The Netherlands!

This Easter a group of 13 of us went to the Netherlands on a riding holiday. This was organised by Lauren, our Trips and Events Sec, with help from Mireille, our Secretary. They did an amazing job, as everything ran smoothly especially the travelling! We stayed over in Amsterdam on the Saturday night, after a super quick flight. We visited the sex museum, which was hilarious and slightly disturbing, and then went to an incredible pancake house and ate more than thought humanly possible! On the Sunday we did a quick boat tour of Amsterdam and then hopped on a train to Alkmaar, and then got a cab to the riding stables; Duinmanege van Poelenburgh. The accommodation we stayed in was luxury; beautifully furnished with a log burning fire. The riding stables itself was also incredibly well equipped, with a bar and eating area overlooking an indoor school, and a further two outdoor schools! They had around 40 horses there, some were privately owned but most were used in the riding school. Our favourite was Pino, a tiny fluffy Shetland who had a mini stable on the corner of our accommodation!
Our days were very relaxed; we all got the chance to ride twice a day either in lessons or hacking out in the beautiful woodland which surrounded the riding school.
Our instructor, and some would say our Dutch mum, Caroline made sure we were well cared for and fed and also taught us some very valuable riding techniques. We videoed each other riding on the first and last days and the differences were incredible; everyone had improved so much just from five days of riding there! We learnt that Dutch riders have incredible seats, especially the children, and we enjoyed watching their lessons after dinner on an evening and wishing we could look like them! The horses there were all amazing but very different to English horses, and we found this out by falling off them; 11/13 of us fell off, with 8 falls being on one day (the dark day), but even the best riders fall, and it became a joke with the yard staff that we were ‘the English group who keep falling down’! However, we forget that riding is a dangerous sport, and Emily had an unfortunate fall which injured her back – we are all wishing her a speedy recovery! Stay tuned for our video of the trip too!