The pony club

[Grapplingtomatoes]

Hello
My daughter is 9 and has just started riding lessons. We will never be in a position to own it loan a horse due to finances but I want her to get the most out of her lessons as she loves it.

Now I know nothing at all about horses, riding, lessons, it's all new to me. I keep reading about the pony club, but the website isn't forthcoming with how it actually works and what it's about.

I like the idea of her earning awards/badges to keep her motivated as I don't think you do in ordinary lessons?

Could someone explain to me like I'm 4, what it entails, how it works and is it worth it, thank you.

I think, without your own pony, it would normally something you get involved with through your riding school- do they offer any stable management classes or similar?

Pony club is either own pony or based at the centre where you learn to ride. You would need to find a pony club centre local to you and call up to find out the details. Pony club website has a list.
The pony club centres might be more expensive and obviously you will pay extra for any extra hours she spends there. On the plus side they normally teach horse care and offer competitions in addition to riding lessons. It is also possible once she is a certain age and ability she could earn her lessons by working there.

Great, thank you. Her school is listed on the site but I've not seen anything there. I shall ask when we go next.

There's pony club branches to join with own ponies and pc centres based at riding schools. They both do the same thing with learning about horse care, improving riding, having fun and making friends. Which riding school do you go to? Centres and branches in theory can compete in the same pc competitions, but to be honest I've only ever seen centre members competing at triathlon (run, swim, shoot) as taking ponies out of the school is difficult. It's a great organisation.

Our local riding school has an active pony club centre and they regularly compete at the pony club championships. The centres do vary in how much they put on but definitely worth looking at.

Great explanation. In a nutshell I always refer to Pony Club as like scouts/ brownies but with ponies. It's a mixture of serious learning and skills development, good grounding in general citizenship and responsibility for pony care, with plenty of fun and games and friendly competition alongside it. Kids like the structured elements of having a uniform, working through badges/tests and challenges as course as well as the group fun and activities. It is more expensive than scouts unfortunately particularly for centre members though as although there is often a volunteer element to it you will still need to pay the riding school for the pony's time plus the time of the instructor(s) leading the events as non-horsey parents usually can't teach/supervise themselves.

This poster is absolutely right, the main difference for riding school/ centre members compared to own pony/branch members is that the former usually only do internal meets, i.e physically at the riding school and using the riding school ponies, which feels more like an extension of normal lessons or own a pony days/school holiday 'day camp' type activities. As opposed to the intra-branch competitions and regional rallies and week long stay-away camps that branches/own pony members do that involves travelling to different venues and probably more of the team sports/competitive element. As you say, taking 4 or 5 ponies out for the day or a week from the same riding school particularly over a weekend is usually not feasible. Back in the day some PC centres/riding schools used to do stay over camps (camping at the riding school) in the school holidays as well but I suspect in the era of health and safety/ safeguarding that is probably largely a thing of the past now?

PC is definitely still worth doing for the centre members even if it is a slightly toned down version, it's is all good fun and great learning for them. If you find your own riding school is not particularly active as a PC centre it might be worth seeing if there's a bigger school perhaps slightly further afield she could go to as usually it's the larger schools that offer it more as a regular thing?

You need to find a pony club centre, rather than a branch. What centres can offer will vary wildly between establishment based on facilities etc.
Our local riding school doesn’t have a PC centre as it’s small with about 10 ponies and can’t make it work, but does do some ABRS awards which are similar and you get rosettes which are fun too.

Id speak to the school and see what they can offer

I'm in the same position and DD is a member of the PC through her riding school. Riding lessons are separate to PC activities. PC is held on a weekday evening during the summer months when it's light enough to see what they're doing, with stable days run weekly over the school holidays. She learns about horse care, stable management, road riding safety etc. so all the knowledge and skills that surround the actual riding. A bit like Brownies, they work through badges, then progress through bronze/silver/gold awards which are moderated by an external assessor. Anyone can go to PC through a centre, even if they don't want to ride.

Cost-wise, DD's riding school charges £25 per evening session and £60 for stable days. I've seen riding schools charging a lot more so that's on the cheaper side, even though I thought it was horrifically expensive compared to £20 a month for Brownies! They don't do camps or external competitions, which I understand are more for "branch" members who own their own pony. There's also an annual PC membership fee and a uniform (at least a centre-specific t-shirt or polo shirt, but there's all sorts of optional extras if you want them).

At DD's riding school, PC members who also take riding lessons can work towards becoming a leader. This means they get to volunteer at the stables over the weekend and during the holidays. This entails making up feeds, mucking out, tacking up ponies for lessons, brushing them down and giving 1:1 support to younger or less experienced riders taking lessons. They don't get paid but earn credits towards free lessons. It's hard work but DD loves it.