Does anyone remember the 'Win a Pony' competitions in magazines?

nagblagger said:
[QUOTE="riversideeu, I won my lovely mare Femke in Your Horse Magazine many years ago. lots of questions to answer over a few months then a final in Wales.
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Hurry up,i'm impatient, we all want all the details, how did you get to choose your horse?[/QUOTE]
I was given lots of advice regarding choosing but it was totally my choice. I got a lovely Dutch mare who I rode and then eventually bred from. She was my dream horse a lovely big chestnut part Gelderlander and I kept her all her life.
 
teapot said:
Wasn't Freddie the H&P pony? Used to feature in every edition I see to remember.
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I thought he was the one that was won in the competition originally and that's why he was in the magazine so often but I could be remembering it wrong.
 
EmmaC78 said:
I thought he was the one that was won in the competition originally and that's why he was in the magazine so often but I could be remembering it wrong.
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No idea, I only ever remember him as the H&P mascot (and Julip model they did especially of him!)
 
We were in England for a year from July '73 to June '74; Eynsham - a wee village not far from Oxford. I went to school there. Pony magazine had a competition going to win a pony, and the choices for the winner was one of the following: a New Forest; Highland; Exmoor; Shetland (??) and Fell (??). (Not sure on last two.) It was absolutely thrilling. The dreamer in me loved it. My parents let me enter, obviously realising I had very little chance in winning. And guess what?? I didn't win.
 
throwawayaccount said:
I remember way back(!) in the 90s reading Horse and Pony magazines and there being a competition to win your own pony. To keep your won pony going for a year, there were tons of sponsors involved-- feed companys (Baileys or Spillers?), bedding, tack etc. Child me was very jealous and upset at not being allowed to enter :p

can't imagine one of these competitions happening nowadays, but does anyone else remember this or know the people who won? :)
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Yes I do as I bought the Horse and Pony magazine regularly- wow seems so long ago.
 
As a child one of the winners moved her newly won pony to our yard. It was both a livery and riding school. This must have been mid/late 90s, but I can’t remember the exact year… I got my pony in ‘99 and she had had her for a year or two I think?

She was a few years younger than me but we became good friends, there ended up being a group of us young teens/pre teens that used to practically live at the stables- hacking out for hours with no mobiles and non horsey parents with no idea where we were etc. It was a really happy time. She was a lovely girl and the pony was awesome!

She kept her for the rest of her life. In fact we got in touch over Facebook about 12/13 years ago, and with my eldest son who was 6ish at the time and just started riding, met up with them and he had a little sit and walk around on her.

I think the deal was pony magazine paid for a years worth of livery and then the family took over.

She is now a vet, no idea if her speciality is equine, so it may be the same person mentioned above! Unfortunately life takes you in different directions and we drifted apart but it was a lovely pairing and a happy ending for both of them.
 
throwawayaccount said:
I remember way back(!) in the 90s reading Horse and Pony magazines and there being a competition to win your own pony. To keep your won pony going for a year, there were tons of sponsors involved-- feed companys (Baileys or Spillers?), bedding, tack etc. Child me was very jealous and upset at not being allowed to enter :p

can't imagine one of these competitions happening nowadays, but does anyone else remember this or know the people who won? :)
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I remember them, and the Win a Pony comp that WH Smith did, I entered regularly in the 70's and 80's but sadly never won ? Definitely don't think it would be allowed now.
 
Like TFF, I remember the WH SMITHS competition, dappled grey pony in the pic…. obviously meant for me.
I entered ( and many times over the years) and my brother entered a competition to win tons of Action Man stuff ….. he won, I didn’t!?
 
I remember the Your Horse version. As a horse mad preteen I entered religiously but never got anywhere with it! We couldn’t afford a horse at the time but I obviously didn’t realise that, so my mum let me answer all the questions but I don’t think she ever actually sent the form lol
 
I remember this! I loved horse and pony magazine...my daughter is 8 and gets pony magazine every month but its not the same ☹️
 
katastrophykat said:
Yes! I loved it, I still think there was a market for it.
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Yes I had a story published in there, I keep meaning to scan it in and show you, it was a full page and was a story about how my lovely WB Biggles got attacked by a dog when we were out hacking, back in around 1996. I got paid £50 for it which was a nice amount of money then.

There is a Gallop magazine out now but its all about racing.
 
I entered a win a pony comp the first year I started riding, I cringe when I think back to the photos I sent in and the answers I wrote, I was only 11 :D the judges must have laughed...
Very jealous of those who won!
 
Chippers1 said:
I entered a win a pony comp the first year I started riding, I cringe when I think back to the photos I sent in and the answers I wrote, I was only 11 :D the judges must have laughed...
Very jealous of those who won!
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I'm like that when I think back to when I entered a Blue Chip sponsorship competition. You had to do a CV about your horse and yourself, I cringe when I think about the rubbish I put in there. It was all true but probably made me sound more proficient than I actually was as I was more happy jumping 2ft 9 than 5ft 9 :D:D

I've won lots of competitions in a well known equestrian magazine, my best (or worst) was winning a £2,200 saddle, bridle and pad. The saddle turned out to be a total nightmare and was some prototype rubbish the company concerned had palmed off onto the magazine which wasn't really fit for purpose.

I also won a riding lesson on my own horse with a SJ from the same magazine, a rug and a whole load of food from the company that sponsored him.
 
I remember one of the Your Horse winners got a young mare called Buffy. They were supposed to follow her for a year but she had no end of trouble with her from what I remember and she was always lame when she was supposed to be going to a lesson or event that would feature in the magazine. That must have been early 2000s because I intended to enter the following year when Ebony started slowing down but they never ran it again. Instead, they ran a "win an amazing year with your horse" style competition when you won a lorry for a year, loads of lessons, camps, entries to competitions etc. They said it was worth £20k.
 
In the US in the early 70s they ran this contest on the wrapper of the Charleston Chew candy bar. I was obsessed!
 

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I remember the "Win a Pony".

Knew I needn't ever bother even entering as it was obvious they were looking for a specific type of winner: it was blindingly obvious that they wanted someone who kept their horse on livery at a posh yard and would be going out and competing regularly so as to give them the maximum "shine"; they wouldn't ever have let the prize go to a Happy Hacker like me who kept (and still keeps!) their horses at home and doesn't compete. So thought it was a waste of time entering.
 
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