United States Pony Clubs
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In America, Pony Club began in 1954. It is called the USPC or United States Pony Club. USPC headquarters are at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky. The USPC ideal is to teach children to be well rounded horse people with complete knowledge of riding on the flat, jumping, riding in the open and horse care.
- "The mission of the United States Pony Clubs is to provide a program for youth that teaches riding, mounted sports, and the care of horses and ponies, thereby developing responsibility, moral judgement, leadership and self-confidence."
-Pony Club Mission Statement
[edit] Clubs
There are over 600 clubs in the United States and over 12,000 members. Children have to have access to a horse or pony but they do not have to own one. Many programs are offered including eventing, dressage, mounted games, horse management, quiz, polocrosse, show-jumping, tetrathlon, and vaulting. They also have foxhunting, which events are not held for but they want you to participate in hunts. Another recent addition to the list of rallies is quadrille, in which there are four people that do a dressage test. There is also one stable manager who brings an extra horse incase one of the other horses gets injured. Pony Club includes unmounted meetings where children are taught about the health and care of their horses. Some of the unmounted lessons are feeding, shoeing and veterinary care. Under adult supervision, some of the more experienced Pony Clubbers may instruct and assist younger members.
Recently, the US Pony Club has added an adult organization, the Horsemasters. Horsemasters clubs serve as both a volunteer group to assist with Pony Club activities as well as their own adult horse riding club.
[edit] Ratings
One of the aspects that makes Pony Club one of the most popular and highly regarded equestrian instructional programs in the world is their rating system. When a child enters Pony Club they are unrated they can begin to test into the higher ratings beginning with D-1 then D-2,D-3,C-1,C-2,C-3,B,H-A and finally A. D-1 through C-2 are local ratings given at the club level with the C-3, B, H-A, and A are at the National level. In the UK, the tests start with D (the lowest) and proceed through D+, C, C+, B, AH and A. The last three are awarded after riders have been tested by outside examiners appointed by Pony Club Headquarters.
The USPC has recently begun specialized ratings, focusing on eventing (the traditional format), dressage, or show jumping. Beginning at the C-3 level, the candidate may choose a path and follow that discipline through to the A rating. These ratings would go as follows:
- Eventing (traditional): C-3 approx. training level, B approx. preliminary level, A approx. intermediate level
- Show Jumping: C-3 rides 3'3-3'6" (level II-III jumpers), B rides 3'9" (level III-IV jumpers), A rides 4'3" (level V-VI jumpers)
- Dressage: C-3 approx. first level, B second level, A third level.
All riders would still be required to take their H/H-A rating.
Sources: E-Newsletter Feb 06. USPC. Retrieved on 2006-08-28. Specialty Ratings: Chart. USPC. Retrieved on 2006-08-28.
[edit] Competitions
Competitions are held annually for Dressage, Show jumping, Eventing, Mounted Games, and Quiz/ Horsemanship. The competitions are known as rallies and they are team rather than individual competitions. Quiz questions are asked for each particular members rating level with varying degrees of difficulty. Questions cover such areas as equine nutrition, conformation, competition rules, riding skills, veterinary knowledge, and equine first aid. National Championships are held every year in various places, in 2007 they are scheduled to be in Kentucky. This event normally brings over 4,000 Pony Club members and has educational clinics in addition to the competitions.
