Henson Ferya 14-15th July 2007 Welcome to the Henson Riding Centre! Here are a few explanations and recommandations we ask that everyone in your group be aware of: This is an important week-end for us. We hold one of our annual breed festival, called the Henson Ferya on the Sunday. It is an occasion to show the year’s foals and fillies to the general public and present a variety of shows: carriage driving, TREC obstacle course, vaulting and polocrosse. With regards to the actual games there will be a variety of playing abilities thus the emphasis is on friendly and informal games, for everyone to enjoy themselves and develop the desire to continue playing and to give the game a good name locally.
HORSES: We will provide 3 horses per country : Holland, Germany, UK, Norway. Ireland is coming with their own horses and so is Belgium who will be lent one horse. We will provide headcollars/snaffles. We have spare saddles but ask that, as much as possible, you bring your own saddles, mats and more importantly leg protections as well as your own playing gear. We specifically ask that you be respectful of the horses on and off the field. They each have an owner who will probably be watching the game with an attentive eye. Please also note that there are certain areas you may not go with the horses. This includes the parking lot and grass plots around the riding centre. There is a sand path to get from the riding centre to the field and the road. The parking lot is definitely off limits for security and aesthetic reasons (we do not want customers to step into horse pooh as soon as they leave their cars). Also respect traffic flow in the village and be aware that the riding centre will have a lot of customers on site too doing trail rides, the majority of whom are novice riders so keep your horses under control and well behaved at all times.
BEACH RIDE: If you have your own horses you may ride to the beach which is a nature reserve. There is an itinary to reach the beach you can find on the map provided. Please respect people on foot and be aware that there are rules in the nature reserve. You can be fined by a guard if you do not respect these. You can canter and galop but it is forbidden to canter into areas of resting migratory birds or seals. Dogs are strictly forbidden, as is camping and fires. There are vast expanses at low tide, but beware, stay close to the coast if you are not accompanied. The tide will rise meandering behind you and you may find yourself trapped on a remote sandbank. Every year people, including riders, who are not from this area, have to be rescued by boat and helicopter. You can ride as far north along the coast as you want but cannot go inland. You must return by the same path along the coast.
CAMPING: For those people camping, the ground is located behind the riding centre. There will be a few pens already prepared for your horses. Please keep the camping ground clean (free of glass and litter, it is a grazing field and we cannot afford to have injured horses) and free of horse pooh. We will indicate an area where horse pooh is to be placed. There are two toilets and showers on the side of the main riding centre building which will be open for you all day and night. Please keep them clean they will also serve for the general public and riding centre customers. There is a horse shower on the side of the building too. There is a restaurant nearby next to the bungalows, a snack bar open to all in the bird park and supermarkets, restaurants, bars, cash machine, etc. in the town of RUE (8km away) or Le Crotoy. Snacks will be available sunday and the saturday evening meal is also organised.
AUNTIE: We’ve appointed one person from our group to be your «Auntie» for the duration of your stay! It’s nice to have someone who is available to answer your questions and reassure you (especially in a foreign country!) We will present them to you on site, hopefully as soon as you arrive : Michel - Ireland Barbara - UK Rémi - Germany Annette - Holland Christine - Belgium René (sorry girls!) - Norway
COST: Can one person from each country group make sure you round up each person’s participation so we don’t have to chase them up. There will be a 20 euros cost for every rider. The saturday night meal is organised and will cost 15 euros, drinks included. If you could give us an idea of numbers for us to prepare, that would be great. It will be (weather permitting) an outdoor beach camp meal.
MAP OF AREA
North
NATURE RESERVE: Sandbanks, saltmarsh and wetlands at low tide. Sea at high tide.
Programme FRIDAY: Arrival, settle in. If you’re staying in a bungalow and arriving after 6pm you need to get a key code from
[email protected]. If you want to go out in the area, the person to find and question is René!
SATURDAY: Morning free. For those of you who didn’t go out with René, either wildhog hunting, beach combing or dancing, you’re probably not too tired to visit RUE which has a local market on saturday morning or SAINT-VALERY(old medieval town on other side of the estuary where Joan of Arc was emprisonned and from where William the Conqueror set off to England!) or Le CROTOY, another coastal town on the same side of the estuary as we are. If you want you can also book a ride with the riding centre (beginner or confirmed), but do so beforehand as they get filled up quickly. The cost is 35 euros per/person for a 3 hour outing (1h30-2h riding). 13h30:. Meet up altogether on steps of riding centre to have a small meeting and get to know each other if we haven’t already. Start preparing for afternoon matches. 14-18h: afternoon polocrosse games. 19h: Ride out with the polocrosse horses to the evening beach camp. I’m not sure if I can get other breeds to go to the beach camp as the land is a private nature reserve with very strict rules, but I am enquiring. If we have more riders than horses, we can envisage one lot going to beach camp and another lot doing the return trip (at night! Great fun!). There will be cars going to get the food there. This is all weather permitting, otherwise we will hold it at the riding centre.
SUNDAY: Meet up in front of riding centre steps to go get horses from fields and get ready for games. 10h-13h: Start polocrosse games. there will be other activities alongside on sitewith Henson horses only. 13h-14h: break for lunch, snacks available on site, or restaurant open for food nearby. 14h-18h: Continue Games and prize giving. Contacts : Barbara 00 33 6 72 19 01 31 Rémi 00 33 6 89 10 78 38 Michel 00 33 6 72 00 30 16
