Skylands

20/07/2026

Last few spaces available

13/07/2026

02/07/2026

🧺 Keen Rider’s Picnic Packing List!
Maybe not everything, but our gift to you this summer - make it your own!!

🥪 Lunch

• Sandwiches, wraps or rolls
• Pasta salad
• Sausage rolls
• Scotch eggs
• Mini quiches
• Pork pies
• Cheese cubes
• Cocktail sausages
• Cold chicken pieces
• Salad pot

🍓 Fruit & Veg

• Apples
• Bananas
• Grapes
• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Carrot sticks
• Cucumber sticks
• Cherry tomatoes
• Easy-peel oranges

🧁 Snacks

• Crisps
• Popcorn
• Flapjacks
• Cereal bars
• Homemade brownies
• Rice cakes
• Crackers
• Nuts (where appropriate)
• Trail mix
• Dried fruit

🍪 Sweet Treats

• Biscuits
• Homemade cake
• Muffins
• Cookies
• Chocolate (keep cool!)
• Jelly sweets for an energy boost

🥤 Drinks

• Plenty of water
• Squash
• Fruit juice
• Fizzy drinks (optional)
• Tea or coffee in a flask
• Hot chocolate for chilly days

🧂 Extras

• Butter
• Pickles
• Chutney
• Salt & pepper
• Ketchup
• Mayonnaise
• Mustard

🍴 Picnic Essentials

• Plates
• Bowls
• Cutlery
• Sharp knife
• Chopping board
• Cups or mugs
• Napkins
• Kitchen roll
• Wet wipes
• Hand sanitiser
• Rubbish bags
• Bottle opener
• Cool box
• Ice packs
• Blanket or picnic chairs
• Folding table (if space allows)

🐴 Rider Survival Kit

• Refillable water bottle
• Sunscreen
• Lip balm
• Sunglasses
• Hat
• Waterproof coat
• Spare socks
• Hoodie or fleece
• Phone charger or power bank
• Plasters
• Painkillers
• Hair ties
• Tissues

⭐ Event-Day Favourites

• Bacon rolls for breakfast
• Pasta pot for lunch
• Traybake or flapjack
• Fresh fruit
• Hot water in a flask
• Plenty of cold water

01/07/2026

As the summer holidays begin, my great wish isn’t that children become perfect riders or win more rosettes.

It’s that they come home a little muddier, a little more confident, and a little more capable than when they left.

I hope they spend long days with all
sorts of pets and ponies—learning that good things take patience, that trust can’t be rushed, and that caring for other living creatures is one of life’s greatest privileges.

I hope they laugh until their sides hurt, make new friends, build dens, chase wheelbarrows, fill haynets, plait manes that probably won’t stay in, and discover that some of the best adventures don’t involve a screen.

And to the parents juggling work, childcare, lifts, packed lunches, forgotten water bottles, pony kit, emails, supermarket shops and the hundred invisible jobs that keep family life turning—you’re doing better than you think.

Summer can feel like an extraordinary feat of multitasking. Somehow you manage to keep everything moving while trying to give your children memories they’ll carry for years.

So I hope you find moments to breathe too.

A quiet cup of tea while lessons are underway. A conversation with another parent who understands. A few precious minutes watching your child and pony quietly figuring things out together.

Those are the moments worth keeping.

Here’s to a summer of pony cuddles, windswept hair, dusty boots, scraped knees, tired smiles, countryside adventures, and children growing not just as riders, but as kind, resilient and capable young people.

Because, in the end, that’s what horses and ponies have always done best.