This is a very, very long shot - BUT
Does anyone remember (or know anything about) GATEACRE RIDING SCHOOL in the Woolton area of Liverpool? I learnt to ride there in the late '60's early 70's. It has long since closed. I often think about it as it was a rather Dickensian suburban riding school with a dusty cobwebby old indoor school in the middle of Gateacre village.
The instructor was an extraordinary man called Jim Blundell. I've tried Googling it, but there isn't info about. There was one worrying thread that suggested he had shot all his horses, presumably when it had to close down. It's just the sort of things he would have done. He loved them all dearly, but at the same time would hurt his walking cane at the ponies if they didn't behave - I always worried about them tripping if they got tangled up. (I was only 8 or 9 and did not know that a broken leg meant the end.)
I can still remember the names of many of the horses and ponies there - even after all this time.
Does anyone remember (or know anything about) GATEACRE RIDING SCHOOL in the Woolton area of Liverpool? I learnt to ride there in the late '60's early 70's. It has long since closed. I often think about it as it was a rather Dickensian suburban riding school with a dusty cobwebby old indoor school in the middle of Gateacre village.
The instructor was an extraordinary man called Jim Blundell. I've tried Googling it, but there isn't info about. There was one worrying thread that suggested he had shot all his horses, presumably when it had to close down. It's just the sort of things he would have done. He loved them all dearly, but at the same time would hurt his walking cane at the ponies if they didn't behave - I always worried about them tripping if they got tangled up. (I was only 8 or 9 and did not know that a broken leg meant the end.)
I can still remember the names of many of the horses and ponies there - even after all this time.