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In This Issue...
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Where Have We Been???
 GDay to all our “Friends of Yarrabin” ezine subscribers!! And a BIG warm Yarrabin welcome to all our new subscribers – many from our summer Kids Camps, but also recent guests and others. Some of you have been asking “Where is our newsletter? We haven’t heard from you since last year!! And we can’t live without hearing from you!” Many would have received a hardcopy newsletter in January, packed full of info, key dates and riding tips from Annie (if you would like one, let us know!). So why the short silence from Yarrabin?? Well….. We have completely ripped out and replaced our kitchen!! It was a BIG job, but we had some wonderful volunteers helping us (many sincere thanks to John Hume, Simon Davis, Murray Robertson and Annie’s Dad, Gavin Christie, plus our local tradesmen). We now boast a SUPER commercial dishwasher (so even easier to come and help!), a HUGE griddle to cook brekky on, an exhaust hood that actually works, and loads of big drawers and cupboards. Annie and Kathy (our cook) are even conducting guided tours! One of our recent guests said about the kitchen and Kathy’s cooking “You can taste the love from Kathy in her food.” Next on our agenda are the rooms….
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Say GDay To Some New Horses and Team Members
 We love our horses (and our team members) and we constantly receive compliments on their great condition, variety and training. All up, there are about 40 horses of all ages and levels. The drought has been tough on them (the horses, that is!!), but we believe are just about through the worst of it now. And there are a few new horses for you to ride: Max (pictured in the last section "Dates for Your DIary") is an educated, forward-moving big BLACK Australian stock horse gelding; Yarrah (pictured) is quiet, well mannered and schooled Standard Bred crossed Welsh Pony (from Maureen Hall’s stables) who is fitting in very well with the mob; Harley (who belongs to Kathy our fantastic cook) is a large, quiet Appaloosa gelding who often provides a sense of fun to guests; and Graffiti who is a sprightly Appaloosa gelding (he was in the line for a while, but now is owned by Kristina our wrangler). Sadly we lost Drifter in January due to a freakish accident when all the horses were out in the paddocks. While not a horse, but certainly a key part of our animals, Colin, our pet kangaroo hopped away in March to join the bigger mob.
On a brighter note, we have two additions to our happy people team: Priscilla (who is also a champion downhill skier) and Elisse (who an accomplished rider). Both girls are at Uni in Bathurst. If you are interested in becoming part of our team, (or just want to run away from home), please email us your resume and a photo, and we will reply as soon as we can.
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Congratulations to Our Latest Active Horsemanship Graduands!!
.JPG) Laughter, thought, reflection, bareback riding, barrel racing, day ride to the pub, fantastic meals, complimentary wine AND a massage….. who wouldn’t want to join us for 4 days with Annie for her popular “Active Horsemanship Workshops?” Annie incorporates some key riding skills in these workshops, plus some intuitive horsemanship skills from her mentor in the US, Ariana Strozzi. She only takes 8 participants so she can guarantee close personal attention. Our last participants to complete the workshop in March were Ron and Deb, Pam and Dennis, Les and Trish, and Ruby – congratulations to all of them for achieving an improvement in their riding, but also learning more about themselves. Annie’s next workshop will be a shortened version over a weekend – Friday 25 to Sunday 27 May. Email Annie for more info annie@yarrabin.com
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What Have Paul King and David Redhill Started??
 Who is Paul King? Who is David Redhill? Well, they are previous special guests of Yarrabin who have got back in touch with us. Many of you will know David (our prize winner from last year) and his humorous stories of sitting on those apple pies at the Bush BBQ as a kid!! But Paul King just sent us an email out of the blue from Hong Kong! Turns out Paul was a guest and helper in the ‘60s and ‘70s at Yarrabin. He came up with a friend called David Howard. But here is something even more special – he was there at the servicing of Crystal by Blue John in 1976 – and the result was Snuggles!! AND even MORE special – he helped Gavin put all those egg cartons up on the ceiling in the TV Room!!! That's a picture of them to the right. If you are wondering why they were put up, it was to aid in the acoustics and sound proofing! Together, contact with Paul and David has spurned us to write a book about Yarrabin. We will be 50 years “young” in 2013 (only 6 years away!) and we will be publishing a book packed full of stories, photos, poems, and memories. If you would like to be part of this (either as an editor, writer, have a few photos to send, have a poem, or just want to pre-order a copy or 10), then let Graeme know (graeme@yarrabin.com). We would love any help you may wish to offer.
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Some Thoughts From Bill Gates:
 Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically-correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world. Here are his thoughts:
Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!
Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem.
The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't 6 weeks of holidays in summer and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
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Annie’s Horse Riding Tip – The Power of Positive Thought
 "The power of positive thought is a really strong and useful tool when horse riding. Horses are not mind readers, but “body readers.” Given that only 7% of our communication is our spoken word (which the horse can’t understand anyway!), and a massive 93% is things like tone, aura, body language, a change of our body language has a large effect on our communication. Subconsciously, our body reflects our thoughts.
So whenever you want to do something with a horse, on the ground or when riding, have a clear picture in your mind of what you want to achieve. And this can be as simple as staying on!!! These thoughts will be reflected in our body language, and the horse will have a much clearer idea of what you are after. So stay positive when dealing with horses and things will generally go better then you planned! (that could be said about life as well!!)
Learn more about this concept on our next Active Horsemanship Workshop in May. If you have any problems, points or concerns about any related to horses and horse riding, email Annie and we might even include it this section.
Happy trails….”
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Dates for your Diaries : )
 If you are keen to escape the rat race with the kids during the school holidays, then next available time is from Friday 29 June. Yep, we are full these Easter/April School Holidays. Some weekends in April (27 to 29) and May are free, so why not consider a weekend escape and ride?
How about our Special Mothers Day Weekend Fri 11 to Sun 13 May – complimentary champagne and chocolates for Mums!!
Or join us for our shortened Active Horsemanship Workshop over 2 weekend days Fri 25 to Sun 27 May (only 8 participants).
There is another POPULAR “Adults Only” (or Kid Free) weekend over the weekend Fri 1 to Sun 3 Jun (only 3 spots left!).
Only for Kids Camps (“fun, fun and MORE fun!”) the next one is Mon 25 to Fri 29 Jun. Throw your kids onto the XPT with our staff escort, and we will do all the rest.
That’s all for now. Til we see you again, enjoy life, relax, smile and return to Yarrabin as soon as you can!! Happy trails!!!
Annie, Graeme with Jessica, Harry, Jack, Will and all our wonderful team!!
PS Please keep forwarding these ezines to all your friends and family so we can get to our 10,000 subscribers by the end of the year!!! Many thanks!!
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A big “thank you” and congratulations to over 100 kids and teen cowgirls who joined us for Yarrabin Kids Camps and Cowgirl Adventures in December/January. All camps were a blast, with a highlight being the modified day ride to Annie’s parents’ place to enjoy a picnic and their pool. We’ve added a few more interesting activities to the camps, including jumping and swimming with our horses in the home dam. The 15 to 17 year old girls on our inaugral “Cowgirl Adventures Camp” enjoyed the colours and make up session with Robyn Robertson, who is a local “Image Consultant.” They also enjoyed the longer rides, and a day ride to the O’Connell Pub (no alcohol of course!!). All photos from our camps are now loaded onto www.ringo.com - let us know if you would love an invitation to view them (email graeme@yarrabin.com). If you missed out on a camp, or are just DYING to get back on one, the dates are on our website. The next one is Monday 25 to Friday 29 June…..jpg)
Last ezine’s puzzle section elicited 100s of answers from people wanting to win that free ride at Yarrabin – many thanks to all of you! A big congratulations to Miranda from Ryde who was the first with two correct answer to be randomly drawn.