Showing Tag: "young" (Show all posts)

Easter Holiday Update

Posted by A O'Neill on Sunday, April 3, 2016, In : Day to day 
So my Easter holiday has been a bit of a non event this year. I've got so much uni work to do (looking at you masters project...) that I'm still only coming home at the weekends. I did manage a few days at home over the Easter Weekend which was lovely and we had a great drive out on Jasper.
With the clocks going forward we've now switched the ponies routine over so they are now going out at night (although still with rugs on as the weather is so changeable) and they're in during the day. I lo...
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New Goals for 2016

Posted by A O'Neill on Monday, February 29, 2016, In : Day to day 

Hang on a moment, its nearly March, isn't it too late to be setting goals? Not according to psychologists and I reckon better late than never. This probably isn't an extensive list but these are my medium term goals for this year.

1. Get better at clipping Jasper's legs.
I'm going to confess this has always been my Mums job. The only time they get clipped is before a competition so they have to look good and there's no room for me to practice and have a go.
I realised at the weekend if I want ...
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April 21st Carriage Fair

Posted by A O'Neill on Thursday, May 2, 2013, In : British Young Drivers 
Today the British Young Drivers were out in force to run our trade stand and display in the South of England Carriage Fair. This is generally considered the 'start of season party' and is a great chance to catch up with everyone. We raised over £200 and although the display didn't quite go to plan it was still a good laugh. Thank you to all our volunteers and everyone who helped raise the money. Thank you to the BC committee who have given me one of our new gilets to wear, its gorgeous!

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March 15th Wiltshire Life Awards

Posted by A O'Neill on Saturday, March 16, 2013, In : Day to day 
Last night was incredible! My Mum and I spent an excellent evening at the Wiltshire Life Awards Ceremony, enjoying the delicious food and entertainment. My category had been shortlisted to four people with extremely strong candidates so I thought I had no chance and decided to just relax and enjoy the free champagne. We were the penultimate award so had an agonizing wait for the result but eventually it was our turn, where I was announced the Young Achiever of the Year! I was very suprised to...
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February 2nd BYD Committee Meeting

Posted by A O'Neill on Sunday, February 10, 2013, In : British Young Drivers 
Been up to Stow again today for a BYD Committee meeting that was extremely productive, with lots discussed and plenty of plans made.
A summary of the meeting can be found here.
Its the furthest I have driven in quite a long time so I am really tired now, but it was worth it. Watch this space to see these plans being put into action.

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November 11th BYD On Foot

Posted by A O'Neill on Monday, November 19, 2012, In : British Young Drivers 
Its been a long day for me today!
After yesterdays early start the discussions then continued late into the night last night so an extra hour or two in bed this morning was greatly appreciated. The theme of the day was Review and Planning with most of the talks being given by fellow National Young Drivers (including me!) at The Unicorn Trust. I also got a chance to talk to the BYD Sports Psychologist, Nichola today which was fantastic as my life is going through so many changes at the minute w...
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November 10th BCA Indoors 1st again!!

Posted by A O'Neill on Monday, November 19, 2012, In : Indoor Driving 
It only seems like a few minutes ago we were last at Berkshire College of Agriculture but we are back again today to defend our win in Novice Pony with our usual team firmly back in place. After a dressage of 30 we were in joint 4th but then had the worlds luckiest clear in the cones to move us up to 2nd place. My Mum confessed as she thought Jasper was looking a bit 'lethargic' she had been oating him up all week. Yes I know, clearly Jasper thought this was brilliant and decided to do an alm...
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June 14th Horse Quencher delivery

Posted by A O'Neill on Friday, June 15, 2012, In : Sponsorship 
Had a huge parcel arrive this morning! I never get any post normally, and if I do its only boring things like bank statements. I was quite ridiculously excited when I opened it and realised it was all my Horse Quencher!
Big thanks to Lucinda for also sending me a window sticker and a HUGE banner as well as generously providing some Horse Quencher for the team travelling to Austria. Now I don't have to worry about running out of that before we leave either!

You can like their Facebook page here...
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June 2nd BYD Training

Posted by A O'Neill on Monday, June 4, 2012, In : British Young Drivers 
Today has been a great days training at Fenix Carriages in Devon, with two different groups running alongside each other. One group was trained by Wilf Bowman-Ripley who is a team trainer as this group is headed to Austria and the other group consisting of BYD South West members was trained by Mark Broadbent.
My best friend Ann, who I am traveling out to Austria with as she is on the JWT team stayed round mine Friday night and we were up all night messing about painting our nails with Union J...
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April 15th Carriage Fair

Posted by A O'Neill on Sunday, April 15, 2012, In : British Young Drivers 
We have had a fabulous day out at the South of England Carriage Driving Fair at Merristwood Arena. This brilliant event is organised by the Brockham Harness Club and is generally seen as being the start of season get together. Theres great displays, trade stands and food so Carriage Driving enthusiasts, old and new from all diciplines can meet up together and have a good day out. This year Sarah and I were part of the BYD Jump and Drive Display as part of the Blue Team with my best friend Ann...
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April 11th Day 2

Posted by A O'Neill on Saturday, April 14, 2012, In : British Young Drivers 
Its my last day up in Stow today and its also my friends birthday so Happy Birthday to her :)
Weather is a bit better today as yesterday I had to be hosed down as I was so muddy from standing on a friends backstep as it chucked it down during her lesson. Huge fun today eating lots of birthday cake and helping out. So sad to be going home but I have to try and schedule in some 'normal teenanger time' and see my non horsey friends, one of which is having a house party tonight. Heart wrenching to...
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April 10th BYD Camp Day 1

Posted by A O'Neill on Saturday, April 14, 2012, In : British Young Drivers 
Today is the first proper day of the main British Young Drivers camp. There are lots of new faces, so loads of names to learn. This is even more of a challenge as the final part of the NYD clinic WE are doing the teaching! In groups of three we gave 8 20min sessions on a variety of subjects to all of the BYD camp. Each group of three had a different subject area to discuss during the 20min slot, ours being the Pony and Stable management. We talked about the use of massage, warm up, cooling do...
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April 9th NYD Camp Day 3

Posted by A O'Neill on Saturday, April 14, 2012, In : British Young Drivers 
This morning I was on at 8.30am as I asked to swap with someone else my mum is going home with Jasper today so we wanted lots of time to get packed up. I was up hideously early, hiked up to Jaspers stable to tack up and helped build the cones course for this morning lesson. As you can imagine it threw me a bit when I got to my lesson and the course had changed significantly! After walking it again we had a great lesson driving the (incredibly tricky) course clear several times and playing aro...
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April 8th NYD Camp Day 2

Posted by A O'Neill on Saturday, April 14, 2012, In : British Young Drivers 
Day two has followed in a similar fashion to yesterday with individual lessons. I am enjoying backstepping for my friend and learning a lot in the process. We spent today working on Jaspers lateral work and responsiveness. We were praised for how straight he is which I was thrilled about. Tonight we have a meeting to discuss the future of the British Young Drivers and tomorrow is our last day of lessons :(

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April 7th NYD Camp Day One

Posted by A O'Neill on Saturday, April 14, 2012, In : British Young Drivers 
It is day one of Easter camp and its been a tough day of lessons! My trainer is Sarah Garnett (aka Granny) who is lovely but very strict! Our lessons were individual and very intense, so I am confident we will make a great improvement over the next few days. My sister Kiera has kindly videoed the lessons for me so I can watch them when I get home. We spent today mostly working on transitions and trying to get more expression into Jaspers trot and I was very pleased with him. Our stable is as ...
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January 29th BYD On Foot Meeting

Posted by A O'Neill on Friday, February 10, 2012, In : British Young Drivers 
On January 29th I went to another BYD on foot meeting at Unicorn Trust, Stow-on-the-Wold, for another excellent sports psychology talk with Nicola Kentzer on Team Building, where we learnt several techniques that we will be putting into practice in our upcoming outdoor season. This is particularly relevant as the British Young Drivers are starting the selection process for the Junior World Trophy and for the first time, the FEI Junior Championships will be run alongside it in Austria, July 20...
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Carriage Driver Blog Hi my name is Amber, welcome to my blog! This is where I will record what it is like being a Junior Carriage Driver and what I get up to day to day.

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