Pony club? What's minimum age? Other q's

H

Horses24-7

Well-Known Member
Joined
21 December 2010
Messages
580
Location
Midlands
Visit site
Hi all

My daughter is 5 and has a new fantastic 11'2 pony, for the past year (since she watched the pc games at hoys) her dream has been to join pony club!

Was wondering if anyone knew what age she has to be and what level of riding she needs to be at? She can currently walk and trot on lead rein (bumps etc) pop a little jump and is a very balanced independent rider, she's been riding since she could walk!:)

If they are able to join on lead rein what sort of activities etc would she be able to do? I have no idea about pony club as my parents could never afford for me to go, I know you join a local club but what things does that enable you to take part in?

Thank for your help x
 
Look up your local club and phone your DC. Children go from 3, which is really a bit young but if they have an older sibling there its easier for Mum! My boys went from 4. Yes there are lead rein rides, they do flat work, gymkhana, jumping, we used to do a little 'hack' around a couple of fields. Its great fun for the children, heelish hard work for mother, when mine were off the lead rein it was the best thing ever - make sure you are fit!
 
Hiyya, pony club is a fab start for your daughter.

5 should be a fine age to join we've had kids as young as 2 in ours and ability wise she will also be fine. :)

The minis do lots of fun things with the ponies so they play mounted games, do group rides (on lead rein) and jump. Just fun stuff that the kids enjoy but also help with balance and position. She can also work towards mini badges so she learns about the care and looking after of her pony and not just riding.

Best of luck hope you find a nice club and your daughter enjoys herself. :)
 
If you go on to the main PC website you can find your nearest branches and check out the activities,it will vary some do more than others.It is worth looking at several as some offer more than others and you cannot just move around as it is the branch you join not the main PC .
I hope that makes sense.
 
Though in NZ some of our members have been coming to rallies since they were 3yrs old. Thye have a blast, they have their own small arena set up - with letters - they have a flat lesson which is proved using games. We have fun games too like Catch the Duck, Thread the Button, Put the Giant Poppa beads back together. They also go for 'Hacks' around the clubs grounds. In New Zealand Pony Club doesn't allow children to jump on the lead rein. They have HM classes too and work towards their Lead Rein Achievers card before coming off the lead rein and going into D group.
 
Thanks for your replies, had a look on the website and the nearest to us are, south notts hunt and south Trent.

Just out if interest how much is all this going to cost me lol, just wondering how much I'm going to have to remortgaged my house for! Got a feeling it's going to be expensive lol x
 
Hi

I'm pretty sure membership has just gone up to £55.00 per year but you get insurance included in that price. Each PC has different activities at our PC most lessons are £10.00 ph with a qualified instructor. We have a special section especially for our younger/novice riders which is totally geared up to them having fun, doing mini badges and gymkhana games which they totally love.
Hope your daughter has many hours of fun with the PC its great. My daughter would not trade her place at our PC for anything.
:)
 
I was junior instructor this year and last year with our PC and I was with the tinies, the kids in my ride were 4 and 5.
They do tonnes of fun stuff, jumping, gymkhana games, we took them down to have a paddle in the river, handy pony. They are only mounted till lunchtime, and then in the afternoon they did stable management and just generally played. It is great fun, although I echo what the others said, you'll need to be fit, the kids get really into it!
 
My little girl is 5 and loves it.

I paid £50 to join in February, although if you join now you get a reduced rate.

I pay no more than £5 per lesson, and she does mounted games, and also had a lesson every other week, soon that will be 2 lessons every other week.

She also did pony camp taster day which was £20 and they had a great day of fun, followed by awards and a BBQ and bouncy castle.

Don't delay get her signed up, she will love it.

Ps get prepared to take part your self, yesterday I was painting x country jumps and will be adding up score cards at the ode, daisy has also been a mounted messenger.
 
You should be able to go to a rally of each branch to see what each is like. One may have more little ones than the other, which will always be more fun.
 
My children love Pony Club, their riding skills have come on in leaps and bounds, mainly because they have so much fun. Your child goes in a group that is correct for their ability, they have rallies all year. You get also join different groups for jumping, dressage, polocross, racing, mounted games etc... My children started mounted games last year, my son started as a nervous rider, then made it to championships, all within a year. It is good for just having fun, all the way to serious competing. It is also very good value for money.
 
I'd wait until January to join - thats when the membership renews. A lot of branches are winding down a bit now anyway as its the end of the season, so even with a reduced membership, you probably wouldn't get your money's worth if you joined now.

The insurance you get with the membership is third party.

We have loads of kids at our branch around the same age as yours, so they would be fine, and have lots of fun.

Welcome to the world of PC!!
 
Think I might join her for Jan as part of her Xmas present, she's already decided she's asking santa for all her show gear! Bless her :)

I think that sort of money is very reasonable, when ever I've mentioned to people on my yard I've been getting comments about how expensive it will be?? Needless to say mone of them have been to pc or know nothing about it !lol

I think I'm as excited about her joining as she will be! I know she's going to love it x
 
It is not so much the joining fee and the lesson prices that are expensive - more that your daughter is likely to get hooked and will want to do more and more! Well that's what happened to us anyway and it costs us a fortune in diesel running her around to team competitions, championships etc!:rolleyes:
 
Honey08 said:
I'd wait until January to join - thats when the membership renews. A lot of branches are winding down a bit now anyway as its the end of the season, so even with a reduced membership, you probably wouldn't get your money's worth if you joined now.

The insurance you get with the membership is third party.

We have loads of kids at our branch around the same age as yours, so they would be fine, and have lots of fun.

Welcome to the world of PC!!
Click to expand...

Our branch is quite the opposite, they have had a break for the summer, and mounted games does not start back until November, so in terms of our branch, it is a great time to join, just as a taster to see if you like it :)
 
Do read the rules
No point buying bright pink numnahs and pink jodhs when more ''old fashioned'' colours are the norm!
Most PCs have second hand stuff--really useful as they shoot through jodh boots etc very quickly.
 
Cuffey said:
Do read the rules
No point buying bright pink numnahs and pink jodhs when more ''old fashioned'' colours are the norm!
Click to expand...

Ditto this! Had my wrist slapped by the DC for the pony wearing a purple saddlecloth at their first rally! Different branches have different dress codes - some are much stricter than others.
 
TGM said:
Ditto this! Had my wrist slapped by the DC for the pony wearing a purple saddlecloth at their first rally! Different branches have different dress codes - some are much stricter than others.
Click to expand...

Thanks For that advice, I would have been gutted if I had spend a fortune on colour coordinating stuff she couldn't wear!

Great about 2nd hand stuff, kids cost enough as it is :rolleyes:
 
My Daughters have just joined this week- they are not as far on as your daughter as we have a young pony so he's learning too but trotting is coming. If you joining now (from Sept 1st) and pay for 2012 membership you get the the rest of this year included for FREE!!

Are club has 'tiny's lessons' all winter at Hartpury which is 15 minutes from me so perfect- can't wait to get started!
 
Yes join now (or it may be after end September, not sure) and you get membership till December '12.

Echo above, it's the diesel and the time that costs, rather than the membership and rally fees, and do be careful about kit, tack and clothing - some branches are very strict, others not so, but I am positively anal about safety and I nearly tear my hair out when I'm tack checking and parents have bought cheap tack and equipment which is positively dangerous - couldn't care less about pink spangly numnahs etc as long as the tack is safe! :)

Some branches won't take children under 7 (ours takes them as young as 2) so it's worth chatting to a few DCs to find out what the branch is geared to. Ours is a very "young" membership, but it goes in phases, so try and pick one where your daughter will have plenty of contemporaries right through.

Oh, and don't go on the committee whatever you do, and steer clear of the politics!
:rolleyes:
 
Cuffey said:
Do read the rules
No point buying bright pink numnahs and pink jodhs when more ''old fashioned'' colours are the norm!
Most PCs have second hand stuff--really useful as they shoot through jodh boots etc very quickly.
Click to expand...

It's not just the norm, it is the rules.

At the Southern Mini Champs last Sunday where I went as Dressage Trainer we had an awful moment where one of the horses had a small amount of blue piping on their browband.... We were told the judge would disqualify her!!! Noone had a spare, so we ended twisting up that black tape you tie your numbers on with over it and noone ever notices! ;)
 
We have a child as young as 2 in our pc this year. She gets led on her little falabella, cannot trot yet but loves to join in the lead rein lesson where they do loads of games. Our lead rein group is actually our biggest one! 5 is a fab age to start xx
 
Forgot to say - check with branch for their tally rules - ours allow any colour numnahs, as much bling as you like & my daughter wears her electric blue jacket - obviously not for area comps though!!
 
We are in the Heythrop Hunt PC and my daughter is 4 years old, she was in the top ride at 'minimus' camp this year (based mostly upon age) So that shows we had quite a few toddling and in nappies! Aim is mostly to teach little ones how to play, safely, with their beloved ponies! Go on the PC website, type in your post code and find your local club, ring the sec and they will be more than willing to help you out! i was dreading the whole 'pony club' thing (we are a purely hunting family) but this summer holidays she has had the best time! She'll love it for sure! Good luck!
 
My two went to PC at 3 and 5, shared a pony at the time. I clearly remember telling my OH when we bought pony we wouldn't need a trailer and they would just ride at home - some 25+ years later we now have SEVEN horses/foals between us, two trailers and travel all over the country to shows etc!! Pony becomes ponies, then horses etc etc etc LOL
 
Horses24-7 said:
Think I might join her for Jan as part of her Xmas present, she's already decided she's asking santa for all her show gear! Bless her :)

I think that sort of money is very reasonable, when ever I've mentioned to people on my yard I've been getting comments about how expensive it will be?? Needless to say mone of them have been to pc or know nothing about it !lol

I think I'm as excited about her joining as she will be! I know she's going to love it x
Click to expand...

The actual membership fee is cheap, it is the canteen fees each rally day, the entry fees to any comps., and some have day fees for each rider on a rally day. Over her is Aust the member ship for 2-3 kids was about $350 per annum (family membership).

But I pay $5 per head rider fee each day and about $10 each at canteen each day, and entry fees between $15-35 per comp, per rider, and then there is the uniform as well. They have their comp uniform which is jumper , shirt and tie. $100 per child.

Their saddle blanket $75 per child and their rally day shirt $30 per child. They all grow and need new joddies, boots and helmets every 12-18 months and so on. Plus if you travel to events .... so that is where the costs add up.

Plus if you really want to go on - at the old PC I went to it was not uncommon for the mums to spend between $5 000 to $10 000 AUD for a pony (even for a 5 yr old on a lead rein) and a saddle at $2-3000 AUD for hacking and to pay for weekly lessons etc).

So it really depends pony club can be a bottomless pit.
 
supagran said:
My two went to PC at 3 and 5, shared a pony at the time. I clearly remember telling my OH when we bought pony we wouldn't need a trailer and they would just ride at home - some 25+ years later we now have SEVEN horses/foals between us, two trailers and travel all over the country to shows etc!! Pony becomes ponies, then horses etc etc etc LOL
Click to expand...

My kids started sharing one pony at pony club (between 3 kids), and now we have 7 soon to be 8 ponies. It is a slippery slope.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top