Help your Tiny Equestrian Take the Reins with Pony Club in NSW

I am often asked by parents I meet out on the trade stand if they can or should get their child involved in Pony Club in NSW. The answer really depends on one big question – does your child have their own (suitable) horse or pony they can attend with? Well maybe two questions because you also need a way to transport said stead to your chosen Pony Club grounds.

If the answer to the above question is no you haven’t yet completely bankrupted yourself through the purchase of a pony or maybe you have but don’t yet have a way of transporting him across the country side, you unfortunately won’t be able to join your local NSW Pony Club as yet. However there are plenty of ways to get the “pony club” experience for your child if you’re not up to that stage as yet. One of these is to find an instructor who has school ponies and offers group lessons or even better school holiday camps! Camps are a great place to learn new horse and riding skills and to make like minded friends. A quick google should help you in your search, you can also utilise social media by finding your local horse group (try searching horses – insert suburb) and ask in there, you are likely to get a tonne of recommendations.

If the answer to that is yes then the best thing to do is jump on the Pony Club NSW website and find your zone here to determine which clubs are in your area, then ask around at your local saddlery, riding school ect to work out which club you think will suit your tiny rider best. A lot of clubs even offer taster days where you can go along and get a feel for the vibe, location and structure of the specific club.

We love Pony Club and recommended it to anyone who is interested and set up to attend. It provides a fantastic opportunity for kids to try disciplines they are unlikely to come across let alone get to try without it such as horseback archery, polo crosse, vaulting, pony racing and tetrathalon just to name a few.

If you like your weekends free and easy you may want to reconsider your pony club membership as like any sporting club a commitment to attend a certain number of extra events & fundraisers is required on top of the monthly club instruction day (usually held on a Sunday). Once your tiny equestrian decides to compete you will also need to give up your Fridays to clean and plait and prep ponies, Saturday to escort the duo to the event and then your Sunday will be spent unpacking, cleaning and trying to recover your sanity, heal your sunburn or thaw out from the freezing cold but don’t worry you get 5 days back at work to recover!

Kidding aside we really do love that Pony Club allowed us the opportunity to form friendships with other equestrian families in our local area and for the skills we have learnt at Pony Club this year, and I do mean we as a family, not only has Penny become part of a wonderful little group of trotting tots that are likely to be riding together for the next 10-15 years through Pony Club, Riding Lessons and then Interschools once we reach that phase of life, but my husband and I have also met an amazingly supportive bunch of pony club mums and dads and also had the opportunity to take part in some great events and disciplines too! So yes I 100% recommend getting involved in Pony Club if you have the option.

If you've made the leap and joined a pony club near you we may be able to help with uniforms. Most Clubs require a formal uniform of beige or cream jodphurs and a plain shirt