 PREPARING FOR A CHAMPIONSHIP
There are lots of chances these days to ride in a championship competition, whether it be an unaffiliated league final at your local equestrian centre, an affiliated grass roots championship, an area festival final right up through to Regional Championships and ultimately the Nationals.
 Katie's been back in France this month, continuing her training to be able to perform alterations and adjustments here in the UK. Much like the UK, France has been subject to a heatwave over the past few weeks, so she received a very warm welcome at Childeric HQ.
"I went into the Workshop for 8AM, had a quick go round and said “Bonjour” to everyone. We went straight into working on panels today. This was with Pauline, who I worked with last time. We spent the morning altering a panel, this particular one, had the front that needed lifting. The special foam is added and then its sculpted into the right shape for the horse. In the afternoon, I stitched the leather back onto the panel.  Our dressage clients were out in force at the Summer dressage spectacular - Hartpury Festival of Dressage. With classes from the 5th - 10th July it was a busy week for #teamchilderic with entrants in the Young Horse Semi-Finals, the Young Pony Finals, and the CDI3*.
Elli Darling may have been on the smallest mount, Renzo Renaissance DP at 13hh, but he's certainly full of presence and power. After qualifying at Beechwood Equestrian, in only his first outing, Renzo's second ever competition was in the International Arena at Hartpury, for the final of the British Dressage Young Pony 5-YO Championship. With a little support from Becky Moody, Elli rode for the win, taking the title with a brilliant 80%!  For those looking to save ££ we're still offering FREE video calls for clients with questions or queries about their saddles. Our saddle checks via video call were extremely popular during Covid and worked incredibly well. With rising costs we're once again offering this service to assist clients more quickly and in the most cost effective way. If we can't help remotely then we'll book a convenient time to come out for an in person visit.
Saddle checks are currently £90 per callout which can be split between multiple customers on the same yard. So why don't you gather a group together for a yard booking or we're happy for you to advertise locally should anyone local wish to organise a drop in session or demo at their yard.  My second week of training with the French team was 9th may to the 13th may. This was a hot week in France, 30 degrees some days - thank goodness for air conditioning!
Monday 9th May I went to France on the Monday, rather than the Sunday mainly because Elliott was joining me from Ireland for a few days , as he wasn’t able to get there last time. Our flights landed 20 mins apart, in Lyon. We hadn’t met before, but he was easy to find...being 6’3”!! It was lovely to get to know Elliott on the drive to the hotel and over dinner, and hear all about his Irish adventures, and how he’s getting on so well over there. He’s a great asset to our team, and you Irish lot are very lucky!  Follow Katie's journey as she trains to become a Childeric saddle technician at the Childeric base in France. Once Katie has completed all of the necessary training, to the highest of standards, she'll be able to undertake panel alterations right here in the UK.
Katie talks us through her first week's training in France, before she heads back out there later in May. Monday 25th April Firstly, I was shown around the factory, and introduced to most of the people that worked there. Nate, who has been there for several years, has the task of teaching me! His extensive knowledge, skill, passion and precision are indicative of the Childeric brand. Plus, fortunately for me, his English is pretty good too!  Once again we were delighted to sponsor the Stepping Stones to Success League, at Wexford Equestrian. The league offers the perfect platform for owners, trainers, breeders and riders of 4 & 5-year-olds to produce, present and train their future eventers in the correct way. Any horse with the potential to become a world class event horse is welcome to join the league, using it as a 'stepping stone to success'.
"It’s a brilliant event for us at Childeric Saddles - Ireland, to meet up with some of our current riders and make sure they are all set up for the season ahead. We also get to see their young horses who we may not have seen before to ensure the saddles are fitting" confirmed Elliott Reeves. As many customers will have noticed, Team Childeric is expanding! Elliott is now permanently based in Ireland and is managing the Childeric Ireland business. For any of our Irish clients please do follow the new Childeric Saddles - Ireland Facebook page to keep up to date with where Elliott is and what events we're supporting. We also welcomed Andrew Reed into the fold a few months ago, as our new Office Manager. A key role supporting our growing brand and working closely with Tricia and the rest of the team. This month we also welcomed Chloe Astill and Katie Eaton to the team. Chloe and Katie will gradually start to take on clients in the East and East Midlands areas, supporting Michelle and Tricia. As an added bonus Katie is a Master Saddler and will be undertaking additional training with the Childeric workshop in France to enable us to open a UK based workshop, later this year, for panel refits and adjustments. Meet the team... We're expanding west and turning Ireland ORANGE!
11 years or so ago Tricia had a phone call from ‘some chap’ from a company called Childeric Sellier who asked me if she would consider the opportunity to be the distributor for their brand of saddles in the UK and Ireland. Although Tricia already worked in the industry - she had never seen the saddles and was fairly despondent with the industry. Their product and their passion changed her mind - so she didn’t have to go back into a real world job - she could do something that would use her fitting skills, people passion and marketing expertise. She had a little dream that one day people may well have heard of Childeric Saddles! |
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