2007 News

15th December  -  We were delighted to find out that we have been granted 'Burnockmill' as a stud name to be used with the Welsh Pony and Cob Society.  The 'Burnockmill' prefix is also registered with the Central Prefix Register.  We hope to expand the Burnockmill Stud over future years and aim to breed quality performance welsh ponies and part breds.  Please browse our Welsh page to find out more.

3rd December - 

The stables are filling up fast, please contact us immediately should you be interested in our livery options.

What a hectic time we've had recently.  Been so busy with lots of new stuff going on.  The new outdoor school is now finished - apart from the floodlights which will hopefully be done soon.  The arena is 40m x 60m and is surfaced with woodgrain supplied by Tracey Timber.  The arena was constructed by Euan Pollock of ACE Contracts.  The liveries have been having fun getting lost in it - when your used to a certain school then get let loose in one triple the size it takes a bit of getting used to. The outdoor arena is available for hire at competitive rates.

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With only a few walls left to paint the new stables are almost complete.  As you can tell from the photo's some of the horses have moved in already.  The yard is spacious and inviting and allows the horses to see each other but not to invade the space of the horse next door.  We opted for a traditional wooden style of stable to allow us to have each stable made to measure and custom built.  Grills and doors are situated to let in the most light and to make use of the space available.  There is plenty of room in the middle to allow horses to be tied up whilst still being able to work round them.  The stables range in size with 3 10x12s, a 12x12, a 12x14 and 4 14x15s..There is also a large tack room and plenty space for horse washing/ rug hanging etc.   The horses already living in the yard have settled in well and are looking forward to having some new neighbours.

29th October - Well, our new stables are almost complete now so we are able to take bookings for livery. We have part and full livery available. Have a look at our livery pages to get more detail, or feel free to contact us to have a chat about what we can offer you and your horse.  

The new school is pretty much finished. The final touches are being done to the fence as we type and gates will be hung later today. For once the weather has been on our side and the heavy rain has worked in our favour.  The surface is suitably soaked and we should be allowed to use the arena in the next few days.

23^rd October  -  It’s all go, go, go! Our work on our new outdoor school and stables is now well underway.  The surface is being put down on our 40x60m school and it should all be finished in a couple of weeks.  The 9 stables and tackroom  are well on their way to being completed and a similar timescale is likely for these. Have a look at these photos to see how they are shaping up.  We’ll keep you posted as they develop.

28th September - Well we have finally managed to tidy up after the show, have a rest, and can now think about recording results and uploading photos.

  Firstly though a wee review. We are really happy with how the show went – it was a quiet day but everybody seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves, and we turned out to be very lucky with the weather.

  The Derby course looked fantastic and offered a challenging yet rewarding jumping experience.  The trickier fences had easier options and the course jumped well all day.  Those brave enough to attempt the ditch in the smaller classes benefited when the option was taken away for the bigger tracks. 

  Now for the thank yous –

  Firstly we would like to thank all those that attended and made the day worthwhile. We hope you had fun and will be back for future shows here.

  We would also like to express thanks to our sponsors – Neighbother Shavings, Sommerville Animal Feeds, Derby House Saddlery and Gibb of Galston. Their banners made the place look colourful and the prizes were very much appreciated by the competitors.

  Our sincerest thanks go to the Sapwell Family who kindly donated the ‘Vodka Martini’ memorial trophy to be won by the first place pony in the Novice class. This was in memory of their horse ‘Teenie’ who sadly passed away in August. It’s nice to know she’ll be remembered every year when the trophy is handed to a new winner.  They were also kind enough to let us borrow some (well almost all) of their jumps. This ensured we had a great derby course and also a clear round course. Avril, Terry and Kate also helped out on the day. So many thanks to the Sapwells.

  Next we would like to thank our super judging and commentary team, Jean and Ainslie Thomson. Ainslie kept great control of the classes and even managed with the temperamental timing equipment. Jean was great with the mic in hand and kept us all informed and entertained. So well done ladies!

  There were many members of our immediate and extended family, as well as friends, who also provided their services on the day. You know who you are and we are very thankful for helping out. We really enjoy your company and it makes the day all the more enjoyable.

  Now we would like to give an extra special thanks to James Sapwell - coursebuilder, handyman, jumpbuilder, electrician and general all round nice guy. James’ help around the place was invaluable and the cracking derby course is testament to his creativity and hard work. He also makes all the hard work a lot more fun. So a big thanks to James.

  And finally…. To those of you who missed out on all the fun make sure you come next year and we will make it even better!

27th August - We are pleased to announce the arrival of  a new broodmare.  Many thanks to Lauren and Alison Walker who have very kindly let me loan their beautiful Welsh Section C mare Lledr Lady Iona.  Iona will join Annie, Mouse and Belle as the studs broodmares.  Hopefully all 4 will go to stud next year and in 2009 we will have some lovely foals.  In the meantime hopefully Iona will continue her already successful ridden career.  She certainly proved herself at her first show with us by taking the Supreme Championship at Little Turnberry Show after jumping a perfect clear round in her working hunter class.  

14th August - We have now added a feedback page so please feel free to leave us your thoughts on anything to do with Burnock Mill, from website to events, or livery to facilities. We strive to make this site interesting and informative and to update it regularly, your comments and suggestions will enable us to do this. Also you can now be added to the Burnock Mill mailing list if you wish to be kept informed of planned events.

17th July - Our eagerly awaited first foal arrived on Sunday 15th July.  Our foundation stud mare Annie - Nantgwinau Susanna (Welsh Cob) - produced a lovely colt foal.  Kappilano (Kappi for short) is very like his dad Passford Sunnay Boy and hopefully will do just as well in the show ring!  We are delighted that both mare and foal are fit and healthy and that our first foaling went without a hitch.

              First Kisses for a tired Mum                                            Kappi enjoying the sun on his back. 

18th June - We now have our summer jumping facilities up and running.  Check out Facilities for hire for more information.  We are in the process of organising teaching events with local instructors, using the showjumps and cross country course.  These sessions will be open to everyone. Please contact us if you are interested or if you have any suggestions for other events/clinics etc.

23rd May - Well, we've had a couple of days to rest after the Hospice Show on Sunday. Leading up to the show the weather was looking to be against us, but fortunately dried up just in time. And despite the weather the ground held up remarkably well, both in the rings and parking area. The day passed with little drama, with only a couple of lorries getting stuck. However this did provide some amusement for the 200(!) or so people that ended up pushing, pulling and bouncing Eleanor's lorry out of the field! 

So with the poor weather in the lead up, and the fact that this was our first show, we are really pleased with the turnout, and more importantly, those that came along to compete, spectate or helpout seemed to enjoy themselves. With this good turnout and the generosity of lots of people the event was a great success and the Hospice will be receiving £325. 

Now to the horsey side of things. With reasonable numbers of entrants for most classes, there was fun competition for those taking part. The largest class of the day was the Novice Pony Showjumping, which was won by Kirstie Boyd, riding Playtimes Over. Heather Johnstone chose Eleanor Crate's grey highland Fingal as her Champion, while Rhona Sweeting gave Champion and Supreme Champion to Dash of Class, owned by Ann Dunlop. For all the winners, go to results.

We would like to express our thanks to all those that got involved in making this show a success. Thanks to all the competitors, who kindly made it worth while. Thanks to the spectators for helping support the competitiors. Special thanks go to the following:

Four Cats Pub, McCaskies Farm Supplies, Neighbother Shavings, Andy Callahan Sports Injury Clinic, Marion and Jake Bingham, Devon Sloan, ACW Contracts for their generous sponsorship.

Rhona, Heather and Leona for Judging 

Billy, Kerry and Ainslie for Stewarding

Lesley for Commentating

James for Course Building ( and all the rest!)

Jean and Maw Watson for Administration

Leslie Harvey and David Craig for Tractor services

William and Craig for general help around the site

The Chuck Wagon for keeping people happily fed.

Uncle Gordon for taking lots of photos

Red Cross for providing peace of mind

Others that helped out in some way are Neil, Andrea, Elizabeth and Eleanor.

Apologies to anyone we may have missed. 

17th May - Schedules are finally online (bit of a rough draft but classes are correct)- apologies to those who have been trying to get a hold of a copy (we had a better response than we thought so will have to order more next time). Well our first show day is nearly here. Unfortunately the weather is against us but we will carry on regardless.  Fingers crossed that its dry for the next few days.  The field has been cut, the rings are going up tomorrow and the show jumps are getting the final touches put on.  We have had a lot of enquiries and requests for schedules so hopefully the show will be a success.  We would like to wish everyone good luck and to say thank you in advance for supporting our show.

7th May - The show jumps are well under way and we are optimistic that they will be ready for the show.  The build process is almost complete along with most of the undercoating.  We have also taken delivery of 11 brand new cross country jumps - built by Auchinleck Horse Trials.  The jumps are between 2ft3 and 2ft 9 and, alongside our existing jumps, will be available to hire weather permitting.

2nd May - Schedules are now available for our show, email us and we will send you a copy.

18th April -  We have taken delivery of the materials for our new show jumps.  We decided to make the jumps ourselves, to BSJA spec, to enable us to have a fun, customised course of jumps.  We aim to have the jumps ready for our Open Day and hope everybody competing will have fun trying them out.  The schedules for the Open Day are ready for printing and should be available at the end of the week.

3rd April - We attended our first competition on Sunday with Ford - Passford Sparky - our 2yo Welsh Section D colt.  He was 2nd in the Youngstock class at NARC Spring show.  It was Ford's very first outing and he behaved impeccably.  Lets hope it is the start of a successful showing career for our future stallion. See Gallery for some photos.

26th March - Our first event is planned for Sunday 20th May.  We will be holding an Open Day/ Charity Show in aid of the Ayrshire Hospice.  Classes will include - showjumping from wobblies to open, ponies and horses (over our new custom built showjumps) - showing with M&Ms, coloureds, veterans etc.  Schedules will be available within the next few weeks please email us and we will email you a copy when ready.

8th March - We have decided, in addition to converting the Field Shelter to stabling (see 20th Feb), that  would be beneficial to relocate the outdoor arena to make it more easily accessible from the new stables. This fortunately gives us the opportunity to make the arena bigger and better than it already is!  As an additional part to this project we will provide extra parking facilities, suitable for cars, trailers and horseboxes.

27th February - With the competition season almost upon us, preparations have begun for the cross country course and outdoor jumping arenas.  We hope to have facilities up and running by April which will be available for hire to the general public.  More information will be available shortly.

20th February - The conversion of the foaling box into two new stables has freed up a few spaces for more full livery horses.  We are also in the initial stages of converting a large shed, which we refer to as the Field Shelter, into more stables. We hope that we will be able to provide a further 10 stables, and that these will be ready by the autumn.