Paula and Wayne on holiday in bonny Scotland this week, so a busy week so far for me, b and b and catching horses!

We have had Matthew Jackson here holding a training course for Barefoot Trimming.Most of our horses and ponies have been barefoot now for a number of years with great success.

We have found new arrivals take a while to adjust but depending on which field they are grazing on seems to make a big difference.One of our fields have some rare plants , horses with poor feet seem to do well here.Engish Nature had a look around and were pleased with plants such as Ragged Robin,Marsh Orchid,Red Clover and Fumitory to name a few.

Many of our bed and breakfast guests walk around the fields and tell me of different plants and birds they have seen.We will be able to tell you more about the birds ,and what species we have soon, as the Newton Birder is coming to look around.

We have had an eventful weekend here at Slate Hall.Firstly we had a problem with the lock on toilet door.Poor Adele got locked inside, luckily she had her phone in her pocket and was able to ring us to rescue her!Katy is poorly this weekend -hope you feel better soon.
Sal and I went riding on Cindy and China yesterday afternoon,as we headed out of the village we noticed a gold Mitsubishi truck parked in Burnhouse entrance.One man got out of the truck and headed towards the cemetery, it was a really warm day yesterday, so when we saw him pull a hat well down over his head and then pull a hood up,we became a bit suspicious.The truck then did a u turn and went past us into Seahouses.We watched the man wandering around the fields but then continued our ride.
Later on Bryan from the garage called to tell me he had had his trailer stolen from a lock up he had luckily followed them(gold Mitsubishi with 3 men in)and was able to retrieve his trailer.
Police arrived a couple of minutes too late but went off in pursuit.So lock up your sheds and watch out for suspicious men in hoodys!
News just in from Natalie saying The Percy Hunt games team have won again, this time by an amazing 18 points!!!!!! WELL DONE.

Katie away to Titlington today to another pony club games competition.Good luck hope the team does well.We will all be booking our tickets for HOYS next!More news on the weekends events later today.

Pic of Snooty enjoying the sunshine.

We had Will the friendly farrier in today.Dan and Saffy had new shoes and " Good Crack" from Will about his hols in Ireland.
Lesson tonight with Selby went very well. Cinders behaved beautifully, and learnt to move away from the leg for the first time.Kizzy was put through her paces and now Karen has something to work at(as well as finishing her book)

Lessons with Selby Friar

Anyone interested in lessons with Selby Friar? He will be here tomorrow night 21st. at 5pm anyone interested just let me know.

Selby is training the pony club event team this year and is well known in Northumberland.

We have had the most fantastic weather today, Dex and Harry enjoyed their beach ride.

Everyone back to school today so it has been quite quiet.Claire and Lauren came up after school and rode Twilight and Ice.Twilight is turning out to be a little superstar and just loves jumping(he even escaped into the next field over a 4 feet wall a few weeks ago)This is a pic of him with his friend Moscow who is hiding in the background.

One of the liveries was away at the weekend competing in pony club mounted games.I heard the team (Percy Hunt)won. I hope Katy will be adding more info on her successful weekend and if there are any photos we would love to see them.

Welcome to Slate Hall

I've finally decided to take the plunge into blogging, this is my first attempt so please be kind!

Slate Hall Riding Centre has just about recovered from the Easter rush and is revving up for the summer season.

We've been around for 35 years and were originally located at the old farmhouse in North Sunderland village. The riding school moved lock, stock and barrel to its new premises behind the church in 2001 so we could offer better facilities away from the busy Main Street.

We now have two purpose-built stable blocks, an all weather arena for lessons and a number of cross country jumps.

Of course, the best thing about our location is that we're less than a mile from the beach. Riding on the beach is apparently among one of the top 50 things people want to do before they die. But of course, you have to be a pretty proficient rider before we let you loose!

Over the next few weeks, you'll be hearing from some of our liveries about life at Slate Hall and we welcome your comments.