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| Horses are, in general, gentle creatures and have always been regarded as one of man's best friends; riding a horse in such a relaxing environment as a deserted forest ranks as one of his/her coveted desires. 'tis not always thus, however. Once at a ride in Suffolk, attended by the author, we had a rather - for us - amusing incident when, shortly after the start, one horse decided not to continue and pulled up sharply, tipping the rider out of the saddle. The girl, however, was unhurt, and able to resume. The horse, observing this, promptly trod on her foot. This did the trick and the rider had to be brought in by the St John's team, whilst the horse rode back happily in it's own horsebox! © |
Kuala Lumpur - Venue for the 2006 FEI World Cup Final Jumping. April 26-30th |
Young Riders set out from
High Lodge Centre. |
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Such a comparatively minor incident near base is one thing, but the prospect of a similar injury deep in the forest out of sight would not have been so amusing and could become of serious concern. With contingencies like this in mind, horse riders are pleased to find a yellow tabbarded Raynet operator just round a bend in an isolated part of the woods.
 Down
In East Anglian countryside, Training or Sponsored horse rides are very commonly undertaken, either for club awards or to generate funding in support of a variety of worthy charities. Though unfortunate incidents like the above tale are rare, the potential for accidents is quite high, a rider thrown hard against a tree can suffer very badly; a horse can fracture a limb in a root hole. With some of these rides stretching for up to sixty miles, there will often be a considerable distance and time before any help can be summoned. Raynet personnel are stationed at appropriate intervals to ensure that such delays would be reduced to a minimum.
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An alternative style of riding is offered by the occasional forays of the Arab Horse Breeders' events. At these exciting meetings the object is to race, not to walk or canter. Wild looking ponies - and riders - come thundering down the forest tracks hell bent on beating everybody else back to the start. Usually two timed laps are the agenda. However, at one event the course extends for over 100 miles, covering a large area of countryside, and poses a variety of logistic and safety considerations for the Medical User service, and, inevitably, for Raynet. Over this kind of distance, not to mention terrain, the problems sketched above are increased significantly, some score or more of operators are needed, some moving station several times as the race progresses.©
See Inset: A typical route map for the recent Puddingstone Ride, for 20, 30, 40 and 60 mile classes.
Right - A group of entrants in the FEI Endurance ride at Newmarket walking through the town.
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