HORSEMANSHIP
From page 35
letters on two sides of your
tins, drums etc so that they
can be seen by the rider
approaching down the side of
the arena.)
The letters are A, K, E, H, C,
M, B, and F, remembered by
the mnemonic “All King
Edward's Horses Carry Many
Brave Fighters,” and the
letters are positioned with A
in the middle of the short side
at the entrance and the others
following on in sequence,
three down the left side, then
with C in the middle of the
opposite short side, and the
remaining three back up the
right side. The letters at either
end of the long sides, ie K, H,
M and B are positioned 6m in
from the corners, with the
remaining two midway down
each long side.
The lettering for a 60m arena
is different.
Sets of dressage letters can be
bought from good equestrian
stores and make yet another
option of a horsey present for
a horse-mad child at
Christmas.
There are a number of other
things you can do on your
smallholding to make your
child's riding experience more
enjoyable, none of which
need to be expensive, and
here are some guidelines to
the sort of secondhand stuff
you should never give away
and in fact should actively
seek out.
K Baths – In every paddock
old baths, particularly the
heavy metal ones, make
excellent water troughs. Seek
these out from friends and
family when they renovate
their homes.
Two baths positioned end-on
can also be used as an
unusual water jump, albeit at
a fairly advanced level, on a
cross country course. They
need “padding” with hay
bales in front to hide the
sharp edges and, possibly
wings of some sort. And of
course any sharp
protruberances such as old
taps must be removed.
K Drums – Placed in the
stable and filled to threequarters full with sand topped
off with concrete (fashioned
into a bowl-shape), a 210 litre
(44-gallon) drum makes an
excellent feed trough.
Clean drums with tight-fitting
lids are excellent storage