Sad times are now upon us people. Dhekelia Saddle Club (DSC), which used to be an amazing place to go to for fun and friendship, is now under the control of a tyrannical megalomaniac.
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As you may be aware, the club used to be run by my girlfriend Laura, and in the 2 and a half years she was there she managed to drag the club out of obscurity and into the Cyprus national spotlight. When Laura first started, the clubs riders were few and far between and only a couple of them were at any sort of decent standard. Since becoming the Yard Manager and Chief Instructor all rolled in to one, she has brought on a huge number of riders and turned them from poor into a standard not only able to compete, but also to win, at the highest levels on the island.

In her first year at DSC, she also managed to generate over 12,000 Cyprus Pounds and clear off all outstanding debts that the club had managed to run up before her. She also managed to get the clubs numbers up from 3-4 fairly regular riders to a total membership of over 60 people, ranging from age 3 to over 50. She also got the horses to a level of fitness and general health not seen at the yard for a few years. Thanks to Laura, the yard also had a very favourable partnership with Argos Animal Sanctuary and regularly help with fund-raising and rescue animals.

All this changed earlier this year when the Clubs committee had a change round and the wife of Major in the British Army was appointed as Treasurer. At first, she seemed to be just what the club was looking for; someone with the drive and desire to see the club do better and between her and the chairman they came up with some simple ideas about how to get more people involved with the club. She even introduced 2 new members to the club, 2 of her 3 daughters. All was looking good. Until her eldest daughter decided that she really like a certain pony and that she wanted it. The new treasurer spoke to Laura about it and it was decided that the pony was too young at the moment, needed more training and the daughter, although a fair rider, wasn't yet experienced enough to be able to bring the pony on properly to its full potential and therefore Laura wouldn't let it go.
Now, whether it was the daughter throwing one of her infamous, childlike strops or the Majors wife wanting to show off the power that she seemed to think she had or possibly something else that can't be explained by anyone who's not power hungry, but suddenly things started to change....

The Club had 2 full time employees and one part time. Laura was the first full time employee with the second being the groom and the part timer being the Pony Ride Instructor. For some reason the treasurer decided that she didn't like the groom, probably because the groom shouted at one of her kids for doing something wrong and against the clubs safety policy. But whatever it was, it led to a written warning and eventually to the groom being made redundant because the club wasn't making enough money and they couldn't afford to keep her. To strengthen the reasoning behind this decision, they then asked the Pony Ride Instructor to come on board full time but to do the Grooms job as well, effectively amalgamating the 2 positions. Very clever! By doing this, the treasurer has also managed to get rid of definite opposition to anymore of her plans. Very, very clever!!

Not long after the departure of the groom, a new member arrived at the yard. Conveniently, she was also a qualified Instructor and her and the treasurer soon became very friendly with each other. The new member was, shortly afterwards, offered a part time position teaching those people who were at a standard between Pony Rides and Laura's more advanced lessons, thus freeing up Laura to spend more time running the yard and also the tack shop. All sounds good and kind of makes sense so far, so whats the problem I hear you cry!

Well, it all goes back to that pony. The treasurer and her husband own a small, non-commercial ranch in Canada where they are planning to retire to when he finishes with the Army next year. They already have a few horses and ponies but the spoiled brat of a daughter really wants this particular one. So now our megalomaniac treasurer has everything almost in place. She's managed to brow beat the old chairman in to stepping down and installed her husband as the replacement, she's taken control of the position of Club Secretary as well as treasurer and now between them have a total of 4 votes out of a maximum of 7. How convenient.... All she needs to do now is get rid of her final obstacle - Laura.

Knowing that Laura is well loved by everyone at the yard and highly respected throughout the island, she needs to come up with something extraordinary.

First stage of the Master Plan: Destroy her yard managing credentials.

To do this she points out that the club hasn't been making as much money as it used to and that Laura needs to do something about it. Although why she thought Laura could suddenly change something that happens every year without fail, even though the ex-chairman and even the treasurer herself had tried, is beyond comprehension. About 4 weeks afterwards, Laura was called in to a meeting with the new chairman, the Treasurers husband. Here, she was told that she has 1 month to show noticeable results or they would have to review her position. During this month, they also failed to pay Laura her full months salary stating that they didn't have enough money in the bank at that moment as they were still waiting for people to pay their livery bills. She's still waiting for this money.

Second and final stage: Attack her personally.

This was achieved just short of the end of the 1 month "probation" period. The treasurer had "gone through the books" and noticed that 100 Euro were missing from the shop. Only Laura, the Groom and the Treasurer have keys to the shop and as Laura hadn't been paid fully, it was determined that she must have been desperate and taken the money out of the shop. Laura was immediately called in to a meeting with the Treasurer and her cowardly husband and told that if she leaves quietly, they will dismiss her livery and bar bills and pay her all outstanding monies owed to her. The alternative was to be openly fired and a criminal investigation be undertaken by the police to determine what had happened to the "missing" money from the shop. Needless to say, Laura stepped down and left the yard quietly.

2 days later, the newest employee was introduced as the new Chief Instructor. Since then, reports have been sketchy as to the comings and goings of the yard. I do know however that 6 out of 7 livery members have now moved to different yards across the island and the Treasurer is no longer the Treasurer - she's now the Yard Manager. How convenient!

But, all is not well. It seems that their new Chief Instructor isn't actually qualified to teach! In fact, she has no equestrian qualifications at all and the BHS (British Horse Society) have never heard of her! They have also had a formal complaint lodged against them by one of the military vets who was called out to a horse who had either colic or a twisted gut. Turns out that the last person to ride it was the Treasurers eldest daughter (the one who wanted the pony) and she hadn't warmed it up properly before GALLOPING it round the exercise area, and also hadn't cooled the poor creature down AT ALL afterwards. But, it gets worse. The father of Laura's favourite and most exceptional student has decided that he's not going to stand for it and has consulted lawyers and instructed them to proceed with a case against DSC. He has also had meetings with the Garrison Commander and Laura has been to see the police numerous times and even they have admitted that the club have absolutely NO EVIDENCE to suggest that Laura stole anything from them. Not even 1 Euro! Ha ha!!

So, in the middle of the annual slump that hits DSC, they have lost around 85-90% of their income, still have outstanding bills with important suppliers (such as the feed-man and the hay-man!!), have an un-qualified instructor teaching people, have a power-hungry tyrant for a yard manager and have a chairman who's clearly either stupid or completely lacking a backbone.
Laura, however has now moved to the other end of the island and is currently enjoying herself to the max teaching and exercising horses at Georges Ranch in Pafos. Her wages are about the same as at DSC, but a lot less stress and cheaper rent in a better house make it all worthwhile. Talks are still being held with the Garrison Commander and the Police and the lawyer is currently still proceeding with a case against the Club.

Well, thats the majority of the story so far. If anything else happens, I'll get it up here as fast as possible. In the mean time, enjoy yourselves and if you fancy a nice relaxing ride on horseback whilst on holiday or stationed in Cyprus, pop down to Georges Ranch and ask for Laura. I'm sure she'll be only too happy to help out!

Bye for now!

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