by Lindores Cross Country | Oct 11, 2017 | News
Colin Hamilton, DC of Glenrothes PC, looks back on a successful 2017.
As always, our Members Show brings a close to the spring/summer Pony Club season, and after a brief shower of rain as we were preparing for tack and turnout for our mini class, the sun or at least dry weather, was the order for the rest of the day.
Lindores Cross Country has now become our adopted home, facilitating our weekly rallies on a Thursday evening, Summer League competitions, Camp, and Members show. As our club has put the foundations down at Lindores we have worked closely with Anna and the rest of the Black family to develop a great relationship which works for both parties. We are currently planning to enter our fourth season at Lindores which we are very happy about.
After a winter of team jumping, indoor rally’s, quiz and the start of hunter trial season, eventually the clocks change providing enough daylight hours to commence the summer programme. We kick the season off with an on-foot rally for the kids and a parents meeting covering all the boring but essential information for the season ahead. Being a small club we alternate between flatwork and jumping each week with the odd specialist training added in for upcoming events.
It’s great to see all the members back together again and how they are so welcoming of any new members who have joined no matter the age group. There is a real buzz in the air as the chatter of new ponies and upcoming competitions echoes around the farm.
After a few weeks of rally’s, it is time for our first summer league. I am always impressed with how supportive our members are of each other even when there are lots of lovely rosettes to be won. The weather holds out for us and the kids do us proud, with their smart turnout and riding. Back to the rally’s and our thoughts are now turning to final preparations for camp.
Camp provides lots of positive experiences, but the one I am going to mention is how even the youngest attendees grow in independence during the week, so much so we normally receive comments from shocked parents about how their children have changed. Not often kids are speechless but this year at camp we had Louisa Milne Home as a guest speaker and I think they were so in awe of her we couldn’t get any questions for Louisa, thanks for finding their mute button and for inspiring dreams for the future.
The rest of the summer holidays were spent either at Area Qualifiers and Regional Champs for our more senior members, who all put in good performances in highly competitive environments, with the club bringing home rosettes every day in both competitions.
We also had a team at Combined Training, although with no team placing, we had some very good individual performances that were rewarded with placings.
Which brings us full circle to Members Show, there were some very closely fought classes with minimal marks between riders in tack and turnout and dressage, some very tight times in the Show Jumping with nice double clears and an extremely tough decision for our Working Hunter judge after some very confident riding.
A massive thanks to everyone involved in our club, who all come together and help support all that we do for our members. We are looking forward to another great season at Lindores in 2018.
For more information on Glenrothes Pony Club Click here.
by Lindores Cross Country | Apr 28, 2017 | News
Scottish Rider Magazine April 2017.
We’re delighted that the front cover is a fabulous photo of British Eventer Louisa Milne Home riding Future Plans at Lindores Cross Country.
Scottish Rider Magazine ran a feature page covering the recent developments at training facility Lindores Cross Country and they loved the photograph (taken by professional Dave Mackison) so much they used it for the front cover of their mag.
Here is what Scottish Rider had to say about us:
Full speed ahead at Lindores Cross Country
Equestrian Business of the Year nominee 2017
Anna Black, manager of Lindores Cross Country, and the team at Lindores Cross Country were delighted to be nominated for Equestrian Business of the Year in the HorseScotland Awards 2017. Lindores Cross Country, which has expanded heavily in the last few years since it was established in 1989, now operates as a full equestrian training centre. The growth and expansion of the business has been based on their customer feedback and a desire to always do better.
On course for success
Lindores now have 30 stables, show jumping paddocks, a sand school, luxury accommodation, campsite and living space to offer customers so their offering is more than simply cross country training.
The well established course boasts 125 fences built to British Eventing standards, ranging in height from tiny open ditches up to 1.2m so riders from beginners up to two star eventers will benefit from training at the facility. Fences are built by BE accredited course builder, David Wilson, who has been designing and building bespoke fences at Lindores since 2014, ensuring the centre’s standards are upheld.
A lot of hard work was put into the development of the cross country course in 2016, and the centre’s hard work is paying off. The course is rapidly becoming one of the best facilities around, not only boasting fence heights and styles to suit all levels, 26 riding camps have been booked in so far for 2017 – an astonishing growth compared to just two camps held in 2013. Independent hosts and instructors frequent the centre to hold clinics, some of which sell out in minutes.
As well as hosting more camps in the future, Anna and the team are hoping to provide further opportunities for horse holidays with their 30 stable capacity, and the expansion of the luxury holiday lodges with hot tubs to provide more dwellings.
Danny MacAskill’s Wee Day Out
Recently Lindores Cross Country became the setting for a hay bale stunt in Danny MacAskill’s Red Bull film “Wee Day Out”. This inspired the recent creation of the unique six metre high keyhole fence, the Danny MacAskill Hay Bale fence.
“Danny receives thousands of offer to perform stunts at various locations across UK, so for him to take us up on our offer to film at Lindores was an honour,” Anna explained.
Scotlands most iconic hay bale fence was officially opened on 8th March, by Danny himself and one of Britain’s top event riders, Louisa Milne Home riding Future Plans. They spent the day filming stunts over many other fences on the farm and completed a race across stunning countryside and horse jumps requiring bravery, skill and determination. They jumped pheasant feeders, whisky barrels, steps and cottages, finishing with the iconic Danny MacAskill-inspired fence.
Danny then made the most of the facilities on-site and stayed in Lindores Lodge, the relaxing rural retreat. He chilled out in the hot tub like many horse riders do after spending the day outdoors. In fact Lindores Lodge has been so popular the team are building a couples luxury retreat and a two bedroomed lodge in 2017.
Like Clockwork
New addition to the facilities at Lindores in 2017 is Scotland’s first fitness and pace training facility. With BE regulations allowing riders to compete with stopwatches from BE80 and above. It is now more important than ever before that riders practice using a stopwatch and get a feel for the correct pace. Many riders don’t know or have the facilities to practice pace and control over authentic cross country ground, so Lindores have introduced the facility which can be used with or without its brand new fences. And for those not sure whether to invest in a stop watch if you hire one at Lindores you can try before you buy.
Moving forward
Anna makes sure she listens to customer and industry figurehead feedback when expanding Lindores’ offerings, meaning that customers are at the heart of all of her decisions. The team offer something for everyone, for those looking to bring their non-horsey friends or other half, the sporting venue is also able to offer clay pigeon shooting, as well as walks and spa treatments, with a great range of other attractions nearby.
Anna Black, Danny MacAskill and David Wilson
END
Scottish Rider Magazine Website
Lindores Cross Country Facebook
Lindores Lodge Website
Lindores Lodge Facebook
British Event Rider Louisa Milne Home Eventing
Danny MacAskill’s ‘Wee Day Out’ Red Bull film and the Hay Bale Trick behind the scenes footage
Photographer Dave Mackison
by Lindores Cross Country | Feb 19, 2017 | Award
Lindores Cross Country would like to thank the extremely kind nominees who voted for them in the HorseScotland 2017 Awards. They would also like to thank HorseScotland for accepting the nominations and putting them forward for the award – the team are truly chuffed to bits to be recognised!
HorseScotland are hosting the awards ceremony in Cumbernauld on the 3rd of March and anyone can buy tickets to the event. The team from Lindores will be there to help cheer on all the different categories and to enjoy an evening with equestrian friends.
We’ll be keeping fingers and hooves crossed on the night of the awards but whatever the result the team at Lindores will still be the same – friendly, approachable and eager to help.
