this competition and did really well especially as the majority of them had only had the chance to practice a couple of times.
1st – Cassie Grace/Cherry 2nd – Sophie Bareham/Dylan 3rd Alice Atwell/Roger
4th – Becky Smith/Ollie 5th - Lydia Atwell/Brambles 6th - Martha Chapman/Buzz
The last class was the C1 test, walk, trot and canter. This was a much harder class but some good scores were achieved by the three that entered the class.
1st – Cassie Grace/Cherry 2nd – Sophie Bareham/Dylan 3rd – Becky Smith/Ollie
Buckler's Mead Community School Visit
A great day was had by all as children from Bucklers Mead Community school took part in a stable day at Conquest. The kids had the chance to ride as well as finding out all about stable management and caring for the horses, including the obligatory shoveling of pooh. To see more pictures check out the Conquest Gallery.
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Fund Raising Events
The staff and volunteers at Conquest have been out and about raising money and awareness for the centre. On a very cold wintry day, Muffin joined Jess, Chris, David, James and Lois in the middle of Taunton town centre to hand out leaflets, enroll new volunteers and raise £270 in donations. Just as fruitful was a fund raising day at the Sander Garden World raising £125. A big thank you to all those that donated and helped out.
A big thank you to Taunton carnival. On the 14th January Conquest were proud to accept a cheque for £2000 as one of three charities who benefited from the collection made on Carnival Night.