EHOA at Gatcombe for the Festival of Eventing

After last year's absence, the EHOA is delighted to be back at Gatcombe with its hospitality tent on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th August. The marquee is being organised by EHOA Board member, Anna Sims-Hilditch, assisted by members, and her family.

Overlooking the show jumping arena, the marquee will be open all day on both Saturday and Sunday and will offer complimentary refreshments, newspapers, a place to leave shopping, meet friends and catch up with other owners and owner riders.

All EHOA members welcome as well as owners and riders of competing horses on each day. Dogs are also welcome!

PRIZE DRAW WINNER ANNOUNCED

Lucy Jones from Long Sutton in Somerset is our winner of the trip to the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky.

She was driving home from work when EHOA board member Cathy Butler called to say her her name had been drawn out of the hat. "I was really shocked, but then I rang home and said get a bottle of champagne on the go - we've something to celebrate!"

Lucy will take Mum Barbara with her on the holiday as a thank you for being her back up person and looking after the horses at home. "Mum does all the horrible things like changing rugs in winter, feeding, and standing in when I can't get back for the farrier and I couldn't manage without her."

Lucy, who is a trained chef, has catered at elite race meetings like Cheltenham and Aintree.But she gave up food for horses and has spent the last five seasons as a work rider for William Fox Pitt, doing the fittening work on everything from youngsters to his four star team. She is now helping produce youngsters for Phillipa Stocker,and when she has spare time, events her horse at novice level. She's been an EHOA member for two years, and hopes to get to some of the training sessions this year.

"We are absolutely over the moon about winning, and we'll keep a diary so we can share our experience with people. Thank you EHOA."

Book now for our new look AGM & Seminar

This will be held on 8 September in London. We start with a tour of the Olympic Equestrian site in Greenwich with Tim Hadaway in the morning. This will be followed at 4.30pm at the Hyde Park Barracks, Knightsbridge by a talk by Tim on Preparing for 2012, the AGM, a tour of the Blues & Royals stables and a buffet supper. You can book for the whole day (with a break for lunch and shopping) or just for the afternoon in Knightsbridge. Click here for full details and booking form

EHOA sponsor, Zamar – an expert in equine hot and cold therapy for injury – is launching a new machine that makes international performance-level treatment available to all.

Click here for full details

HAYGAIN joins discount providers list

Haysteamers which transform hay into hygienically clean, palatable forage that is spore and bacteria free with no nutritional loss are now available to EHOA members at 5% discount.

Haygain generously supported this year's special training award winners' course. Click here for full details

Training has started well with members jumping cows under Nick Turner’s careful eye and Kenneth Clawson doing a snow dance...

Click here for reports and photos

EHOA INCENTEVENTS TRIP TO WEG IN KENTUCKY - UPDATE

Ian Dennis and his team from Inventevents are putting the finishing touches to the tour to the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky.

Kathy Hook joins Ian and Richard Waygood in Kentucky to ensure members have a successful trip. She says:

"I look forward to joining the Incentevents team and will be working hard to ensure that everything runs smoothly and that you enjoy Kentucky to the full.

I have been lucky to be able to combine my passion for horses with a love of travel. As a keen amateur rider, I have hunted, evented, and now enjoy competing in affiliated dressage. My work as a freelance Tour Manager has meant extensive foreign travel, and I have escorted many equestrian groups to national and international events in the past. It is a great privilege to see the best horses and riders in the world competing, and great fun to share the experience with like-minded people.

I have always enjoyed learning foreign languages and speak French, German and some Spanish, although this skill will probably not be needed in the U.S.A.!"

As usual, Rosemary Barlow has organised the International Supporters Pavilion which is always very successful and popular. If you want to book tickets for the USP then please Click here for a booking form. Put that you are an EHOA member on the form.

There is still the possibility of booking a place on this tour if you contact Incentevents as soon as possible - Click here for details

New service from watchmyhorse.co.uk

Horse owners who can't be around their horses all day can now check they're safe and well thanks to the services offered by WATCHMYHORSE.CO.UK

Special cameras in and around the stable yard can send live images to mobile phones, lap tops or desktop computers directly or via a tailored website. The idea is the brainchild of Andrew Cadman whose wife wanted to be able to check up on her horses while she was at work or away travelling.

"It's different from conventional security systems as it doesn't rely on the use of large monitor screens or TV's to see the pictures" says Andrew. " Nobody is going to want to carry one of those around with them, whereas looking at an image on a mobile phone is instant and convenient".

The camera system can be flexible to suit different needs and budgets, whether it's one camera fitted in a single stable or infrared external cameras that can be used to monitor the whole yard, fields, tack rooms or valuable equipment..

For more information call Andrew for a quote on 0845 680 6082 or visit the website at www.watchmyhorse.co.uk

Syndicate Guidance Notes

Where you join together with several others to own a horse "to form a syndicate" there is no single set of rules you should adopt. But there are a number of points that you should think about before drawing up the syndicate rules. The EHOA has produced a leaflet that will help you to consider some of those points, click here to download a copy.

EHOA Membership Vouchers available

Quite a few of you have purchased EHOA membership as presents for your friends and relations. We now have available an EHOA membership voucher which you can buy as a present for someone. They can then send the voucher in with a completed EHOA membership form.

It is also possible to buy EHOA training vouchers as well so that you can give a training session to someone as a present.

The value of the EHOA membership voucher is £20 (you will of course need two of them for FULL membership) and the training vouchers are £10 each.

To find out more contact Marian Green, Membership Secretary
email: springmg@btinternet.com