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In This Issue...
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Welcome – And What’s Been Happening at Yarrabin
 Another BIG and warm welcome to all our regular “Friends of Yarrabin” ezine subscribers, in particular all those who have joined our list!! Trust you enjoy this edition and forward it widely to all your friends and family. Also, please have a go at solving the puzzle (and be in the running to win a free horse ride at Yarrabin). And we welcome any feedback you may have on our newsletter, or anything on Yarrabin.
So what have we been up to? The big projects we have running at the moment is the upgrade in the units, homestead and games room heating to reverse cycle air conditioning. Not only will you now always be as warm as toast (in winter!), but we will be making significant savings on electricity. All good news for the environment! (A public plug for a Sydney company who have helped us with great products and price: Osmond Air Conditioning in Glebe. Their number is 9660 6683 and their web site is www.osmondair.com.au Let them know you are a friend of Yarrabin, and they will give you a great deal!)
We have almost completed the upgrade of the bathrooms in Units 3 and 4 so they are more modern and functional. The plan is to have all the bathrooms completed by the end of this year.
Annie has run a special weekend version of her Active Horsemanship workshop – congratulations to the graduands Liz Horak, Murray Roberson, David Brieger, Christine Giles, Bella Townsend, and Aisling Monohan. They all improved their horsemanship skills, and had loads of fun and laughter. The next workshop is from Monday 17 Sep to Friday 21 Sep.
We have had many groups enjoying the appeal, traditions and horse riding at Yarrabin. Joining us for their SIXTH year in a row were the wild group from Owen T Daniel & Co Accountants (seen in the picture to this story). They have become known as the “Belly Dancing Group” due to their late night antics!! Even Annie joins in! We also have had the Sacred Heart School Mosman over the June Long Weekend for their third visit. They love it so much they have booked until 2010!! Let us know if we can help organise a great break or bonding time for your group – work, school, sports team or family reunion.
Adults Only Weekends are very, very popular and fill up fast! Maybe they could also be called “Kid Free Weekends” because we do have couples who escape their kids and join us. The AO Weekend we held over 1 to 3 June was a blast. Some great riding, some great partying, and some wild times in the spa!! (Those people of course will remain nameless so we can protect their identity!)
Jessica and Harry (our two eldest children) competed in the North West Equestrian Expo at Coonabarabran at the beginning of June. Five days of riding in all disciplines, including dressage, hacking, show jumping, cross country and polocrosse. Over 500 children attended with over 600 horses (work that one out!). Jessica came 6th overall on Harley in the one day event, and Harry came 11th on Gerry. And both their teams made the final round of the polocrosse!
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Extra Kids Camp Announced for July School Holidays
 Our next Kids Camp for 10 to 15 year olds is Monday 25 to Friday 29 June (next week)… But it is FULL! So we have decided to make space during the July School Holidays for another Kids Camp!! The dates are from Monday 9 to Friday 13 July. It is more than half full, so round up your friends and give us a call soon.
Just imagine – 5 days of the BEST fun! Horse riding, bare backing, day ride, gymkhana, polocrosse introduction, day ride to a picnic spot, BBQ in the bush, helping out round the farm, and making life long friends. That’s Yarrabin Kids Camps. If you are in Sydney, you can catch the Countrylink XPT from Central direct to Bathurst. We even have a staff member escort the kids on the train – to Bathurst and back to Sydney. It’s an all-inclusive package of all meals, accommodation, horse riding and instruction, full adult supervision, loads of other fun activities… and memories that last a lifetime! A great camp, even if you have never ridden before!
(If you are an adult and are thinking “why do kids have all the fun?” then why not join us on a special 4 day “Active Horsemanship Workshop?” Almost like Kids Camps for Adults, but even more fun with complimentary champagne, a massage, and some cerebral work…. Guaranteed to improve your riding!)
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Our Team Member and Horse Update
 We’d like to let you know of a new team member – Ryan Allan - who has joined our team. He is a fireman, and will soon join the NSW Police Force, but loves helping out with the horses and around the farm. Oh – and all the girls love him!! Come up and meet Ryan soon!
Annie has just been awarded her Level 1 Coaching Accreditation, and also her Level Trail Ride Qualification (which means she can teach others to become Trail Ride Leaders and Assistants). Congratulations Annie.
Graeme has been travelling (again!!) and training. This time to Lasseter Hotel Casino in Alice Springs. No wins on the gambling tables this time, but much of his leadership knowledge and experience was appreciated by the groups. He was also part of a Chamber of Commerce business seminar in Sydney, and met Tom O’Toole, the famous baker from Beechworth. Tom has an inspirational story and so much energy and passion for life. We recommend trying to listen to him speak, or even getting hold of one of his books.
Kristina, our wrangler on the horses, (and also our bundle of endless smiles and chats!) has commenced Level 1 coaching course. She has also just been accepted to start her nursing course at Bathurst Hospital. She will make a great nurse!! She will continue to be part of our team on weekends and holidays.
Gavin Christie (Annie’s father and founder of Yarrabin) has returned from 4 weeks helping out on the Great Australian Outback Cattle Drive in South Australia. Over 90 riders each 5 days help move over 500 head of cattle in outback Australia. Gavin has loads of great stories and pictures of his time there. We will include his thoughts in our next newsletter. We are also considering putting together a group to the next cattle drive in 2009. Click on the link below and let us know if you are keen to be part of the escorted Yarrabin Group.
Please remember, 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.
And our horses? No additions (or subtractions!) since last ezine. All the newer horses are settling into the Yarrabin routine, and proving their worth. Yarrah is popular – very comfortable, and probably a Freckles replacement for those who love Freckles. Max is also popular and loves barrel racing. And our two foals, Lilly and Ollie, are growing FAST! We will start them soon, but please come up and see them – they are very cute and love all the attention.
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Girls and Horses – an intimate relationship
.JPG) For some time now, we’ve been having conversations with guests, friends, family and horsey-people about girls and horses, why there seems to be a special link there, and how come most horse riders are female yet only a small proportion of our Olympic Equestrian Team are female. Probably up to 80% of the riders here at Yarrabin are female; and coincidentally, some of our Kids Camps are just girls. And we have also now grown with many girls who have ridden and holidayed at Yarrabin, and who now are either in University or completed University, or completed school and are in the workforce. They all have in common a passion for horse riding – and they all seem well-adjusted, wonderful achievers, and just happy people. Is there something about horse riding that has an effect on girls?
Well, one of our guests mentioned a book by Gisela Preuschoff called “Raising Girls.” (Steve Biddulph who wrote “Raising Boys” contributes a Foreword to this book.) It is a fantastic book for those of us who are raising girls. But it also has a section on the intimate relationship between girls and horses. Here’s an extract:
“The horse is an archetypal symbol, and an animal with whom mankind can communicate in a special way. Horse-riding requires mental communion, intimate contact and trust…. Perhaps horses are particularly suited to symbolising and carrying the desires and anxieties of girls. Certainly, girls seem to allow themselves to be accompanied, comforted, carried off (in both senses) and encouraged by horses. For a myriad of reasons, girls love horses, and it does them good to associate with them. A girl who learns how to get on with a horse will gain a lot of self confidence, because a horse is always stronger than a human being, but permits itself to be guided and directed.”
Gisela quotes work from German psychiatrist Dorte Stolle who writes about the partnership of horses and girls. “A girl learns that modes of behaviour like empathy and gentleness, in combination with their opposites – such as assertiveness and exercising power – can work for the horse, for herself on horseback, and for herself in everyday life. Horses strengthen girls’ willpower and assertiveness because many girls must always assert themselves with a horse, while also taking responsibility for the horse and keeping to rules. In addition, working with horses improves body perception, coordination and balance.”
Dorte adds, “The horse seems well suited to convey to girls, in many ways, the pulse that they need for a transition into adult life. When riding and grooming this symbolic animal, they feel protection and security, but also autonomy and power.”
So there you have it – some interesting thoughts on the power, and almost the necessity, of a relationship between a girl and a horse. We would be interested in your thoughts. (The book is available from most bookshops or online.)
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Test Your Puzzle Skills
 Here are this month’s puzzles – and the chance to win a complimentary ride at Yarrabin! The winner is randomly drawn from all the email entries we receive. You’ll need two correct answers, and be the first drawn, to win.
Puzzle One. “You and two friends rent a hotel room that costs $30, so you put in $10 each. Later that night, the owner of the hotel realises he has overcharged you so he sends his assistant with $5. The assistant steals $2 and returns $1 to each of you. So you have each now paid $9. $9 x 3 = $27. The assistant stole $2. That equals $29 - what happened to the last dollar?”
Puzzle Two. “An Arab sheik is old and must will his fortune to one of his two sons. He makes a proposition. His two sons will ride their camels in a race, and whichever camel crosses the finish line LAST will win the fortune for its owner. During the race, the two brothers wander aimlessly for days, neither willing to cross the finish line. In desperation, they ask a wise man for advice. He tells them something; then the brothers leap onto the camels and charge toward the finish line. What did the wise man say?”
Our winner from our last puzzle was Anthea from St Ives in Sydney – big congratulations to Anthea, who has never been to Yarrabin…yet! Many thanks to everyone who participated. The answers were:
Puzzle One: A man is the owner of a winery who recently passed away. In his will, he left 21 barrels (seven of which are filled with wine, seven of which are half full, and seven of which are empty) to his three sons. However, the wine and barrels must be split so that each son has the same number of full barrels, the same number of half-full barrels, and the same number of empty barrels. Note that there are no measuring devices handy. How can the barrels and wine be evenly divided? Answer: Two half-full barrels are dumped into one of the empty barrels. Two more half-full barrels are dumped into another one of the empty barrels. This results in nine full barrels, three half-full barrels, and nine empty barrels. Each son gets three full barrels, one half-full barrel, and three empty barrels.
And Puzzle Two: Jimmy's mother had 4 children. She named the first Monday. Named the second Tuesday. The third is named Wednesday. What is the name of the fourth child? Answer: Jimmy!! “Jimmy’s mother had 4 children.”
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Us Upsetting a Travel Journalist From the Sydney Morning Herald Newspaper?
 Journalists can be a fickle bunch at times… and hold much sway with what people think and do. So we are divided over the comments that a travel journo from the Sydney Morning Herald, Bruce Elder, has been making about Yarrabin in his blog (web log). The background is that he was running a blog called “The Best Place You Have Ever Stayed in Australia.” He opened this blog on 7 June. Now, we did point our subscribers to this blog, and we did encourage them to contribute, but at no stage did we EVER tell them to say Yarrabin was their favourite place. But, of course, for many thousands of people, Yarrabin IS their favourite place, and many contributed to Bruce’s Blog.
Bruce took offence that there seemed to be a preponderance of people talking about Yarrabin, and believed that it was just someone here at Yarrabin pretending to be different people. He went so far as to say “Can I start advising people to stay well clear of Yarrabin because they obviously engage in some kind of 1984-style brainwashing. This is incredibly silly - and I guess Yarrabin is as well.” Can you believe that? He didn’t even have the courtesy to call us and ask what was going on, but prefered to publicly criticise us. Read the whole blog by clicking on the link below.
Well, we are offended by his comments about Yarrabin and the insinuation that we wrote them all. We will be writing to the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, and encourage you to do the same. Especially if you were one of the many who took the time to contribute to the blog – Bruce is far from thankful to you. The contact details for the editor are: The Editor, Sydney Morning Herald, PO Box GPO Box 3771, Sydney NSW 2001. Fax (02) 9282 3492. We have also written to Media Watch (the ABC show on Monday nights) so there may be a story there.
We appreciate your support, and we will keep you posted on developments.
(PS the photo attached to this story has nothing to do with this story! Just a great shot of Lilly and some of happy wonderful long term guests - Josephine Grafitti who has been coming to ** years (actual number removed to hide her REAL age!)
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Dates for Your Diaries plus Helpers Wanted for July : )
 Wouldn’t you love to join the Yarrabin Team for a short break? We have a few positions available for the period Friday 30 Jun through to Sunday 15 July. All you need is a smile and a willingness to help out with the horses and in the kitchen. Remember we now have a dishwasher so kitchen work is a breeze!!
If you are looking for a break over the July school holidays, we still have some rooms over some dates, plus a few spots on the new Kids Camp 9 to 13 July. Call us or email and we will look after you with fantastic Yarrabin hospitality, food and horse riding.
For themed weekends coming up, why not consider a long weekend over the Bank Holiday Weekend Fri 3 to Mon 6 August? Other long weekends book out years in advance, but this one is still open! Three days to relax, unwind, and forget about everyone else still working in Sydney!
We have a special Fathers Day Weekend over the weekend Friday 31 August to Sunday 2 September. Perfect to spoil your Dad, or if you are a single Dad, bring your kids up and we will spoil all of you. All Dads, accompanied by their child/children, will receive a complimentary bottle of local wine PLUS a complimentary ride each day…
September is a great spring month at Yarrabin… the grass is sure to be green with all this rain we have been having, and the horses will be splendid! We’ll probably be shearing during the week of Monday 10 to Thursday 13 September (and maybe even have some spring lambs). Why not join us a super “McLeods Daughters Weekend” from Friday 14 to Sunday 16 September? Or maybe be part of only 8 people on our Active Horsemanship Workshop Monday 17 to Friday 21 September?
Of course, you can always book in for a fantastic holiday at Yarrabin anytime - for just yourself, your family, or a group. Open all year round except Christmas.
Until next time we meet, speak or share the trail together, stay well, stay happy and enjoy life!!
Annie, Graeme and all our wonderful family and team
(PS this photo also has nothing to do with this story! It's Harry on Gerry and Jessica on Harley at the Coonabarabran North West Equestrian Expo 07)
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Have you read those small books written by H. Jackson Brown, Jr? He had collected many quotes, sayings and reflections over the years, and put them together for his son when he entered University. They were so motivational for the son, that H. Jackson Brown, Jr published them. Here are little instructions for life:.jpg)
Progress is happening on the Yarrabin book front. We are looking to publish “50 years of Australia’s First Dude Ranch” in time for our 50th anniversary in 2013. David Redhill has offered his editorial skills, and many other Yarrabinites have been sending us stories, funny anecdotes and photos. We’ll publish some of these stories and memories each month in this section of our newsletter. If you have anything at all to contribute, please send it our way.