Pony Club for non-pony owners

[emlu67]

DD (7) is pony mad and they have a pony club at her riding school that she is keen to join. Only thing is that she is really petite for her age and would never be able to reach high enough to tack up, groom properly or do much else, in fact she has never learnt to run her stirrups up after lessons as usually they have twists in for her short legs!

Pony club is £15 every fortnight on top of the £25 I pay for weekly lessons so it is quite expensive and I am not sure if she would get much out of it. It appears to be stable management rather than riding. Does anyone have experience of riding school based clubs and if so what is the best age to start and is it worth it?

My dd1 started a riding school based pony club at 5 and loved it.She is small for her age,but there were teenage PC members there to help.She did her Bronze Award there and had great fun.She is confident around ponies now both on board and on the ground,and the stable management came in very useful when we bought her a pony this year.She really got a lot out of it and had no fears about starting 'proper' Pony Club a few weeks ago.

A friend of mine works at a branch centre in the midlands. Its great, they do do stable management, but they get to ride as well. They have fun stuff like shows, competitions, quizzes picnic rides and she organises day trips to Olympia and the like. We go to camp every year, I am a judge at the Whitsun show, and we help run the christmas show. She also arranges for showjumpers to visit and give lessons. Its just good fun.
My DD was 8 when we first started visiting, but there were younger kids in the club.
Id be more concerned with the fact that she is being given a pony so big she cant groom it! Overhorsing kids is my biggest bugbear! Why is she not on a shetland or welsh A?

Is this the 'real' pony club? 30 quid a month membership?

It sounds like Affiliated PC,we paid £24 a year and all day 'rallies' were about £25 for the day,but we only did them during school holidays.DD1 joined The Pony Club proper last week and it is £58 per year with rallies an average of £7.50 each for 1.5 hours jumping tuition ect.

Thanks everyone. Mirage yes it is Affiliated PC for around the same cost. Haggyoldclothbatpus there are only two very small ponies on the yard and she even struggles untacking them although she is not great at buckles and things anyway! I am in two minds as would love her to join but am worried she would get upset at not being able to do things although she is a confident rider on anything up to 12.2 (but has more confidence than ability tbh!).

Pony Club membership also provides your child with essential insurance when riding. At our ex Pony club parents of children under 8 are encouraged to stay and join in. I found it great for me as I hadn't ridden in 25+ years and the other mums were non riders so we learnt with the children. they had an hour ride and an hour stable craft, as we were joining in it meant if they had any questions at home we could help them. The only thing was the cost on top of riding lessons. It was 30 for two hours every two weeks. We now go do a different yard which charges 8 for stable craft only. its an hour and a half every fortnight. there are trips out for members over 12 and juniors get a summer camp and specialist teachers visit and you just sign up for what you are interested in. I know the pony mad princess is learning about something she loves and we have even managed to get her learning from the manual of horsemanship etc allowed as part of her reading time set homework.

Sorry to barge into thread. Do parents stay with their dc during pony club? :) DD (9) wants to join next year

I think it depends on your club TBH, as an affiliated PC the children aren't on their own pony and the under 8's did benefit from an adult being with them. But my pony princess is coming up on 9 and I no longer join in. I will help with camp etc in catering and the like, but nothing horse related. Once they she had done the E test and was on the bronze ones /D test stuff I took a step back. I would have thought at a normal on your own pony Rally the parents would be more involved with things anyway, as you woud have the commissioner there but you would be checking your own girth/tack set up etc. At the affiliated club it isn't your pony so you do the basics but they are onsite and wouldn't need transporting etc.

I didn't stay with dd during the Affiliated Pony Club rallies,but did on the one rally we have done so far with the regular PC.As it was an hour and a half jumping clinic,there was no point going home to come back again and I wanted to see how she did anyway.

Hi there,
I'm a big believer in kids messing about with a pony that's the right size for them-my DD is also petite so I know the issue!
Are there no tiddly ponies at the riding school she could use (have you asked?) or altenatively is there another riding school with smaller ponies-some riding schools are specifially set up for kids and have lots or really tiny ponies?
Just feel she needs to play with ponies that are the right size for her?

There are only a couple of small ones there which is probably fine for most of the pony club. I have noticed the girls there are all older/taller than DD so perhaps if she grows a bit she can join in the summer.