Which Pony Club?

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zoelouisem

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Following question about joining my daughter to pony club.
Ive made some enquires about the local ones, And the one im edging towards is Biesley Hunt, in Surrey.
Ive been told it has about 150 members and about half are minis so they do alot for them, so as my daughter is a mini, im edging towards this.
Have any of you had any experience good or bad with them, mostly if somebodies part of the a certain branch your only going to be told the good stuff!! ;)
 
Thankyou. :) Yes i figured it was worth a go for the year if we love it we can carry on, if we hate it i can stop. Its not going to stop her riding abilites so nothing to loose. :D
 
Bisley Hunt are a great club. They have a nice field too.

They are quite large - which is both an attraction and a problem depending on your point of view. Competition to get onto teams can be feirce - simply becuase they have more to choose from. It can be difficult to get to know everyone in a branch so large - but equally loads of freinds to choose from! Bisley is a very competative branch. They do have a fairly big mini contingent at the moment too. I don't know the DC or instructor's particularly well but we looked very seriously at Bisley for our daughter. The only reason we didn't go for it is that we are a good 45 mins away from the feild and there are other good branches closer.

If you are near Bisley then you are also possibly in reach of Mid Surrey, Cobham, Sandown Chase and Wimbledon.

Mid Surrey have their own field too - although they are frantically trying to rasie enough money to buy it when it goes up for sale in a couple of months. If they don't succeed they'll be homeless. They are a huge branch - 250 or so I think. Also very competative.

Cobham - also have thier own field. Smaller branch at about 100. They feild teams to most events and thier DC is really nice. Wimbledon and Cobham often do events together as the two branches are quite close to each other.

Sandown Chase - no field. Most rallies events etc are at Barwell farm in Chessington. Indeed all but a small handful of the members are stabled there. A strong senior team but no minis to speak of.

Wimbledon - also no field. And not in fact in wimbledon at all! Most rallies take place in Chessington or Claygate. The branch absorbed the closure of a local PC centre they are very well set up to support members without thier own horses. A very small branch with only about 60 members but a massive range of rally activities. A small number of minis - but a small number of members too!

If you are close to Bisley go for it. But if you have a bit of a trek just be aware there are other branches available. PM me if you want.
 
Hiya thanks for the info. i never did pony club myself when i was younger so this is all a bit new.
Im on the edge of Windsor so about 20 mins in a trailer from my stables, the other helpfull thing somebidy from my stables also goes there and as i dont have a trailer it would be kind of usefull!!!LOL ;)
I would quite like one with a large range of minis, shes very competent for her age, shes already competing alot and gets placed everytime out, won her first off the lead rein jumping 2 weeks ago!! I was crying like a baby!!:D and shes only 6, she more likely to be riding at rallies ect with similar abilties. :)
I think the others you metioned are on the other side of bisley pc so may be the closest option. Thankyou for all the info. :)
 
Yes the ones I listed are completely the wrong way for you sorry!

I don't know what PCs are in Berkshire rather than Surrey. But if you can get a lift there that has to be a very important consideration!

Have fun!
 
Just a quicky-we chose our PC on account of the mini to big ratio and it worked a treat!
As there were so many mini-members a lot of the activities were geared towards them. They even had their own small mini camp.
 
Sandhurst do a lot with minis. We've just sent off our membership so not done anything yet, but I asked about and was advised to join Sandhurst as they do a lot for the lower age groups. Downside for you is their field is at Eversley.
 
I went to Bisley and it was great! Happiest years of my life :D I've only ever been a member there so can't compare to other pony clubs but they always had lots on, in the summer months they do evening classes as well as rallies and comps etc. They do a mini camp as well as a senior one (and also advanced senior ones). The rallies are always very busy and popular but equally they keep the groups small so everyone gets individual help/tuition. They do extra fun activities especially for the minis like easter egg hunts, mounted games rallies etc. They cater for lots of different abilities. Events were well organised. They have a lovely big field with lots of jumps which they regularly update/build new ones.

Don't know what else to add! It's a great club and I am very sad that I am now too old to go anymore. :(
 
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