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	<title>volunteering &#8211; Equestrian from Crete</title>
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	<description>A Greek islander explores equestrianism</description>
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		<title>Pregnant mare rescued from slaughter &#8211; video</title>
		<link>http://www.equestrianfromcrete.com/pregnant-mare-rescued-from-slaughter-video/</link>
					<comments>http://www.equestrianfromcrete.com/pregnant-mare-rescued-from-slaughter-video/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[chriszygakis]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 17 Oct 2015 01:41:29 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Equestrianism on the screen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[charity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[equestrian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[foal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[horse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rescue]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[volunteering]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[ While I was browsing YouTube, I found a cute video about a US charity saving a pregnant mare from the auction that mainly leads to slaughter. Soon after her rescue, the mare gave birth to this cute, cute, cute foal! My heart melts!]]></description>
		
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">2404</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>The benefits of volunteering</title>
		<link>http://www.equestrianfromcrete.com/the-benefits-of-volunteering/</link>
					<comments>http://www.equestrianfromcrete.com/the-benefits-of-volunteering/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[chriszygakis]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 14 Jul 2015 02:00:34 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Equestrian topics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[My adventures]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[equestrian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[horse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[volunteering]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://equestrianfromcrete.wordpress.com/?p=761</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Recently I wrote a post with the title  &#8216;The price of volunteering&#8221;, describing my injury during a volunteering day at my new equestrian club. Now I&#8217;m writing the opposite; what you get from volunteering. My CV is full of all kinds of voluntary work both in my professional and leisure sectors. I have spent thousands of hours working for free in NGOs, equestrian clubs, research projects. I could spend those hours doing some paid work, that&#8217;s true. Paid work is necessary to live. But unpaid work will fill the gaps in your life. You get all kinds of rewards; contacts, opportunities, expertise, capabilities, experience and things that you would normally pay for. Last Saturday I spent one more day volunteering for that equestrian club. Doing routine jobs, with my foot still sore. I distributed breakfast to stabled horses, led Tyson and Woody (the horse that stepped on me) out of the field (with Tyson stubbornly staying behind and Woody being very willing to lead the way, so I was very lucky that I did not injure my hands with the ropes or my arms with the pressure), groomed school horses, helped out with lessons, swept the floor of the waiting room. At about two o&#8217;clock, I was grooming Kean, a beautiful, all-white horse. You know, like the ones that you see on posters and postcards. I led him to the mounting block at the entrance of the arena, waiting for the customer to mount. But when I got there, I could see no customers waiting to ride Kean. I was quite puzzled and began asking loudly who would ride this horse. Alex, one of the instructors, said quite naturally: &#8220;you are going to ride Kean&#8221;. While I was preparing him in the yard, I could not imagine that it was me who would ride -for free- this gorgeous horse! I ran to the office to get the equipment, asking the lady who owns the club whether it&#8217;s true. She said she had decided so, because I deserved it! So here we go, a free lesson on a beautiful stallion! The lesson of this blog is not, of course, what a good person I am; it&#8217;s about the reward that you get for spending some of your free time on acts of kindness, without expecting anything in return. &#8220;Do an act of kindness, and life will return the good to you one way or another&#8221; is a line I heard on a movie. I think that this describes the benefits of volunteering.]]></description>
		
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">761</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>The price of volunteering</title>
		<link>http://www.equestrianfromcrete.com/the-price-of-volunteering/</link>
					<comments>http://www.equestrianfromcrete.com/the-price-of-volunteering/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[chriszygakis]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2015 00:02:30 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[My adventures]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[disaster]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[equestrian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[horse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[injury]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lesson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[volunteering]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://equestrianfromcrete.wordpress.com/?p=744</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[And now that the&#8230; democratic show has officially ended in Greece, it&#8217;s time to return to my daily routine, including regular blogging. I failed to blog so often, as I spent many hours watching live on news websites discussions and updates from the Greek and the rest of the political world. This is so irrelevant to this post, but, anyway, I would like to share it with somebody. Two days ago I volunteered with the new equestrian club. Before I even got up in the morning, the day had been proved a disaster. There was a thunderstorm outside, I had to go on foot to the next bus stop (as the one I would stop at did not work), I was almost running late, I forgot to take with my my hair elastic (very big loss on a hot day at the stables), plus that I was hanging around like stupid. I was also saved a number of times from horses cantering and trotting through the arena, plus a horse stepped on me and still I can hardly walk. A lot of things are done differently here, but I don&#8217;t want to get into too much detail. But I learned a lot of things. First of all, I learned how to catch a horse from the field. Actually, before I knew it, I was walking through the field with two of them. The more experienced volunteers put the face of each horse into a tied rope and handed the rope to the other volunteers. I also learned how to put on them the collar, plus how to muck out stalls. Moreover, I had the chance to practice some skills, such as grooming, leading kids on lessons and helping them do their exercises, which was fun. But on one of those lessons I was not so lucky! It was a first-time beginners&#8217; class and I was leading a six-year old girl, sitting on a beautiful but stubborn horse, Woody. Woody decided to go silly throughout the lesson, fighting me every time he had the chance, only to behave later, as I always won the fight. Things got worse and the girl began getting nervous, calling mommy, who was actually very close. But mommy wanted her daughter to carry on with the lesson. So, I kept telling her that animals sometimes get silly. She would not try at all, would not pay attention to the instructor and would also let the reigns go all the time, giving Woody the chance to fight me more. One moment, when I glanced at her, I noticed that she was in tears. I told the instructor, who found mommy and spoke to her. I had to stop for this and wait for the decision about what to do with the girl. And then it happened; Woody stepped on my foot and forgot to let it go! I literally began to scream, as my foot was under the hoof of a 300kg, shoed horse. Although I had a lot of understanding from the people running the club, I had to carry on with the day, ending up standing on two toes. I could hardly walk home! And I&#8217;m still in pain! Urgh! I think I should end the post here, as my brain is not functioning properly at the moment. See you tomorrow with more exciting blog posts!]]></description>
		
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">2393</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>A new equestrian club for Christina</title>
		<link>http://www.equestrianfromcrete.com/a-new-equestrian-club-for-christina/</link>
					<comments>http://www.equestrianfromcrete.com/a-new-equestrian-club-for-christina/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[chriszygakis]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2015 19:35:15 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Equestrian clubs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[My adventures]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[club]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[equestrian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[horse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lesson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nottinghamshire]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[riding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[school]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[volunteering]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://equestrianfromcrete.wordpress.com/?p=727</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[My goals this summer include more involvement with equestrianism, including taking lessons to improve my techniques, plus volunteering to learn about how to loo after horses. But Trent Valley is too far and just going there and returning takes me one day, plus it&#8217;s costly. Therefore, I contacted another riding school, called &#8220;Saint Leonard&#8217;s&#8221;, which is 15&#8242; from my students&#8217; hall by bus, on the boarders of Nottinghamshire. And there we go, at 9:45 am I was at α soaked bus stop, waiting anxiously. I had seen some pictures on their website, but I didn&#8217;t have a clear picture of the environment, the atmosphere, the facilities. So, I didn&#8217;t know what to expect, include the fact that I could not use my student ID for the bus fare discount! Soon after I got off the bus and before I reached the property, I began to feel the horsey smell, which for every equestrian is better than lavender. Right from the entrance I could see a busy place with horses, fields, stables, trailers, volunteers. The first horse I met was Leo, a gelding owned by a juvenile classmate. Things seemed quite organized to me, with an office, a staff room, a cafe, a number of stalls with notes on the windows, and, of course, a neat semi-outdoor arena and one smaller, apparently for children. After spelling my surname, signing and reading the rules, I met my instructor, Judy. She&#8217;s a curly-haired, blonde woman, turning 50 that day. I would ride Tyson, a lively 12-year-old gentleman, with a wide back. The lesson, in which there were only three adults including myself, eventually started and Tyson was a real gentleman, who was looking after me. No sticks, no kicks for Tyson. One signal with my tongue was enough for him to trot and a sitting trot was a signal for him to get back into the walk. Tyson, who had a lovely trot, is also known for his beautiful canter, but he wouldn&#8217;t do me the favour for that. Judy said that this was happening probably because he could feel under the saddle that I was wobbly, so he would not get to canter, trying to look after me. Judy had said that a beginners&#8217; lesson might feel dull to me, but this was not true! I had not expected to participate in a beginners&#8217; lesson that would include jump work and cantering! My experience with riding stopped with pole work and some cantering, but nothing special and there I could see primary-school kids and a 70-year-old woman jumping! Judy had the patience to show me how to jump and how to handle the reigns, and Tyson remained a gentleman even on that, stopping  instead of bucking me off and waiting for me to collect myself when I lost balance after the jump! After the lesson, I asked about volunteering and the lady in the office told me that they needed people indeed. For every time you volunteer, you get a free lesson, and this made me very happy! Now I know what to do on weekends!]]></description>
		
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">727</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Ten things that most novice equestrians have done already</title>
		<link>http://www.equestrianfromcrete.com/ten-things-that-most-novice-equestrians-have-done-already/</link>
					<comments>http://www.equestrianfromcrete.com/ten-things-that-most-novice-equestrians-have-done-already/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[chriszygakis]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2015 01:35:06 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Equestrian topics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[equestrian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[equipment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[experience]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[horse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[novice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[riding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[volunteering]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://equestrianfromcrete.wordpress.com/?p=703</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Being introduced to equestrianism is not just about starting your journey in the sphere of a demanding sport, it is about changing your way of living. Once you start riding, you are introduced to new things, moves that your brain is not used to and needs to learn from scratch, words you have not heard, equipment you have not seen. Clothes you have not worn. So here is a list of what you might have&#8230; accomplished so far if you are a novice equestrian: 1.You know how to walk, trot and canter. With confidence or not, you have already worked on the basics of riding. You might have a balance issue or land on the saddle like a sack of potatoes, but you have worked on these three moves and you keep practicing for improvement. 2.You have already done some jump or pole work Once you start mastering your trot and canter, you are expected to be introduced by your instructor to jumping, starting from pole work. And you might have jumped a few low fences as well. 3.You have been out on a hack at least once Why learn to ride if you can&#8217;t use your skill? Doing your thing inside the arena is fun, but I have not met any equestrian who spends all his money on just wandering inside a small fenced space in circular motion! Horseback riding is an outdoor sport. 4.You have volunteered at least once Volunteering is essential if you want to learn about our equine friends, to contribute to the society in general (if it&#8217;s about a charity barn) or, if you are serious about it, to prepare for an equestrian certificate, to start your career in the equine industry, or actually get your own horse. Also, it is often the price for a discounted lesson (yay!). 5.There are a few favorited pages on your web browser for equipment. First of all, you cannot purchase equestrian equipment from any shop. You get it from specialized places. And these places do not exist everywhere. Thank God there are e-shops. And, if you are serious about the sport, you can name a few already. 6.You actually own some of this equipment A helmet is essential. And at least one pair of breaches. And at least one pair of boots. And most probably, you have acquired at least one whip, you know, for the times when the school horses cheat on corners or can&#8217;t bother with any other pace except walking -if they bother to walk at all in some cases. 7.You have read and watched a lot about equestrianism You can&#8217;t learn about equestrianism just by attending a riding lesson once a week, can you? Shows, books, tutorials, gymkanas, clinics, funny videos, all these are part of the fun and also help you discover your new passion. Your instructor might have recommended to you a few learning resources, or they might have named a few champions for you to watch their performance and see &#8220;how it&#8217;s done&#8221;. 8.You can name at least two horse breeds. Come on. I&#8217;m sure you can tell the difference between a friesian and a pinto horse. If you don&#8217;t, the simplest way to learn is called &#8220;encyclopedia&#8221;. And also, you might be in love with a specific breed, you know, for the time you feel ready to get your first equine friend. 9.You have realised that different cultures ride in different ways Humans all over the world have used horses for centuries for transportation, work or leisure, or this is what experts suggest. But riding is not the same from culture to culture. I will discuss this in more detail in one of my next posts. 10.You have started exercising between your lessons. Equestrian sports are quite demanding and your instructor probably has already spoke to you about the importance of exercising regularly. Strong muscles mean better movement on horseback and more effective control of the horse, while a strong heart means that you don&#8217;t get over-exhausted. Imagine yourself expiring in the middle of your show-jumping performance, or during your grand prix test in dressage! This is all I can think of, based on my own experiences and those of novice equestrians I know.  Any other ideas?]]></description>
		
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">2392</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Volunteering with RDA at Dukeries Leisure Centre</title>
		<link>http://www.equestrianfromcrete.com/volunteering-with-rda-at-dukeries-leisure-centre/</link>
					<comments>http://www.equestrianfromcrete.com/volunteering-with-rda-at-dukeries-leisure-centre/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[chriszygakis]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Jun 2015 22:12:47 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[My adventures]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Britain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[equestrian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[horse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RDA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tack]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[volunteering]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://equestrianfromcrete.wordpress.com/?p=647</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Last Saturday was a quite interesting day, as we volunteered at the RDA centre in Dukeries, Nottinghamshire. The day would be interesting, with a lot of running; I ran like crazy to catch the bus and, after getting wrong instructions, I got off quite earlier, thus having to run through the premises of the university&#8217;s hospital (huge hospital, by the way), I finally met the girls. And, of course, we were late. The route from Nottingham city centre is quite long, about one hour by car. So, while Rowena was driving us to the place, I had plenty of time to gaze around the all-green scenery. The weather was just ideal for equestrian activities. Who said that England is always cloudy, anyway? About the centre, I didn&#8217;t have the chance to see everything. It is quite small, I think, with few horses, but the arena is of a decent size. The atmosphere ie quite cozy as well; I could stay there forever! The centre offers training sessions both for children and adults and I find that quite nice, as adults suffering from disabilities deserve some help too. Also, I was informed that, if the disability is not too severe, adults get a regular training session. Very attractive! When we arrived at the centre, we were welcomed by Linda, a senior lady around her sixties, who offered us tea, coffee and British goodies! She spoke us about the kids&#8217; summer camp they were organizing and said that they considered freshening up the old tack for the kids to practice. So, our job for the day was to clean and polish that tack. So we did, joined by two lovely little ladies! I had not cleaned tack before, so that was my chance to learn new things! We finished with the old tack quite fast, so after that we moved to tack that is in use, such as the saddles and some newer bridles. I don&#8217;t remember what time we finished, but I enjoyed every minute of it, even if my nails looked disgusting afterwards! Here are some nice photos. There would be more if the SD card of my smartphone hadn&#8217;t broken! Pff! &#160;]]></description>
		
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