NEWS PAGE

Western Morning News.
Lucy Johnson from the Western Morning News, came to visit Surprise Encounter when he arrived and rode him. Having followed Surprise since a two yr old, she was very interested in how we work and to see first hand the start of Surprise's re-habilitation. Lucy will hopefully be back to see Surprise when he is ready to rehome.
Lucy wrote a full page article about our Centre and followed it up by donating £800.00 raised from a Ball held at Christmas, organised by the Western Morning News.
We are again very grateful to Lucy and her Editor for this wonderful donation.

BBC SPOTLIGHT
Janine Jansen from BBC South West, came and shot us into the public eye with a piece on a lunch time and evening slot. The main attraction was Surprise Encounter winning the Royal Hunt Cup, with Frankie Dettori doing his famous flying leap from him, also Surprise eating Ginger Nuts like they were going out of fashion.
Monaassib was also featured in his new home with Clare, although , what was not shown was Monaassib turning tail and landing Clare on the deck at the sight of the camera man and his Microphone (disguised as a rabbit on a stick).
Never mind these things happen.

Lambourn Open Day (Good Friday)
We always enjoy our day at Lambourn and this year was no exception. Last year we were fortunate to meet Joules Lamb of Horsewear Ireland who donated four very much needed spring turnout rugs and four coolers. This year we were lucky enough to purchase a beautiful limited edition print of Best Mate and have it signed by, Henrietta Knight, Terry Biddlecombe and Jim Culloty.
We held a raffle for the print at our Local Point to Point Meeting courtesy of Mr V Eames. The winner of the print was a Mr Burroughs who was very pleased with his £2.00 ticket purchase as he was emigrating to New Zealand.

Deep Space is now back with us, after Gatcombe is was decided that in his best interest he should remain with us. He had suffered some minor setbacks and although doing well in his first season in Endurance, he was unlikely to excel any further. Space has his feet firmly back under the table, and has reclaimed his old stable, as if he has never been away.

Summer 2003

Artful Dane (Dodger) has settled in well, down in Plymouth and Fred has reported back that she has never felt so safe on a horse before. We are sure that they will have a lot of fun together and look forward to reports on their progress.

Wild Sky, has improved in his condition, dare we say, since Dodger has left. His jumping is coming along and he has started cross country fences, taking tiger traps, log piles and drop fences without hesitation. Louisa want's to take him to his first Hunter Trial this weekend 13th Oct. It will be a small course, just right for his first time. Louisa is very confident with Sky, after gaining 4th place in his very first Show Jumping competition a few weeks ago.

Deep Space, had his first outing on the 6th Oct., at a 12 mile pleasure ride in our village. He was accompanied by Sky and Top Guide and thoroughly enjoyed himself. Also on the ride was.....

Anokato and Suzie, this being kato's first outing, Suzie enjoyed it as much as he did, "A little bouncy and keen but at no time out of control". Kato comes back to us every week for lessons, and enjoys learning something new. For a 16.3 flat racer he is learning very quickly how to round over jumps and has started over our small x-country course.

Winter 2003/4

Our latest fundraising event was a lot of fun, we held our 2nd Equine Quiz at the Cotley Inn, courtesy of Sue and Dave Livingstone.

We were honored to have our local I.L.P.H. Officer Jeff Herrington, as our quiz master for the evening, Jeff kept everyone in order, and dealt with any discrepancy very quickly. Although Jeff had never been a quiz master before, he had a natural flair for the job, and I am sure he Will be asked again.

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We have just taken charge of a new arrival, Monty is 15.3 Chestnut, with what seems to be an impeccable nature, he has made friends with the baby sitter, Impy and has settled in very well. He does get a little excited over the prospect of food and tends to paw at his feed bowl and spread it all over the floor.

Wild Sky and Deep Space have been hunting this winter, Space having taken up temporary residence with Lindsay returning to us at the end of the season.

We have had a quiet winter so far, the sad loss of Glowing Beam in October left us feeling rather empty.

Constant injuries with Wild Sky prevented a Boxing day outing and then a catalogue of illnesses on the human front, made for a very forgettable January and Febuary.

New arrival Surprise Encounter, Royal Ascot Hunt Cup winner 2001.

Surprise Encounter arrived with Alex, Bernie and Steve his handler for the last 6 years, complete with a bag full of his favourite sweeties, Chewits, Polo's and Ginger Biscuits.
Steve Nicholson had taken a day off to deliver his favourite charge to his new home and was clearly reluctant to say goodbye when the time came.
During their visit, Bernie and Steve were able to ride Deep Space and Monaassib, to their amazement it was Bare Back and in a just Head collar and lead ropes.
Surprise was duly turned out with Royal Imp and settled into the role of couch potato very quickly.

After a couple of weeks in very light work, Surprise was given the winter off, from November till late March. His return to work was un-eventful and is now well on his way to a new career.