I'm not cut out to be a PC mum :-(

McNally

McNally

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I actually cant get my head round all this PC stuff. I get sent lists of dates but few say location/standards of pony or rider Its all too expensive for me but all my daughters friends do every rally (what the hell is a rally!) going and she is desperate to go too.
Letters state things like "send the cheque to Sally" or "usual arrangements apply" WHO is Sally?? and WHAT are usual arrangements.
Im told im expected to stay to all these things which obviously id love to BUT... theres that little thing called work- Do other PC mums not work?
Camp is approaching and ive just been told that 3 rally's are required between now and then (at £20 each) and that its not camping at all but that i need to arrange transport every day there and back for the pony (who incidentally we cant catch or even get anywhere close to at the minute so how we get to bloody pc is also an issue)
I have emailed someone tonight but am so so stressed about this whole god damn thing its untrue (and i feel so bad for having to keep saying no to the things all her friends are doing and talking about)

Aaarrrrggghhhhh- sorry pointless rant over!
 
I'd look in to a diffrent one if I were you. Ours are lovley, rallies are on a friday evening so that working parents can get kids and ponies there easily and dont have to worry about it being to late for the kiddies as no school in the morning and your rallies do sound very expensive.
 
I have all this to come! Ours is miles away & rallys often further, with no transport of my own for a few years (unless petrol rapidly drops) & a 7 yr old I've avoided pc so far. Prob sort something when she's 10/11. Luckily have a fab bridleways association & a few good kids shows locally to make do with for now. I'm sure in a few years I'll be equally lost though!
 
I'd search another club out too - Maybe a smaller one would suit you more. I'm branch secretary of a very small club where everyone knows each other & all rallies are run on Sundays because most parents work in the week. We have 6 rallies a year where all members attend - at a cost of £35 per year per child. xx
 
Oh god, Really? I just assumed that all were the same?
Ive also paid the £70 ish membership for a year so cant swap now really. Its a highly recommended branch our local alternative im told is very clique- something im keen to avoid. Littlelegs keep it up as long as possible!
 
£20 a rally is incredibly steep. I teach at a few PCs and I have never heard of them being this much for just a rally (which is just a lesson FYI!). One I teach at is free rallies but they have lots of fundraisers, another is £7. The whole point of PC is that it's meant to be accessible, welcoming and fun. Sadly not always the case though and newsletters worded as you say are the WORST things I think for putting off new members.
Which area are you in? Is there another one you can join?
Speak to the DC/Secretary of this one though first and ask for a bit of help/guidance. Hopefully they will be very welcoming and may come up with travel sharing ideas for you.

Pony Club is fantastic for kids if you are in a good one which is supportive. You will usually find aswell that the more you can help out at things the more 'included' you will feel. :)
 
Where are you? some one on here might be able to help find you a more suitable one for you to try next year.I'd use the rest of this year to do some research on other branches and go along and visit to see which ones will suit you. We are really spoilt that our rallies dont cost any thing at our normal venue which is fab and £70 to join?!? I'm fairly sure its only supposed to be £58 to the pc.
 
Just read your other post - if the other club has a reputation for being cliquey then avoid like the plague.
There are many scary things in this world but cliquey hardcore pony club mums could beat most of them! ;)

If this branch is supposed to be the nicer one then stick with it. Once you've been there a while you'll find it so much easier with transport/planning etc.

I still think it's expensive, but then I suppose it depends in the area :)
 
Can't reccomend Pony Club highly enough ours is great. You will always get the ambitious mums and dads but generally everyone gets along fine. Trouble is sometimes everyone knows each other and the routine so well the forget about newcomers but this is in any organisation and not just pony club. I have not met an unhelpful DC yet , so contact them and explain you don't understand.
Our current rally fee is £8
 
Wow feeling very lucky ours is £58 and thats it, a few rallies a month that are free and then extra ones at diffrent places you pay for if you want to do team training etc and a lovely bunch of people.
 
Patterdale, Thank you. I think we are in a very pricey area. I may be wrong on the membership. My daughter pointed out that at the same time we ordered a tie and something else- unsure what as i assume we will pick it up along with the tie at her first session.
Yes this branch is supposed to be lovely and very helpful according to her friends mums who recommended it so will stick it out for the year. I have emailed previously as we wern't getting any info and the lady i contacted was lovely she resent it all that same day so with any luck some poor person is pouring over my questions right now ;-)
I do love to panic!
 
dafthoss- FREE rallies? wow what area are you in can i ask? Im Cotswolds area probably hence the price!
 
Maybe we will have some freebies? Iv currently only got the schedule for June...Hope so!

Nikicb Are yours £20 aswell?
 
Am in Sussex and our rallies are £5 unless hiring a cross country course, weekly team practices usually less, our games practices for example are £3.
£20 is just daft, you could have an instructor come to you for that!
 
smiggy said:
Am in Sussex and our rallies are £5 unless hiring a cross country course, weekly team practices usually less, our games practices for example are £3.
l£20 is just daft, you could have an instructor come to you for that!
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Sussex is a known expensive area i thought aswell! This is highly unfair! Wish i could find an instructor to come out for £20! Maybe cotswold instructors demend more ;-)....maybe we need to move house.
 
McNally said:
Maybe we will have some freebies? Iv currently only got the schedule for June...Hope so!

Nikicb Are yours £20 aswell?
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Our mounted rallies (ie open to all) are £10. Things like SJ rallies are around £15. Things like xc where they have to hire the course as well as having an instructor are £20/£25. Stable management rallies are £5. We also offer some mini rallies at Christmas/Easter etc which are free. I'm fairly new to the PC but have been roped into being the treasurer of our local branch. Our rallies pretty much break even. Of the £58 membership a lot gets paid to HQ in the form of capitation (covering HQ admin, insurance etc). For a mounted rally (meant to be open to all I believe), £20 seems a lot.
 
McNally said:
I have emailed someone tonight but am so so stressed about this whole god damn thing its untrue (and i feel so bad for having to keep saying no to the things all her friends are doing and talking about)

Aaarrrrggghhhhh- sorry pointless rant over!
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Mr Dragon has refused point blank to pay for our two to join the local pony club... On the first visit, my novice son (riding less than a year) was told he should go into the top class because he was the only one adjusting to his diagonals and using leg to get into corners... Go figure... Then it went totally pear shaped when the instructor was yelling at him "Use the whip on her" to get pony into canter and he refused as said pony was unfit (January after the weather/dark evenings curtailed their schooling/hacking), they'd hacked a good way over, it was the end of the lesson and they'd have to hack back... I thought he was correct in not wanting to bash her into canter when she'd normally respond perfectly well to the leg and was obviously tired... Apparently not...
 
Sorry had to drive home from uni. I'm in cambridgeshire so wouldn't have thought it would be that much of a cheap area.
 
I think my friend pays about £10 a rally, although I'm not sure what they pay for the team ones, I think they are different. She has stopped going to camp though, as they tend to put the groups together rather strangely, and often use the instructors who should really teach tinies as they are too frightened to put the jumps up teaching the top group, and the good instructors teach the up down lot.
I wouldn't feel too bad if you don't do much PC, girl who has my pony now, whose 10 doesn't do any, I think she rides with a group maybe rc once a week, and thats usually £10 too, I'm in Wilts
 
We pay £10 a rally here. Our PC is quite nice but quite cliquey, the other local one is even worse! My daughter has done camp the last 2 years but she isn't old enough to stay so have to ship her and the pony there every morning and evening. And you have to stay but aren't allowed to watch lol! So lots of sitting around in the car park making small talk, not my favourite week of the year!! I am lucky as I work term time only so I am around to take her but is does seem like a lot of the other mums don't work. We borrow a lorry as dint have transport at the moment. There aren't many younger kids that do camp so last year there was just 1 under 11 group where my daughter who is competent and can jump courses etc was mixed with lead rein kids. I would definitely check with them how many other kids will be in the age group as last year was quite frustrating, and I am thinking of not doing it this year and waiting til she is old enough to do the main camp.

Also if you do find another branch you prefer you should bbe able to swap as long as both DCs agree, we did this part way through they year!
 
I think branches are very diverse, so there will be a branch out there that suits you. I know our camp (residential for 5 days - we are not allowed to stay) is for all the members over 8yrs as long as they can ride off lead rein. Our biggest group is under 10's!!
 
Haven't read the other responses but call up your branch DC and ask him or her to chat through how things work and what you need to do. PC really isn't/shouldn't be causing you worry and once you've done one or two rallies you will wonder what you were concerned about. Some rallies in our branch are in, say, easter holidays but these can fall at different times for different schools and yes I do have to take time off work for them. Many however are at weekends and so working parents are well accommodated.

Hope you get the pony caught to get out to some PC activities and your daughter has fun - and you do, too!
 
I do empathise, as a lot of the pc mums work part time or not at all. But, if your child does want to ride and attend, it is worth making the effort.

The more rally (training days) you attend, the more "in the loop" you will feel. I have found that the other mums are pretty friendly (some are a bit up themselves), and you can have fun, and even find the day relaxing. If you cannot attend for the full day you may be able to attend for the morning and leave at lunch time. In Australia, 1/2 day attendance still counts as attendance.

If you can make every second rally day, that would also be an alternative, or can your OH or a relative take your daughter.

The three day rule allows the instructors to ensure your child is safe and capable.

The parents /adult attending mean there is some one there if an accident/fall to look after the child.

I do mostly feel like a failure as a PC mum, my kids will not win turn out prize as the horses are whipped out the paddock and a very quick brush to get the worst of the mud off. But I do make a special effort for the gymkhanas - staying up all hours of the night to get ponies and tack clean.
 
TBH I think organisations like PC / RC in general are a case of you get out of them as much as you are willing to put in.

My advice would be to call up the DC and have a good chat about how things work / run and then go from there.

PC is fun if you allow it to be (an ignore the small pool of awful PC mums!)

Hell, I went through PC without my mother going to a single thing. I was that kid that rocked up having hacked miles with a backpack on, mounted on something unsuitable and having done a paper round to pay for the rally!
 
May I ask which PC you are with? I'm in the Cotswolds too and have experience of all the local branches either from being a member or instructing.
 
dafthoss said:
Sorry had to drive home from uni. I'm in cambridgeshire so wouldn't have thought it would be that much of a cheap area.
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Which PC are you a member of as have been part of one of the cambridgeshire PCs which was incredibly cliquiey and just not worth going too :)
 
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