There are a few housekeeping notes which are as follows:-
- Firstly a reminder that 21 year olds and above can now join The Pony Club for the first time without having previously been a Member.
- Branches and Centres are free to set up their own PayPal accounts for their Members if they wish.
- Individual Branches of The Pony Club should always be referred to as ‘Branch’ and not ‘Club’.
- Every Branch and Area is allocated a ‘pcuk’ e-mail address and we would very much appreciate it if you could begin using these, if you are not already doing so.
ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2013
It was good to see so many of you at the Conference and judging by the letters and comments that we have received you all enjoyed the day’s varied mix of speakers. A report of the Conference, as well as downloads of speeches, is available here.
THE PONY CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS 2013
Cholmondeley Castle, Cheshire – 16 – 19th August
Information (including stabling) on the Championships will appear HERE when available.
Fence Judges, Dressage Writers & Stewards Needed – if there is anyone in your Branch who may be able to help, please get in touch with Jenny Yates (02476 698305 or jenny@pcuk.org). Any help, even for half a day, would be much appreciated.
Fence Sponsorship 2013
Fence Sponsorship will once again be available on a selection of fences. Full details, as they become available, can be requested by emailing media@pcuk.org or viewed here.
YOUNG EQUESTRIAN LEADER AWARD – YELA
Matthew Cobble (BEF Youth Lead) and Katie Midgeley from the Barlow Hunt provided an excellent presentation about the young leader award at the Pony Club Annual Conference at Cheltenham. Two other successful Gold Award candidates, Josh Rees and Melissa Call, were also present to share their experiences with Pony Club Officials on the day.
Young volunteers taking part in the award have amassed over 300 days worth of hours with The Pony Club!
For more details about the award, please go to www.yela.org.uk or contact Matthew Cobble on 01926 405977
TRAINING
The Pony Club Ambassador Scheme
We were delighted to announce at the Conference that we are introducing a Pony Club Ambassador Scheme to acknowledge and reward Members who stand out as exceptional and invaluable assets to The Pony Club. You are invited to nominate any of your Members to become a Pony Club Ambassador if they fulfil the following criteria:
- 18 years old or over
- Actively supportive in the Branch / Centre / Area
- A Pony Club member for a minimum of five consecutive years
- Committed to The Pony Club aims and ethos.
Please send your nominations to The Pony Club office by 31st May 2013. From the nominations received, a short list will be selected and those Members will be asked to complete a personal statement by 1st July. Pro forma questions will be supplied for the personal statement to be based on so all applications can be easily reviewed and compared. A panel of judges will then review the personal statements and from these and select the Pony Club Ambassadors. Toggi have generously supplied bespoke jackets for the Ambassadors, which will be awarded at The Pony Club Championships at Cholmondeley Castle this year.
DRESSAGE
Elite Dressage Competition
At The Championships at Cholmondeley this summer there will be a direct entry competition for ‘Elite’ individual Pony Club members. This competition will be at BD Medium level and will be open to any Pony Club member or Associate riding any level of horse. This competition will take place on Friday 16th August at Cholmondeley. Please can anyone interested in entering this competition email laura@pcuk.org as soon as possible to express their interest. Entry forms will be available later.
Online Dressage Championships
Entries open on 1st April for The Pony Club Online Dressage Championship hosted by Dressage Anywhere. More information is enclosed or please visit www.dressageanywhere.com for details.
EVENTING
Likit Open Eventing League
Don’t forget if you are running a One Day Event and are including an Open (Level 5) class, you can apply to include this class in the Open Eventing League. A current list of league events is available to download from the website.
Young Event Horses Series
Now that the Eventing season has begun, please remind your Members aged 15 and over that they can take part in the YEHS if they have a horse or pony aged 5, 6 or 7 years. There are no specific qualifying competitions – they can submit their results from any Pony Club Level 3 Eventing competition run in 2013 in order to gain points. Results cards can be downloaded here. |
ENDURANCE
Regional Qualifying Rides
As of 2013, Members can qualify for The Pony Club Endurance Championships by successfully completing one Regional Qualifier ride. To ride at the Championships, The Pony Club recommend that the combination of horse and rider must have successfully completed at least one other endurance ride (EGB/SERC/ILDRA/The Pony Club), at the appropriate level, within three months of the Championship date.
Qualifying rides can be found here.
MERCHANDISE
We are offering an exclusive deal only redeemable from the trade stand at Badminton Horse Trials between 2nd – 6th May.
£5 off when you buy two or more Pony Club publications, quote code BADMIN-13.
(Terms and conditions apply, please see www.pcuk.org for further details and exclusions).
We will also be launching our brand new publication Pocket Guide to Equestrian Dress priced at £4.99.
THE PONY CLUB ANNUAL
Following feedback at the Annual Conference;
Why Online? The Pony Club Annual was produced in an online format for 2012 following feedback from our Branches that distribution in the print current form was far from ideal, coupled the publication no longer enjoying the support of a title sponsor to help cover postage and print costs.
How Do Members Get Access? An email containing a link for download was sent directly to your Members, via the email address listed for them in the Membership Database, in both December and February. If your Members’ emails are not on the database or they have not received the email they can access a copy of The Annual via the link: //annual.pcuk.org
The online format is an exciting, but different one, and we know for some a print copy would be preferred but sadly this option was not available to us for 2012. However, please do encourage your Members to view The Annual, so that when we survey opinion in the coming weeks we can get a good range of accurate feedback.
LONDON PET SHOW
The Pony Club will be enjoying a large presence at The London Pet Show at Earls Court 2 during May 11-12th 2013. We will be running four different areas at the show designed to introduce young people to ponies and what being a Member of The Pony Club is all about!
The Pony Club Centre
The Pony Club Centre will feature our tradestand will be in situ with a great range educational and fun merchandise, alongside all the advice you may need to get you started as a Pony Club Member. There will also be the opportunity to practise online for Pony Club in the virtual world of ‘PonyPrep’; where users can create their own pony avatar before taking part in test, quiz’s and watching videos online before finding out what riding is like for real, by having a go on the mechanical horses.
The Pony Club Show (on foot)
The Pony Club Show will give visitors a taste of the three Olympic Disciplines of Dressage, Show Jumping and Eventing. There will be the chance to learn movements and perform in the Dressage Arena before tackling MiniJumps course and the chance to win a Pony Club rosette.
The Pony Club Stables
The Pony Club Stables will be the place to be to meet some real life ponies courtesy of our London based Centres! There will also be advise on tacking up, grooming, and how to use lots of the other equipment involved in caring for horses and ponies.
The show also covers Dogs, Cats and Small Furries, with some amazing animal action displays and fun and informative talks and demos so it’s a great day out and we have exclusive ticket offer for Pony Club Members – quote PONYCLUB and receive 15% off when booking at www.londonpetshow.co.uk or by calling 0844 873 7332
In Memoriam: William Miflin 1968 – 2013
It is with deepest regret that we learned of the passing of William Miflin on the evening of Saturday the 23rd March 2013 following his long battle with cancer.
In his twenties William rode successfully at International competitions including numerous Burghley and Badminton completions. He was a popular BE Accredited Coach including BE U-18 coaching, a BHSI and, until he was prevented by illness, ran numerous eventing clinics from his former base at Cirencester Park. William was also a valued member of the Pony Club Eventing Committee and a respected Pony Club Horse Trials Steward.
Mike Etherington-Smith, Chief Executive of British Eventing said: “This is extremely sad news for those who knew William, he was a popular coach as well as having a wide group of friends in the eventing community. It is especially tragic to be losing someone so young; our sincere condolences are with his wife Sara and his two children Georgia and Thomas at this time.”
Last week, William’s close friend and BE scorer Bel Thompson had her hair shaved off by Sara Miflin to raise funds for Cancer Research UK. Donations to this cause can be made here.
William’s funeral is now confirmed as Wednesday 10th April at 1.30 at Malmesbury Abbey and afterwards at the Old Hall, Badminton House. Family flowers only. Donations to cancer research UK and Dorothy House. |
