Figure 1.--.
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Figure 1.--. |
A popular activity at many coed and girls schools is horseback riding. This activity is especially popular among the girls. There are some boys who participate, but the great majority are girls. I am not entirely sure why this is. I suspect that it is in part because the boys are so involved in team sports. Thus they just do not hasve time for horseback riding.
Are you a horse fanatic? Then read on. We have riding on a Monday or Thurday. Heazle Riding Stables have a very wide range of horses and ponies, from the tallest to the smallest. You have a choice between a hack and a lesson. Hacks normally take place in the woods close by and if by luck Maxine takes you, you can usually count on getting lost! That is not to say that lessons are also not fun. We do all sorts of things in lessons but most of us prefer not to be too adventurous, to avoid ending up on the ground. All in all, riding is great fun.
Katie Hope and Lucy MacArthur, Junior Wyvern Queen's College Junior School, 1989-90.
Monday lunchtime sees a furious dash for the school minibus as fourteen of us set out for Miss M. Connor's stables at Stowe. There is a wide range of riding skills within the group but all the early beginners are now off the leading rein and the more advanced group have progressed to cantering and attempting small fences. We are fortunate enough to ride through the beautiful grounds of Stowe school and the surrounding parkland and most of the children have well establoshed "favorites" from among the very good tempered ponoes. Next term I hope we will be able to include more schooling work and concentrate on improving style, now that the basics have been mastered. It has been very pleasing to see the childrenriding so sympathetically and to know that they always put the ponies first, and I am delighted with their progress.
AS, The School Record Beachborough School, September 1979.
The wind blows through our tails,
A vast span of land,
Not a sign of life.
The sound of our whinnying.
Our colour indistinct in the dull field.
Just the sheep live here,
No-one else comes here,
Alone, Empty.
No shelter for the stormy days,
Just us, the seep, amd the wind.
Sarah White, 11 years, 5 months, Surge (Beeston Hall), Autumn 1988.
