Pony club membership - is it worth it?

[Daytimetellysucks]

I have absolutely no idea what to buy my 14 year old daughter for Christmas so was toying with buying her PC membership

She has a pony and has actually already done a load of their local events without being a member - competitions/camp, etc

DD won’t actually ask for anything so I’m a bit stumped

Thanks!

Thanks all

I’ve just had a good rummage on the local PC branch website - there’s actually no rallies or stuff like that on there. There’s some clear rounds, but she can do them as a non-member

Is that normal for a branch at this time of year?

We have a pay-and-play cross country course near us - she hacks there, can pay a tenner and bomb around for an hour with her mates and hack back. She also belongs to the local blood hounds.

We just tend to pay for stuff like that at the time, or buy stuff she needs when she needs it.

Unfortunately she’s not old enough for our local riding club - which she’s gutted about as they do hunter trials (she loves eventing but absolutely hates the dressage part)

I did find a horse archery day which I’m going to book for her birthday in the summer.

I am actually wondering if she might be a bit over loaded with horse stuff and it might be best to avoid it altogether

I would give the membership sec a call - the PC website is not that easy to use so some branches use event booking websites - you might find rallies are advertised elsewhere.

My dcs have made their best friends through the pony club. They aren't interested in the training, they barely compete for the club, but they've enjoyed all the rallies over the years and its been very sociable.

If your dd is interested in making friends through it, or going to camp in the summer, then it's worth it.

I would really recommend pony club. Some of my fondest childhood memories are from my days at pony club. Our camps where the best!

I was a member from the age of 8 to about 21. Only stopped because there was no one else at my level so I couldn't do rallies or camps without taking a massive step down. Shame as now I am too old to rejoin but they have several at my level now which would have been great.

Pony club is great for cheap training, camps, making friends and taking part in 'team' competitions. My pony club run rallies all year round and these are advertised on their Pc page. Some Clubs don't keep these pages very well updated though so I wouldn't rely on them completely. Our club also run several social days a year which include bbq's, trips to big events and pantos at Christmas time.

Also to add, I have just had a quick look at my old branch's site and they have 28 rallies between the beginning of October and end of December so plenty going on.

If your local club have nothing listed, contact the secretary and they should be able to let you know what they have going on.

I also did the horse confidence course at Hemel Hempstead, the Centre of Horseback Combat, it was brill! The stunt and archery courses look fun too!

Thanks all!

I rang the PC today - they don’t have anything scheduled between now and the end of January, so I don’t know now.

I also asked around a few horsey friends and none of their kids are members either

I was looking at the horse archery at the place in Hemel Hempsted too

It’s a good few hours away from us and her birthday is in the summer so I was going to book it for her birthday present - we can have a few days away in the school holidays

Back to the drawing board I think.

@Daytimetellysucks what about looking on the BE website for training? You don't have to be a member to take part and they often have great trainers.
They once ran mechanical horse training which was great fun and really helped you to focus on your position and balance so that might be worth a look.

It's pretty unusual (around here at least) to have no events at all between November and end of January :(

We've got rallies (indoors, both jumping and flatwork), team jumping, a Christmas Party, games practices and dismounted stable management nights coming up in the next few weeks. We're not a big branch either. Maybe check with other local branches?

I've heard the horse archery is amazing :)

That doesn't sound like a very good pony club. Sometimes they put all their rallies on Facebook instead of the website, but if you've rung them and they have nothing thats crap! Which PC area are you in?

Whereabouts are you? What about neighbouring hunts/pony clubs?

Just read your posts again - it seems odd that she went to camp without being a member? How does that work?

My DCs are Pony Club members and the main thing they get from it is rallies. A rally can be anything from a small group showjumping lesson to a whole-branch summer barbecue with gymkhana games and water fights. Our branch do dressage, XC, SJ, polework and flatwork rallies regularly, and have in the past done games and the odd pony racing or polo rally. My kids also do PC Tetrathlon, and we get very cheap swimming and pistol shooting lessons through PC. We’ve been to a few triathlons and my kids love it. They see other kids they know there and love being on a team. The other really big thing is PC camp. My daughter would rather cut out summer holiday short than miss camp. (Most branches do not allow non-members to attend, so I’m surprised your DD has been to a PC camp as a non member.) Pony Club also provides my kids on their ponies with public liability insurance, which is essential for anyone who rides. It’s very good value for money just for this.

As someone above has said - you get out of PC what you put in, but in general it is well worth it.

Also just re-read your last post. I’m surprised there is nothing at all scheduled between now and January. As a potential new member I’d be looking at other local branches. The branch my DCs are in sometimes gets a bit quiet through winter but they still have about 4 ridden rallies and 2 unmounted rallies on the calendar. Not all of the rallies are suitable for all members, but they have a mounted Christmas games rally and an unmounted pony treats making rally that my kids are interested in, and we’ll still go to the swimming. The next branch along to us has a much bigger membership than our branch and there is something on every week. It’s worth checking out what the local branches do that interest you and your DD - each branch is run by volunteers and parents, so it stands to reason that they will organise things that interest them. One of our local branches is very into showjumping, another does a lot of pony racing, other branches are huge on mounted games. Worth finding out about the different branches.

If she wants to do BHS exams, the pc ones are a great start and groundwork. Some of them can be equivalent of BHS exams if you’re going down the riding instructor route. Most pc do a summer camp, which used to be the highlight of my year as a teen.