Author Archives: KW
Introduction to Horse-riding by Porpoise21
The Guide To My Hobby
My hobby is horse riding.
I have been horse riding since I was three years old and I have done many competitions.
The first step to horse riding is you need a horse; you can loan, lease or actually buy your own horse.
What Would You Do?
Well I mostly focus on mounted games: it is my favourite. Mounted games contain speed, accuracy and teamwork (unless you choose to be an individual). For example, the race you always learn first is bending. The clue’s in the name: you bend through five poles up and down. It might sound easy but you have to go as fast as you can whilst steering your pony left and right through the poles. There are lots of other races like mug, quoits, sock, pyramid, flag, stepping stones and so on.
Where Could You Go And Find Out More?
The closest place to try out mounted games is the Warwickshire or North Warwickshire pony club teams. On the other hand, a bit further away is The Atherstone Hunt branch (where I go). If you don’t want to do games, Warwickshire, North Warwickshire and Atherstone Hunt branch do other disciplines as well. To find out more, you can go to their facebook page or their website.
You don’t have to go to pony club; you can start at a local riding school for lessons as well.
Horse Fitness
Of course you need to keep your horse fit otherwise it will be too overweight to be ridden. You have to ride your horse regularly and make sure your horse has food and water.
More About Horse Riding
In horse riding, riders can start from three years old and over. I prefer mounted games but I have tried a variety of different things like dressage, cross country, polo cross, show jumping, endurance and I have enjoyed them all. Interestingly, my cousin has been a horse rider for ages: from a tiny tot to being chosen to represent England’s Under 12 and Under 14 Mounted Games teams and become champion twice! She has continued to improve more and more and she is now a phenomenal rider.
You will be surprised at how many people do horse riding. If you are a boy and is interested but is afraid to give it a go, you shouldn’t be because horse riding for everyone! In my opinion, and I think I am speaking for many other people, horse riding is a great hobby!
Many horse riders have achieved incredible things like Nick Skelton being Gold Olympian show jumper, Charlotte Dujardin British Olympic dressage rider, William Fox-Pitt and Pippa Funnell Olympic eventers, the famous A.P Mcoy horse racing jockey and lots more.
Who Would Enjoy Horse Riding
Horse riding is for everyone; if you have a disability there is nothing stopping you from horse riding. There is an organisation (riding for the disabled) for disabled riders so don’t be afraid to join in.
I hope you give horse riding a go and ENJOY!
Arithmagon maths challenges
Here’s another fun challenge which you can set at different levels by changing the options. The idea is to complete the arithmagon using the rule given (e.g. product means finding the result of multiplication). You can choose whether to make the challenge easier by moving to 1-digit numbers, or harder by changing to give yourself a mix of corner and inside numbers. Click on the image to find the website and play the game.
My ‘MiniMaths’ Maths challenges
This website is set up to give a ‘mini’ maths problem every day. Some of you may like to have a go at the challenges there or search through for topics you could practise if you want a bit of extra help. Click on the picture to find the website. It is free to use. You can tackle arithmetic or reasoning problems and choose your topics easily from the menus.
Ross Welford, Time Travelling with a Hamster
Funnily enough, this is another story where something life-changing happens on the main
character’s 12th birthday. Al Chaudhury’s Dad has been dead for four years when he reappears in Al’s life. He sends him a letter which soon sends Al on a time-travelling journey to try to save his Dad’s life. Of course, you can’t start time-travelling without causing a few problems —especially when there’s a hamster called Alan Shearer involved. Al generally tries to stay out of trouble, but he has to do several things he never imagined he would do very quickly if he is to carry out his Dad’s instructions. Along the way, he has many adventures including escaping the police, dealing with a bully from 1984, working out how to save his Dad (more than once) and making sure that things aren’t changed so much that he won’t be born…
This is a book for older readers (probably Year 6 and above) as it tackles some difficult topics along the way. However, it is an exciting adventure story with some great characters in it (you can’t fail to love wise old Grandpa Byron). This was Ross Welford’s first book and it attracted a lot of attention, making it to many prize shortlists (including the Blue Peter shortlist in 2017, and Costa Children’s Book awards) and winning the Awesome Book award for 2017. If you like action adventure with a bit of an emotional twist and a dose of science-fiction, this could be one to try.
Negative numbers Connect 3 game
Here are the links to the games we played yesterday which involve adding and subtracting positive and negative numbers. The games also require strategy as you need to think where are the good squares to put the counters first!
You can choose to play against the computer or against a friend using the drop-down menu at the bottom of the games. We got very excited when we beat the computer every time yesterday but that was a very good run of success!!
If you want to play the game with two normal 6-sided dice, click on the first image.
The second game uses two dice: one has -1, -2, -3, 4, 5, 6; the second has 1, 2, 3, -4, -5, -6. The second game is more challenging because it has a wider range of possible answers.
Katherine Rundell, Rooftoppers
From the beginning, Rooftoppers is a mix of strange humour, adventure and changing emotions. It opens when baby Sophie is found floating in the sea in a cello case: she is wrapped in a piece of Beethoven music and is wearing a red ‘1’ birthday rosette. She is rescued by Charles Maxim, a fellow passenger, who loves books (especially Shakespeare) and is a very kind man, but, it seems, has very little idea how to look after children. Because Sophie was so young when the ship sank, nobody believes her when she insists she can remember her mother.
Charles and Sophie are regularly visited by a bossy inspector from the National Childcare Agency who is always telling Sophie and Charles what they are doing wrong. But Charles and Sophie don’t take any notice: Charles just loves Sophie and lets her be herself. When she is 9, she discovers she loves to hear the cello play and Charles buys her one to learn. It is too big to play in her bedroom so, of course, he lets her play it on the roof. Charles teaches Sophie to follow her dreams and ‘never to ignore the possible’—even if the possible is very unlikely.
Sophie’s life changes dramatically at the age of 12 when Charles is told he is unfit to look after her and she is to be sent to an orphanage. If he refuses, he will be sent to jail. Broken-hearted, they decide they cannot let this happen. Together, they escape to Paris and set off on an amazing adventure to try to solve the mystery of Sophie’s mother…
Maths challenge from Eagle5
Click on the image to find a maths puzzle to get you thinking. I wonder how it works?…
