Aberdeen Riding Club Public Page

23/12/2025

A great big Christmassey well done to our coach Laura today with the best news to get before Xmas!
Laura went down South last week to sit her British Horse Society Stage 4 Dressage Coach assessment and the results came back really quickly with some brilliant feedback - and a pass!!!!
Laura has worked really hard preparing for this assessment and we’re all incredibly proud of her. This was the last part of her Stage 4 she was being assessed in so she is now a BHS Senior Dressage Coach!
A big thank you to our liveries who rode in training sessions for Laura and to Jen Morris Coaching - our local BHS Stage 5 Performance coach who did coach training sessions and sign off with Laura - we’re very grateful to have Jen in our area as a mentor and inspiration to our staff team.
Laura has always loved Gizmo - the pony in her pic and he’s been in most of her exam success pics from Stage 2 upwards. He’s a bit older these days and is fully retired in the field but he was delighted to come in for a groom and to celebrate with his friend Laura.
Well done Laura - you absolutely deserve this and we’re all so delighted for you and can now call you Senior Coach Cargill 😀

23/12/2025

For many years now our lovely members have always asked what our horses and ponies would like for Xmas and our answer is always the same - please don’t spend money on equipment or things for them as our view is that it’s our job to pay for their equipment and grooming stuff etc and we don’t want our members to feel they have to spend a lot of money at this time of year - so we do the “treat tree”. Members can leave apples/carrots/mints/treats under the tree - either for a specific pony or for them all 😀
Our horses and ponies are going to be super excited when they get their Xmas deliveries to their fields tomorrow - there are more treats than ever! Everything from individually wrapped carrots with their names on through to big bags of apples.
We are closed 24th, 25th and 26th December (with a staff member working each day to see to the horses and ponies) so there will be huge excitement tomorrow when they see the treat barrow coming 😀

20/12/2025

We are delighted to be running another British Horse Society Coaching4All training course in 2026! Inclusive coaching is something that we are very passionate about at ARC and we always ensure the course is really practical and thought provoking for coaches who sign up for it!
The course has 2 online training sessions (delivered by us) and 2 full practical training days at ARC - with all coaches working in the arena with a huge variety of participants and horses - including the opportunity to work with “Murphy” our simulator.
The course is open to coaches who hold their BHS Stage 2 coach as a minimum qualification, although direct entry may be possible for those with other coach qualifications.
Booking is through the BHS but we are happy to take any questions on the course or course content! Great chance to make 2026 the year you add to your professional development and qualifications!

Give your clients the best experience possible by advancing your skills, knowledge and coaching practice.

20/12/2025

We are so grateful to The Trades Widows' Fund Charity for the funding they have provided to ARC to run a British Horse Society Changing Lives course for an Aberdeen city secondary school. The Trades Widows Fund charity has had such impact for those that need it in the city and surrounding areas. The funding they have provided will ensure up to seven young people from the local school, who are either disengaged or at risk of disengaging with education to attend a course of alternative education provision at our centre, helping the young people to learn in an environment that works for them and helping them learn key skills.

17/12/2025

After our British Horse Society Leadership participants fundraiser on Friday night, we’ve been busy behind the scenes totalling their fundraising amount and letting the charity that they chose to support know and then paying the donation over to the charity.
As part of their Leadership course, the young people organise a small fundraiser for their “innovator” section. It’s a lot of work for the young people, but great learning! At their weekly sessions, supported by one of our coaches, they have to decide on what type of fundraiser they want to run and then organise the whole thing. Part of the organising is that they have to pick a charity that they want to support, so we use it as an opportunity to help the young people learn about how charities work and how to find out what work a charity does. Our group picked FACEYOUTH Charity, a great charity which supports young people from under represented groups and disadvantaged backgrounds to reach their potential. So after all the sums were done, we are delighted to announce that the group raised £604 for the charity! They were assisted in their fundraising by donations made as raffle prizes by us at ARC and Country Ways and Auntie Bettys.
So a huge well done to our Leadership participants and thanks to everyone who supported making their fundraising project so successful!

13/12/2025

Our Bronze level British Horse Society participants held their fundraiser last night and what a great night it was! As part of their Bronze level course, they organise a small fundraiser - the young people pick the charity that will benefit from it, design the event, organise everything and advertise it. Our participants picked a hobby horse jumping competition and also made some great horse treat bags and horse shoes to sell.
The Leadership awards course is a brilliant way for young people to develop their skills and meet new pals and were very proud of this bunch and how well they did with their fundraiser!
Well done team!

09/12/2025

Woo hoo! A massive well done to our Assistant Manager and Senior Coach Martin who won the BHS Scotland “most popular coach” award yesterday!
We are so delighted that Martin has been recognised in this way - he does a huge amount for grass roots participation - coaching a range of riders every day at ARC both on school horses and their own horses. He has worked at ARC for 20 years and is a brilliant role model for both other coaches and participants - he’s a perfect example of just how much of an impact great riding centre coaches have. Martin is an all round top bloke and very humble, so he’d never go looking for recognition - but we are all really proud of him! Well done Martin and thanks to everyone who voted for him!

06/12/2025

Xmas fun night fundraiser!
At ARC we run British Horse Society Young Leadership programmes which are for 12-18 year olds - kind of like a youth club where they learn teamwork skills, innovation and planning projects. As part of their Bronze award, one of our groups has to pick a charity and run a small fundraiser for them.
So our Bronze level leaders have chosen to run a “hobby horse competition” on Friday 12th December from 6pm - 7.30pm. It’s a small fun event- it won’t be fancy as it’s the young people first time running a small event - although our staff are supporting (and possibly taking part in the hobby horse jumping 😀). It’s an open event for everyone and there will be hobby horses here to use - along with an “expert” hobby horse jumper who is one of our young leaders and will be helping everyone to learn how to do it and enjoy it! There are horse treats for sale and a raffle (with simulator lessons and walkies prizes). So if anyone fancies a visit to ARC/meet the ponies/have a go at hobby horse jumping, then come along! Entry to the hobby horse jumping is £5 and absolutely every penny raised will be going to the charity of the young leaders choice!

04/12/2025

One last push for Martin - one of our Senior coaches and our Assistant Manager who is nominated for this coach award (alongside some other fab coaches!) Martin has worked at ARC for over 20 years and is a brilliant coach who works with all participants from beginners to advanced. He has done a huge amount over the years to encourage people to get involved with horses and he is a true grass roots centre coach. Martin also does a lot of career professional training, so is responsible for the training for many, many coaches in the industry today. So please - if you have 2 mins to spare click on the link below to vote for Martin!
We posted a very professional pic of him in the last post so for this last push for votes we thought we would show what poor Martin has to put up with in his workplace - when we made him the “tin man” in our Wizard of Oz panto last year and he had to wear a full on tinfoil costume!

https://forms.monday.com/forms/d8ff7a4b265b4c19165265621ec49ffc?r=use1&fbclid=IwdGRleAOevRhleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeyqFn866TJ7UedlyCEDKgYVUFsJbQc9SC-k0whJWA7KCVp6tU5go1sfRWg-E_aem_AWUwGOzYtz3qLsl12NQ_Wg

28/11/2025

We were delighted to hear that Martin, one of our Senior coaches and our Assistant centre manager has been nominated for a coaching award - alongside some other great coaches!
So we are unashamedly going to push for votes for Martin - a)because he’s one of our great staff team and b)because he has had a huge impact on grass roots equestrian in our area.
Martin has worked at ARC as a coach for around 20 years and as a rough estimate we think he has coached over 10000 people - many starting their equestrian journey. He is one of those rare things - a superb centre coach who is a real specialist at coaching a huge variety of sessions and making sure every participant and horse enjoys it.
Martin is a BHS Stage 4 Senior event coach and is a trainer for BHS Coaching4All, so does a huge amount both inspiring and training the professionals of tomorrow, but also working hard every day to make sure that horses are accessible.
Martin would never go looking for recognition for what he does - he is one of the most humble and laid back humans you’ll ever meet - but we are delighted he has been nominated and hope some of you will have time to click on the link below and vote for him.
Well done Martin - we’re all very proud of you!

https://forms.monday.com/forms/d8ff7a4b265b4c19165265621ec49ffc?r=use1&fbclid=IwdGRleAOW3zJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeR4ZDTV3xPSv1O2bo7Zkf6ync3eCCwYSBdg6v2hcAIxrFpaGAB0MW19ZA43o_aem_jKD8wuj7lOcg2D4TPf_diQ

25/11/2025

Madge is very excited as she has just been told she is the star of an educational evening we are running this Friday (28th November). Sally is running a session on training a young horse/working with new horses/how to produce a good riding school horse. So we’ll be covering groundwork, types of work to do with a new horse and how to ensure (whether the horse is young or older) that you build a good relationship with them and the horse is confident and polite. Madge is a 4 year old who was backed when we bought her and we are producing her to hopefully be a great school horse for people to learn on, so she needs to be polite to handle and simple things like stand really well at the mounting block/be confident in a variety of different scenarios.
It’ll be a great session for anyone who is looking to learn a bit more about how to ensure their horse is a confident, happy partner and understand how horses think and learn - whilst Madge is a young horse, the theory is the same for all horses - Madge is a great horse to use for this as she very clearly demonstrates how horses learn as she’s still learning so much!
If you’d like to attend, the session is running from 5pm - 6.30pm (ish) and costs £25 - you can book into it by emailing us at [email protected] or by calling 01224 733111.

17/11/2025

“Murphy” had his full service from Racewood Limited last week and was found to be in great health! Good timing for the service as Murphy has a heavy workload over winter as he’s in a nice heated room and snow/ice doesn’t stop Murphy as he doesn’t have to walk in from the field!
If you’re looking for an Xmas present with a difference, we offer gift vouchers for a simulator session with one of our coaches with prices ranging from £32 - £42 depending on time of day/coach and whether the recipient is an ARC member. We do sessions on Murphy for non members, with a one off sim membership included in pricing above so if you’d like to gift someone a session on the simulator, just drop us an email and we can arrange an electronic voucher to be sent out or a hard copy posted/to be collected. Murphy is suitable for all riders from complete beginner to advanced and can be a great way to either try riding, work on your position or improve your aids for the “fancy movements”. Murphy has a weight limit of 16stone and we use a variety of dressage saddles on him depending on height of rider.