HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR

A Happy New Year to all META Blog Spot visitors! And before we get into the January swing of normal stable and riding activities, just a quick comment about the META Christmas Extravaganza – a huge success in spite of all the impediments presented by the fluke weather conditions:- rain, wind, snow, the big freeze and so, so cold!

We had so much snow that anyone would think we were in Siberia. We woke up to snow the day before the Extravaganza was originally scheduled and, as you all know, we had to postpone much to the regret of many of you who missed the show due to other Christmas commitments. However, the snow didn’t stop our horses and riders from going out for a white hack.

On Sunday 27th December a glorious, sunny day saw the arrival of about 100 spectators who came to enjoy our Christmas Spectacle.

The Nativity pageant – Unto us a Child is born! was amazing. For want of an ass, Lily played her part beautifully carrying Mary (Sophie) and baby Jesus led by Joseph (Verónica) following our bilingual Angel (Jasmine).

The younger members of Meta Riding School formed the Father Christmas Team and presented a lovely vaulting performance – Mollie looked stunning.

Vero and Sophie put on a nice drill with Tinker and Mollie and then Kim and Liz had fun clowning around on their hobby horses, Tonker and Millie.

In the meantime Magic, Tinker and Mollie did a great job giving pony rides to queues of expectant children.

The patio was full of stands. Fiesta Faces and Partyland put on a fabulous party display. At the bar non-stop drinks, mince pies and sausage rolls galore so nobody went hungry. Then there were games, raffles and an auction in aid of our Riding for the Disabled, the grand finale of course being the arrival of Father Christmas bearing gifts for all.

CHRISTMAS EXTRAVAGANZA

URGENT BECAUSE OF DREADFUL WEATHER CONDITIONS M.E.T.A HAVE DECIDED TO POSTPONE THEIR CHRISTMAS EXTRAVAGANZA FOR NEXT SUNDAY, 27TH DECEMBER, SAME TIME SAME PLACE.

SUNDAY 27th DECEMBER 2009

M.E.T.A. CHRISTMAS EXTRAVAGANZA:

HORSE DISPLAY AND EXHIBITIONS, BBQ, PONY RIDES, LUCKY DIP, RAFFLES, CHRISTMAS FAYRE AND FATHER CHRISTMAS.

ENTRANCE: 1€


PROGRAM:

10:30 - 11:00 VAULTING

11:00 - 11:30 PONY RIDES

11:30 - 12:00 DRILL

12:00 - 12:30 PONY RIDES

12:30 - 12:45 DRESSAGE

12:45 - 13:00 PONY RIDES

13:00-------------------------FATHER CHRISTMAS ARRIVES

13:30 RAFFLES


STANDS:

PARTY LAND
GLITZY BITS
CARDS AND CALENDARS
BRITISH BUSINESS PAGES
TUCAN VET
FACE PAINTING
SECOND HAND HORSE TACK SHOP
CANDLES
COSAS Y COSAS
MABS
META
LIZ’S CAFÉ – Christmas cakes, mince pies ……
HOT TUBS 4 HIRE.

CHRISTMAS EVENTS

CHRISTMAS EVENTS DECEMBER AND JANUARY:

STAY OVER:

(minimum group of 5 children, maximum 8. Other dates can be arranged on demand)

11-12 DECEMBER FROM 18:00-18:00
Description: from Friday 6pm until Saturday 6 pm there will be two riding classes, mucking out and grooming horses, art craft Christmas decorations and horsey games. Friday night, film and pop corn!!

Friday 18:00 - Riding Class
- Feed horses
- Dinner
- Film (popcorn)
- Bed

Saturday 8:00 am – Breakfast
Mucking out
Grooming
Riding Class
Rehearsal for Christmas show
Feed horses
14:00 Lunch
15:00 Art work – Christmas decorations
Horsey games
18:00 Home time

PONY CLUB MORNINGS:

From 9:30 to 13:30

Pony club activities include a riding class, mucking out, grooming and stable management, pony games and quizzes. Children are asked to bring their own picnic lunch and old trainers for mucking out. Our activities can be adapted to all ages and horse-riding abilities (minimum age 3 yrs). Hard hats provided.

DECEMBER:

Tuesday 22nd
Thursday 24th
Tuesday 29th
Thursday 31st

JANUARY:

Monday 4th
Tuesday 5th
Thursday 7th

(other dates on demand)

ABOUT US

META is a family-run riding centre that goes to great lengths in an effort to meet everyone’s special equestrian needs with an eye to detail and personalised attention.

Our adapted installations are at the disposal of all those, old and young, able bodied or not, who wish to enjoy themselves in the company of our horses and ponies–riding or even just indulging in a bit of grooming and a stroke.
META is a 5-star equestrian centre with an excellent selection of lovely, versatile horses and ponies.

Small enough to maintain a welcoming feeling of family which guarantees the personal touch of individual attention, META can also cater to the demands of the number of spectators who visit regularly to enjoy our shows and special events.

Tucked away in the foothills of Murcia’s Carrascoy mountain range and surrounded by orange groves, the centre is located on the Costa Cálida with easy acces to both Alicante and Murcias airports close to S.E Spain’s finest beaches and golf courses.

Depending on the skills of our clients, hacks out can take riders through the orange groves and the typical country villages or along the Guadalentin river valley.
Among our friendly staff members and helpers we have at hand trained specialists in show jumping, riding for the disabled, basic horse riding skills, training and stable management.
All our classes, activities and events take place in a totally bilingual atmosphere where language Spanish/English can be learnt and practised.

We offer:

- Group classes.
- Reserved individual classes.
- Initiation.
- Perfection for competition.
- Preparation for Galope exams (FHRE).
- Stable management training.
- Preparation for GCSE P.E. (horse-riding).
- Hacking out.- Pony club mornings (children).
- META club mornings (adults).
- Over night stays.- Camps.
- Birthday parties.
- Celebrations and events.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO WORK WITH US?

Any horse riders out there! Fancy living in Spain for a bit, free accommodation, maintenance, and Spanish lessons, with a small salary on top? Ask your friends and put them in touch.

If you have experience working with horses and giving riding classes, don’t hesitate to send us your curriculum vitae and a short letter explaining what could you offer to our riding centre at one of the following email addresses:

veronica.cknowles@gmail.com or meta@meta.nom.com

PONY CLUB - CAMP CHIT CHAT - POPPY DAY

At Pony Club Kim told us about Remembrance Day and we painted Poppies.

Next week Veronica wants us to make some poppies to take home. META has donated some money to the British Legion and we are going to help with our poppies.

We did lots of riding and we made good friends. We were a bit naughty – we jumped on the beds. Veronica got cross but she still made us popcorn and let us watch a film before we went to sleep.

After lunch we mucked out Sheila’s stable, then we learned to tack up by ourselves and we played Volley ball in the arena until it was time to go home.

Mimi, Kiki, , Noa, Natasha, Jasmine, Blossom and Isabel.

PONY CLUB-CAMP CHIT CHAT – ECOLO’S STORY

This is Ecolo.

He was born on 24th June 1992 at the stud farm of Monsieur Jacques Chevalier in Dinard, France. He was a French champion 3-day Eventer but he was shipped down to Spain as part of a job-lot, his days of winning competitions in France over.

He was only 11 years old, sick and out of condition, when Liz and David bought him. Quiet and easy to ride he seemed quite a gentleman. Liz’s vet put him on antibiotics followed by vitamins and soon he was a different horse – just dying to jump again. Within no time he was flying over 1.30 m hurdles winning big competitions all over S.E. Spain until, that is, travelling got too much for him and it became clear that he was in pain. He was diagnosed as having chronic arthritis and navicular disease.


So that was the end of competition and Ecolo became META Nº1 Schoolmaster.

In the 3 years we’ve been riding at META Ecolo has taught most of us to walk and trot, some of us to canter and jump. We look after him and he loves to jump when we have our shows. He doesn’t work so much these days. He’s now 17, still a winner though.


Georgia, Georgina, Chloe, Kayleigh and Sophie

META HALLOWEEN SHOW, 25th OCTOBER, 2009

Hi,

My name’s Liz and I’m the mother of the M.E.T.A. Horse concept.
My husband, David, my son, Jonathan, and especially my daughter, Veronica, help to nurture this idea along its road to success.

And what a success we had on Sunday 25th October at the META Halloween Show!

I was down in the arena busy organizing pony rides. The Fancy Dress parade had got off to a late start and things were going slow but when I looked up at the terrace I was amazed! A huge crowd of spectators – must have been 300 or more – jostled to get a good view of the proceedings. We were about to begin the Gymkhana and suddenly the atmosphere was expectant.

Nine children, two of those Angel and Jorge, our special needs pupils were taking part in the Gymkhana. We were also pleased to welcome Fionn Storey, a young rider from a neighbouring equestrian centre run by Harald Bonsack and his wife, Regina. Here I must say a word of thanks to Regina for being as always, an excellent Judge of Proceedings.



All the children did wonderfully well and proudly took home their META Halloween trophies.

In the Novice Show Jumping class our youngsters demonstrated quite clearly that their riding is really coming on.



3rd place was taken by Natasha Turner Cascales on Molly

2nd place went to Blossom Storey, Fionn’s elder sister, on her beautiful pony, Beyoncé

1st place and winner was a very happy Georgia Pearson on Lily

Noa, Lauren , Jasmine and Chloe, separated by only a matter of seconds from the winners, all received Halloween Rosettes.

After yet another round of pony rides our more advanced riders were challenged by Blossom Storey on Beyoncé and by Blossom’s mum, Lisa on her horse Darcy, during a thrilling Chase Me Charly.



The overall results of the Intermediate Show Jumping class were:

3rd place Sophie-May Clarke (a disappointing result for a very talented rider after so much hard work but Midnight is an extremely difficult horse and I would defy any professional to do better)

2nd place Lisa Storey on Darcy

And our brilliant Halloween winner, Leah Twomey riding the veteran – Ecolo IV.
In the meantime tea, coffee and Liz’s Halloween cakes sent down a treat whilst the BBQ Bar kept the beer circulating to wash down hot dogs and sausage and bacon rolls.

The Face Painting corner was literally mobbed. Susie and Becky of Fiesta Faces were kept busy all morning. The kids loved it. They also had a great time painting ceramics.

Last but now least was the Terrorific expedition to the Horror Lab where Rubén (the
corpse) scared the life out of visitors as they plunged their hands into blood and gunge.

A great day was had by all. We were very happy to raise 80 euros in our raffle, money which is to be donated to MABS Mazarrón Cancer Support Group.

And now to start planning our Grand Christmas Spectacular!


META Horseriding Centre
We are open 7 days a week
Telephone: 0034 - 636 172 198
Email: meta@meta.nom.es