News & Past Events

April Club Day

15/4/2025

Our April Club Day rally was all about connecting with your horse. Club member Anu Cameron shared her learning from the 9-day intensive course on equine massage and bodywork run by Equinology.

With a turnout of 15 club members this was one of our busiest club days :-)

There were two sections to the rally
Connection through massage - how to help your horse be more relaxed in all situations by bringing body awareness through massage. This session will include some pointers on recognising stiffness and lameness.
Poles - in-hand and then ridden with a focus on work to increase suppleness, fitness, and thoracic sling strength.

Members interested in having a one-on-one session with Anu visiting their horse can contact her directly or via the Nelson Riding Club

Feb and March with NRC

23/3/2025

Our February Club Day was well attended with riders enjoying the opportunity to catch-up and also have a go with all the toys from the shed. The rally ended with a couple of group rides within the equestrian park and around Rough Island.

Our March rally was a show jumping event open to all riders. Those entered had a fun day with a trotting race, jumping rounds at heights from 40 to 90cm, and pairs tag teams. Photos from this event can be found on our Facebook page.

A number of members took advantage of the visit to the region by Linda Brown, an NZEF Performance Coach and Ride With Your Mind accredited coach. The evening sessions had a good turn out and the lessons filled fast. Applicable to all disciplines and making your partnership more balanced, Ride With Your Mind shows any rider how to organize their mind and body. The teaching enables people to experience the new feels and how to achieve improved results. It's about how to do what with your body much more specifically, rather than just phrases like "sit-up", "use your core" and "relax".

Christmas Ride and Quiz 2024

11/12/2024

Eight riders ventured into the Dovedale hills for a lovely end of year ride.

Congratulations to Patricia, who won the Richmond Saddlery Quiz trophy with a staggering 21 correct answers out of a possible 23. The even better news is that she has offered to run the quiz next year!

Special thanks to the property owners for hosting us and sharing their piece of paradise with us.

Ride to the Sky at Gibbs Valley

25/11/2024

We had lovely weather on Sunday 17 November for our ride to the sky at Gibbs Valley.

Eight riders enjoyed the 360 degree views from the top of the farm.

The ride was followed a relaxing catch-up over coffee and snacks.

October Ride and Grants

20/10/2024

Nelson Riding Club was successful in gaining a grant from the Tasman District Council Community Grants scheme in 2024.
This grant will assist the club to replace and upgrade some of our show-jump stands.
Nelson Riding Club thanks Tasman District Council for their support.

Our October Club Day ride started at the Rabbit Island track and completed the loop to the beach and back. The ride was very enjoyable, the weather was perfect, the horses were a little fresh at the start, but a great ride! Thanks everyone who joined.

September with NRC

22/9/2024

Worldwide Pass Wide and Slow Ride for Awareness - Sunday 15 September

As Ride #200 Nelson Riding Club was proud to be supporting New Zealand Horse riders, along with our friends in Scotland, Wales, England, Ireland, Canada, America and Australia and riding to raise awareness of equestrians' vulnerability on the road.

Ride #200 took place in the Mapua area and included some road riding and beach riding. There were 12 riders and 4 supporters. Special thanks to all the Maupa drivers who passed wide and slow.

Have a Go - Heartbeats and Hoofbeats - September 8, 2024
This Club Day was divided into two parts: taking your horse's heartbeat and practicing riding a distance at a set time.

Heartbeats
The day started with club member Tracy covering topics including what a normal horse heartbeat is, why it's important to know your horse's normal beat, what can affect it, how to use a stethoscope correctly, how to train your horse to accept a stethoscope. Then we listened to our horses' resting pulse, then trotting the horse and listening again.

Hoofbeats
Riders then rode around Rough Island passing markers set at 100m. This was an opportunity to ride a set distance at a set pace and learn how much ground your horse covers. After each round the horses' pulse was taken again. It was really interesting to see how much the pulses increased or didn't.

Poles & Planks - August Club Day

11/8/2024

A lovely late winter day saw an epic turnout of 18 riders! Lots of great experiences and the opportunity to play with pole patterns and some small jumps.

Those attending finished with a nice hack, split into two groups with one group going into the Rough Island woods whilst the other group had a ride around the park.

Thanks to Julie and Sarah for the photos.

Give it a Go - Rogaine 14 July 2024

3/8/2024

Rogaine today was a lot of fun first learning about Rogaine and map reading from Irene who has competed at the Rogaine world championship, and then getting our teams together on horses with a few teams on foot as well (did I see a car being used in the distance?)

We had to find control points around the parks in our teams and answer a question to prove we found them, and some were very hard to find and some easy.

Thanks for the pictures Tracey.

NRC is looking forward to holding a full-on Rogaine competition for horses in the near future.

Matariki RI track and beach ride - 30 June 2024

2/7/2024

Riding club members had a great Matariki ride through the awesome new track and then onto the beach and back again.
Weather was perfect, horses were perfect and such a fun relaxing ride had by everyone!
Beach rides with Riding Club members are a wonderful way to introduce your horse to the beach as there are always lots of seasoned campaigners to assist the newbies.

It's a wrap - Dressage & ShowCross 2024

9/6/2024

Thanks to everyone who supported the club and entered our annual Dressage & ShowCross event.

Big thank you to Neve from Equine photos for sponsoring spot prizes. You are able to view her professional photos on Facebook. Please do support our local photographers, they worked hard all day, if its good enough to share, its good enough to buy.

Here's the results
50cm dressage
1st Esmae Otten Skibbereen Holly
2nd Ella Norman True Blue
3rd Sophie Kyle Archie
4th Georgina Neth Jiminy Cricket (NRC Members trophy)

50cm Show cross
1st Sophie Kyle Archie
2nd Ella Norman True Blue
3rd Georgia Canning Kelly
4th Kuri Kugler Summer
(Members Trophy Emma Neth You Stay Classy)

50cm Combined
1st Ella Norman True Blue
2nd Esmae Otten Skibbereen Holly
3rd Sophie Kyle Archie
4th Georgia Canning Kelly

70cm Dressage
1st Vanessa Baxter Jazzaway
2nd Talia Manson Blue
3rd Ella Norman Flash of gold
4th Skylara Szembrener Prepare to be dazzled
(Members Trophy Emma Neth Jiminy Cricket)

70cm Showcross
1st Adele Chaplin LJ
2nd Vanessa Baxter Jazzaway
3rd Kate Hyde Gryphon
4th Summer Brereton Lovely Lady

70cm combined
1st Vanessa Baxter Jazzaway
2nd Caroline Szembrener Ready Teddy go
3rd Adele Chaplin LJ
4th Ella Norman Flash of gold

90cm Dressage
1st Sophie Kyle Dougal
2nd Ursula Oakes Rocky
3rd Miriama Graham Raise the Ante

90cm Showcross
1st Sophie Kyle Dougal
2nd Miriame Graham Raise the Ante
3rd Maddie Calveley My Bright Spark

90cm Combined
1st Sophie Kyle Dougal
2nd Miriama Graham Raise the Ante