Showgrounds Equestrian Centre

🐴 JULY SCHOOL HOLIDAY PONY DAYS – BOOKINGS NOW OPEN! 🐴

Looking for the perfect school holiday activity? Join us for fun-filled Pony Days with riding, horse care, games, new friends and plenty of pony cuddles! 💕

✅ Suitable for beginners through to experienced riders
✅ Full-day activities from 9am–3pm
✅ Friendly, qualified instructors
✅ Limited places available

💰 EARLY BOOKING DISCOUNT when paid before 23 June 2026!

📅 July School Holidays
📍 Showgrounds Equestrian Centre, Oakford

👉 Book now:

Pony Days - July 2026 Please complete this form to enrol for our Pony Days

🚩 Riding School Rider Red Flags 🚩
(We adore you all, don’t worry 😅)

✨ Forgetting your horse’s name halfway through the lesson and quietly waiting for someone else to say it first.

✨ Telling the instructor “he feels really fast today” while travelling at approximately 4km/h.

✨ Spending longer cuddling the horse after the lesson than actually riding. 💚

✨ Putting your gloves down “somewhere safe” and never seeing them again.

✨ Asking if you can canter… then immediately questioning every life decision once the horse actually canters.

✨ Bringing treats for your favourite lesson horse, then setting off WW3 by feeding it exclusively, whilst it's friend's watch on.

✨ Arriving saying “I’m really nervous today” and then absolutely smashing your lesson anyway.

✨ Leaving the yard covered in hay, horse hair, dust, and somehow green slobber marks.

✨ Saying “just one more ride” every single week for the last five years. 😂

Honestly, we wouldn’t change any of it. 💚🐎

🐴 Top Tip Tuesday 🧠✨

“Courage is being scared to death… but saddling up anyway.”
— often quoted throughout the horse world, and honestly? Pretty accurate. 😅

Even top riders struggle with confidence sometimes.
Lucinda Green has spoken many times about how bravery in riding isn’t about having no fear — it’s about learning to ride through the nerves, trust your training, and keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Confidence isn’t built by one perfect lesson.
It’s built by repetition:
🐎 Turning up when you feel nervous
🐎 Having a wobble… and riding anyway
🐎 Learning to trust yourself again
🐎 Celebrating the tiny wins

Some rides will feel amazing.
Some rides will humble you completely.
That’s horses. 😂

But every single ride teaches you something, and every rider you admire has had moments where they doubted themselves too.

Be patient with yourself. Confidence grows quietly. 💚

🐴 Thinking about getting back into riding?
This is your sign to start. 💚

Riding doesn’t always have to be about competitions, ribbons, or jumping the biggest fences.

Maybe it’s an old passion you miss.
Maybe you’ve booked a riding holiday and want to get some miles back under the saddle.
Maybe you want something that’s just for you for once.
Maybe it’s for your fitness, your confidence, or simply your mental health.

Whatever the reason — you do not need to be “good enough” to come back to riding. You just need to start.

Our instructors work with riders of all ages and abilities, including plenty of adults returning after years out of the saddle. 🐎

Today’s the day. ✨

Email [email protected] to book your lesson.

💚 Sunday Staff Appreciation Post 💚

Huge shoutout to our Sunday helpers, Deb and Brooke — two incredibly capable horsewomen who help keep the whole place running every single weekend. 🐴

Without our weekend workers, we would genuinely be upside down. 😅

Lost a saddle blanket?
They’ll find it.

Can’t remember whose bridle we’re using?
Ask Deb or Brooke.

Horse untacked and rugged?
Done.

Water buckets filled?
Hay sorted?
Kids needing help?
Instructor running behind?
They’re already on it before anyone even notices.

Our weekend staff are a HUGE part of keeping lessons running smoothly and on time by having horses caught, prepared, tacked up, and ready to go for instructors and riders throughout the day.

They’re there before most people arrive in the morning… and usually still there long after everyone else has gone home.

Thank you, guys. We appreciate you more than you know. 💚

🐴 One of the most common questions we get in lessons is:

“What can I do at home to improve my riding when I’m not actually on the horse?”

And honestly… quite a lot. 👀

Riding fitness isn’t just about strength — it’s balance, coordination, mobility, posture, and body awareness. Even a few minutes at home working on those things can make a HUGE difference once you’re back in the saddle.

We’re posting a video below to help get you started. 💚

Amalia Dempsey 🐴 Horsemanship & Physiotherapist 1.3K likes, 49 comments. "Equestrian Rider Specific Exercises Workout | Easy at home 30 minute workout for equestrians 🏇🏼💪🏼"