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In This Issue...
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Guaranteed to Improve Your Riding – a Workshop and a 30 km Charity Ride
 Most guests who ride at Yarrabin often look for ways to improve their riding – to ride more safely, more comfortably, to be able to ride with confidence, or even be able to ride a larger variety of horses. And some take lessons – usually in an arena where the “finer points” of riding are covered. But what if you could find a workshop that GUARANTEES to not only improve your riding, but also your knowledge of horses and of yourself??? Plus throw in some good ole fashioned fun, some fabulous food AND complimentary champagne (to sip in the spa??). Sounds like your sort of workshop? Then why not join Annie and the Yarrabin team on our “Active Horsemanship Workshop?” Four days of bliss, escape and learning. You’ll cover tacking up, finding and improving your independent seat, and even develop some essential “cowgirl/cowboy” skills. Try your hand at barrel racing, move mobs of sheep and cattle, and spend a day in the saddle on one of our fantastic day rides. Give us a call or email for more info – the next workshop is Mon 23 to Thu 26 Oct. And how about this??? A 30 km day ride with over 100 horses!!! That’s the Bathurst Riding for Disabled “CHARITY RIDE” held annually. The date this year is Saturday 28 October. We only take 15 guests with us. It’s a 3 day all inclusive package starting on the Thursday evening – we warm you up on Friday, then drop horses off ready for the early start on Saturday morning. Ride all day over some magnificent countryside, then join hundreds of locals at the O’Connell Pub that evening for a HUGE auction!! Enjoy a luxurious sleep in on Sunday before a late brunch. Then another ride before heading back to the rate race…… There are some conditions (not too onerous!) so call/email soon to book or enquire.
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Test Your Puzzle Skills
 Our puzzle section continues to be popular. Thank you to everyone who has submitted answers. Remember that we have modified the rules – you don’t necessarily need to be the first to respond with two correct answers. All correct entries go into the draw and we randomly select a winner. The winner from last month was the Willis Family with the correct answers of 10% and a towel (the first puzzle was actually Lewis Carroll’s Chelsea Pensioner puzzle!) – congratulations to the Willis family who win a free horse ride valued at $30. Now for this month’s puzzles: “All the following members of a family are present at a family gathering: mother, father, son, daughter, uncle, aunt, brother, sister, cousin, nephew, and niece. Only 4 people were there. How is this possible?” And the second: “A man went into a café, sat down and ordered a black cup of coffee, a glass of orange juice and a Danish pastry. ‘Ah,’ said the waitress, ‘you must be a policeman.’ How did she know?” Email your answers right up til our next newsletter – about middle of October. Good luck!!!
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Annie’s Riding Tip for September – RELAX!!
 Here’s the latest from our riding guru, Annie!! “Riding is hard work….’sit up straight, heels down, elbows in’ blah blah blah! Sometimes riders focus so much on maintaining the right position, they tense up and the whole thing comes undone… Try and relax as much as possible. Three deep breaths always helps. Yes, it IS hard and requires a combination of all the advice already outlined in our newsletters (regular instruction, balance, practice, attitude etc). But hang in there and you’ll find one day it all comes naturally! It took Graeme only 20 years to perfect his riding, and find his ‘independent seat!!’ Oh, and one more thing!!! Make sure you wear comfortable undies when you ride!! There’s nothing like an atomic wedgie to distract you in the saddle! And those G Strings – pleeeeeeeeeeease!! May be a great fashion – but no good for comfortable riding!!” If you have a question or a tip, please email Annie on horseriding@yarrabin.com
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So What’s Been Happening?
 Where do we start? Let’s see….. The room renovations have commenced!! A BIG thank you to Annie’s Dad, Gavin, and sister, Jo, for all the fantastic work!! Units 5 and 6 are almost complete, and we will move on to the other units in the next few months. Always a challenge continuing to run a dynamic business and still do some upgrades! The kitchen upgrade is scheduled for February 2007 (at last says Annie and our cooks – “can’t wait for the dishwasher!”) We have hosted some fun groups in the last couple of months, including the “Burt Group.” Frequent guests, Chris and Anne organise one of the best regular get-togethers for their friends at Yarrabin. We also shared Yarrabin with some Army soldiers from Victoria Barracks who came to do some “adventurous training” This included loads of horse riding, some Leadership & Horses, and even some mountain biking. Let us know if you are interested in organising a group escape to Yarrabin – not only will we help you, but we will throw in a complimentary 30 minute massage for the organiser, as our way of saying “thank you.” The inaugural “McLeod’s Daughter Weekend” in September was a hoot!! We had some fun people in who really got into the spirit. We don’t QUITE have Channel 9 knocking on our door for the next series…….but we are sure that will come soon!! So until we see you next – happy trails!!! Annie, Graeme with Jessica, Harry, Jack, Will and all our wonderful team!! PS Remember to forward this email letter to all your friends and family so we can get to our 10,000 subscribers by the end of the year!!! Many thanks!! PPS Not only do we trail ride – but we also compete in other events!! Come and see Jessica and Harry compete in the NSW State Mounted Games at Windsor 7/8 October, or come and watch Annie compete in a One Day Event (on Major!!) at Oberon on Sunday 22 October. Call for details….
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Thank you and welcome to the 122 people who subscribed since our last newsletter – we even have a subscriber from Chile South America (G’Day Isabella!!!) To all our loyal subscribers, please help us harness the power of the internet and email! Why not forward our newsletters to all your friends and family? We currently have over 6000 on our email list – but we aspire to having over 10,000 by the end of 2006! But we need your help!! So please forward this email and see how many we can get to…. If your friends and family wish to subscribe, please get them to click on the link below to go straight to our subscribe page. Many thanks!!!
No – not another little person or a new pony (though is VERY close to foaling!!) But we have loads of other little spring babies at Yarrabin! First, did you know that we now breed baby chooks? We have a very cool incubator which hatches baby chooks every 21 days!! And boy, are they POPULAR!!! Not just with the kids, but also adults! There is something magic seeing a baby chook born, and then being able to hold it when it is only a few minutes old. We also have three new poddy lambs (Lick, Leah, and Spike) AND a baby roo!! His name is Colin and has been with us since last Sunday. That’s a picture of him with one of our fabulous team members, Kristina. So come up soon to play with all the animals – they love kids AND adults!!
Magical stories of his childhood experiences at Yarrabin, priceless moments sharing his special place with his children and wife, and some memorable canters across the paddocks – David Redhill’s return to Yarrabin after 30 years had it all. You may recall that David was the winner of our “best idea/wish/dream for Yarrabin” competition, and was presented with a free weekend for 4. (Who could forget his memory of sitting on the apples pies at the bush BBQ when he was a kid!!) We all had a great weekend together in August, and we were honoured that not only did David savour the opportunity to return, he has also booked in again for a farm and horse riding holiday. In a frank moment, David revealed that he was a little apprehensive returning to Yarrabin. A place that captivated him as a child, and gave him so many experiences that stayed with him over the years – he was concerned that maybe Yarrabin could live up to precious memories of bygone years. But we know we exceeded his expectations – maybe it was because we are still family run, and Annie is part of that original family. Stay tuned for more Yarrabin Competitions – like the photo competition – where you too can win a free weekend at Yarrabin.
Wow – GIDDY UP!!!! Who would have thought that our theme weekends such as Adults Only, and Day Ride Weekends would have been sooooo popular that they are always over-subscribed?? We now have a plan with dates a year out – so if you would like a copy of all the theme weekends, workshops and Kids Camps, please email us. The next all-inclusive Adults Only Weekend (or “Kid Free Weekend!!”) is Friday 20th to Sunday 22nd of October. And the next Day Ride Weekend (with that AWESOME ride to the O’Connell Pub!) is Friday 1st December to Sunday 3rd December. And of course LOADS of KiDs CaMps!!! In Dec/Jan there are 4 Kids Camps; in January there is our inaugural “Cowgirl Adventures Camp” especially for 15 to 17 year old girls!!! All camps are starting to fill, so call soon to book a spot!!
A big horsey kiss and thank you to everyone who sent pressies, cards and best wishes for our horses for their “birthday” on 1 August! They had a great party – loads of treats, green grass and some galloping up the new paddock we have called “Lightening Ridge.” The oldest horse in the mob is Snuggles (who is really 30 on 18 October but still thinks she is 8!) and the youngest is Ollie (now 7 months old!). Rosie, our palomino mare, is due ANY DAY!!! We can’t wait to have a new little pony – we will send out an email as soon as it is born.