We have had a bumper crop of entries for the Park Farm competition which opens our 2018 summer season – nearly 100 riders are heading to Stanford on Avon for the Bank Holiday weekend! Thank you to all those who have offered to judge or are bringing judges so that the event can take place. Claire is busy figuring out the logistics and timings to get everything in (and finish before 8pm on the Sunday!) so please watch this space and your email inbox for any amendments to the plan.

This competition includes a night-time POR, so there are increased requirements for visibility for this section. Riders competing at night will need to have high-viz on their torso, which MUST include reflective strips/ material. Riders are strongly encouraged to wear light(s), this could be a head torch or torch on the body for example.

Horses must have high-viz equipment too, which must include reflectives visible from the front (such as a neck strap) and a light visible from the back (eg a flashing tail guard or similar).

To help riders with meeting these requirements, and as part of TREC GB’s sponsorship from V-Bandz this year, we have been offered a 15% discount by V-Bandz on their flashing products. This is available via their website, www.v-bandz.co.uk, until Monday 30th April. To take advantage of this discount, select your item(s) from the V-Bandz website and use the voucher code central. Please also put your CTG / TREC GB membership number(s) into the Customer Comments box during the checkout process. [Products can be purchased from other categories, but the discount will only be applied to the flashing items.]

Entries for this competition are closed, but riders (and volunteers) are welcome to request meal tickets for the Sunday night or corralling if they have not already done so. Please email entries@trecgroup.co.uk to request these extras. Details of how to pay via BACS transfer or PayPal may be found on the schedule.

The information and directions for Saturday’s POR training at Dimlicote Farm, Great Bowden are available here. I am hoping that the forecast improvement in the weather over the next few days will prove to be correct as a few dry days should dry the ground out pretty effectively.

Please call if you have any queries or would like to join us on Saturday. Looking forward to seeing you there!

In contrast to wintry Willicote, the sun shone on our final Arena TREC of the 2017-18 winter season at Gracelands Equestrian Centre! The results are now available on the Results page and the placings in the 2017-18 Central TREC Group Winter League will be published shortly. Thanks go, as ever, to our valiant judges and helpers for making the day possible.

We hope to see you all at our Winter League presentation of awards, at Park Farm on Saturday 4th May.

The schedule for our summer TREC competition at Park Farm on 6th May is now available on our Calendar page. We are running this as a combined-phase event, so all the PTV obstacles and the MA will be out on the POR (and therefore the competition for Levels 1-2A will be a one-day event). This means that LOTS of helpers will be needed, so if we are full or close to being full then priority will be given to those competitors who can provide a helper on the day. This is because the event cannot run if we don’t get enough helpers.

Despite this event being predominantly 1-day, there will be a social and meal at the venue on Saturday 5th May. Tickets are £10 for competitors and free for judges. We hope to be able to present our Arena TREC League prizes and trophies for the 2017-18 winter season at this social, so we hope that lots of our members and friends will join us.

There will also be a night-time orienteering section included in this event, which will form part of the Level 3 and 4 POR phases and also be available as a stand-along class for pairs riding at a lower level (or not competing in the other parts of the competition). The night-time orienteering will be done on Saturday 5th May.

Central TREC Group is also keen to keep up with technology, so riders will be able to enter this competition via Equo Events if they wish to enter online instead of via a paper form. Please visit Equo Events and search for ‘CTG Park Farm TREC competition’. There is a flat rate of £1.50 for using the Equo system, regardless of how much your payment is.

Two more dates have been added to our calendar of training events for this spring, enabling you to develop your skills in all three phases of TREC.

• Saturday 7th April – Mounted POR training, Dimlicote Farm, Great Bowden (unmounted exercise also available)
• Sunday 15th April – Mounted MA and PTV training, Long Drove Dressage Centre, Somersham, Huntingdon

Full details and entry forms are available on the Calendar page.

The 2017 AGM and Awards presentation on 3rd December at the Blue Lias, Southam, was enjoyed by the 12 members who attended. Anna and Trish gave the grey matter a good workout with an unmounted orienteering exercise in Long Itchington to hone bearings and grids skills which was well received by all. We then enjoyed a lovely lunch before moving on the business end of the day – the AGM. Members will receive the minutes of the meeting and the annual accounts via email in due course.

The Awards presentation followed the AGM, congratulations to the winners of all our lovely awards.

CTG summer league: Level 1 winner Sarah Wynn, Level 2 winner Bella Craven, Level 2A winner Alex Sales, Level 3 & 4 winner Sue Lee

Phantom Flyer Award (presented to the CTG member achieving the slowest scoring MA canter at a CTG summer event) Janet Jones

Katy Memorial Trophy (awarded to the most deserving horse owned by a CTG member, as voted by the CTG membership) Tia, owned by Jo McCormac

Chairman’s Award (presented by the Chair to the most deserving committee member) Neill Elliott

Well done to all the winners and here’s to a great 2018!

It’s that time of year again – our AGM! This year we’ve got on foot POR training set by Anna Lea and Trish Donnelly, followed by lunch at the Blue Lias in Long Itchington. We will then have a map exercise and kit tips talk and will round off the day with the AGM and our Summer League Awards ceremony.
We hope that you can join us – more information is available here.

Well done to all those who enjoyed the winter sunshine at Milton Keynes today for our first arena TREC of the 2017-18 winter season! It was a little chilly but the sun shone (mostly) and the atmosphere was great, as usual for CTG events.

The results are now available on the Results page and the standings for the CTG winter league will be publicised in due course.

We look forward to seeing lots of you at our upcoming events, next is the club AGM and training on 3rd December and then the arena TRECs continue after Christmas with Low Farm on 11th February.

The schedule for our Winter Arena TRECs and all the dates and details are now available on our Calendar page. We look forward to seeing you there!

Central has been busy putting together a packed calendar of dates for this winter, so don’t pack all your TREC kit away as the nights draw in! We are planning a variety of events, including:

• 2 mounted PTV training events
• 2 opportunities for training or refreshing as a TREC GB judge
• 4 Arena TREC competitions which will be counted towards the TREC GB leagues and also (for CTG members) towards the club’s Winter League
• 2016-17 AGM and presentation of Summer League prizes and awards

We hope to see you at some or all of these events, whether riding, helping or spectating.

It’s also time to renew your Central TREC Group membership, as our membership year ends on 30th September.  Please complete the Membership form available on this site and either send it with a cheque to our membership secretary (at the address on the form) or email it and pay via PayPal.  Members who start or renew TREC GB membership and nominate Central TREC Group will receive CTG membership in return for their rebate. Email central@trecgroup.co.uk if you need more details.