Arabic version: إغلاق مدرسة للفروسية في تاونزفيل بعد 50 عاماً
According to ABC News, Ranchlands Equestrian Centre in Townsville will close later this month after owner Jenny Haines spent 50 years teaching people to ride. Ms Haines said she had lost count of the number of students taught at the school, estimating it was somewhere in the thousands. Ranchlands is described as Queensland’s longest-running riding school under a single owner.
Ms Haines and her husband, Lew, are retiring and plan to travel around Australia in a caravan after the final lessons are held at the end of the month. Ms Haines said the school had reached its eighth third-generation student and had taught dozens of second-generation students. She said the community response to the retirement announcement was greater than the couple had expected.
The school’s horses will be rehomed with previous students. Ranchlands also hosted a five-day equine-assisted learning program for veterans after Brenda Tanner approached Ms Haines about using the property and horses. The program involved veterans spending time with horses on the ground, observing and grooming them rather than riding.
Theresa Robertson, who attended Ranchlands in the 1980s and later returned as a teacher, said the school offered more than riding instruction. She said students often gained much more from their time with horses, while horse riding was “just a bonus”. Ms Haines said retirement would end the daily work that had structured the couple’s lives for half a century, describing Ranchlands as a whole lifestyle rather than only a job.
