Crawley & Horsham Hunt Pony Club Round up of the Year 2021

2021 has been a very successful year for our branch and we have lots of exciting plans for 2022. This year we have had successes in almost every discipline, culminating in some star performances at the Grassroots and National Championships.

Area Quiz and National Finals

We started the year as we meant to go on with a fantastic team performance at the Area Quiz competition. With our Chief Instructor Sue Nolan as Team Trainer and our District Commissioner, Julia Martin, as Quiz Master, the team of Ella, Liv, Suzannah and Imogen Nolan won the Area 11 competition in February 2021, beating 13 other Pony Clubs to qualify for the National Finals. They chose to donate their winning prize money to the Brooke Horse Welfare Charity.

The National Finals were held online in April 2021 and our team achieved a respectable 12th place out of 30 teams. This was a first for the Crawley & Horsham Hunt Pony Club and an area we would like to develop as we move forward. If anyone is interested in joining a quiz team, please talk to Julia Martin as we plan to compete again next year.

Year Round Training in All Disciplines

We have organised lots of training sessions across the different disciplines. There has been dressage and pole work with AB, show-jumping rallies with Kathy and eventing training with Sue Nolan.

Charlotte has organised a busy programme for the minis and the numbers of new joiners are increasing every week.

Gemma and Mel have done a great job with the mounted games too and we hope this will go from strength to strength with the possibility of competing in a few friendly competitions with other Pony Clubs in 2022.

There has not been many opportunities for tetrathlon training or competitions during the COVID period and we are hoping that this starts up again in 2022. If anyone is interested in helping with the tetrathlon organisation and teams, please come forward and let one of the Committee know.

Social Events

We hosted a fun social evening with pizzas at Kaye Baker’s farm in Staplefield in June. It was great to see so many families there and we hope to plan a few more social events in 2022. We have the coach trip planned to the London International Horse Show a the ExCel Centre in December which is always a highlight and a great opportunity for Christmas shopping.

We would like to arrange a coach trip to Badminton in 2022. If there is anyone that could help organise this, your help would be much appreciated.

Camps

Mini and Junior camp was held at Hoes Farm in Shipley this summer and it was a great success. A special mention to Suzie, Charlotte and Sophie for doing such a great job organising it. It was our first time at a new venue after many years at Stonehall and it worked really well.

Senior Camp at Munstead was also a great success and the catering provided by Julian Taylor was recognised by most as a definite highlight. The Camps will remain at these venues for next year and Julian will be responsible for the Senior Camp catering again. As a reminder the Camp dates for 2022 are 23rd to 26th July 2022 for Mini and Junior Camp at Hoes Farm, and 8th to 11th August 2022 for Senior Camp at Munstead.

Please be aware that next year we will be asking for Camp deposits and the total balances much earlier than in 2021. For Senior Camp, we anticipate asking for deposits by the end of January and the balance by mid April, to confirm a space.

Test Training and Badges

Fiona Pierce and Kathy Willard have now taken on responsibility for our test training and badges. Marcus Capel, our Pony Club Chief Executive Officer has recently emphasised how test training is the backbone of the Pony Club and how important it is for all members to complete the Efficiency Tests which start at E and progress all the way to the A test.

The training structure encourages members to take the tests which enable them to learn progressively about horse and pony care and riding. Kathy and Fiona are hosting regular stable management training sessions at Kings Hill Equestrian in Bolney, and will be organising more mounted training and Road Safety training which must be completed before a member can pass their C test. Please keep an eye on the calendar on the website for training and test dates.

Area Qualifier Competitions and Championships

We were represented in all disciplines at the Grassroots Championships having competed successfully in the Area Qualifiers. A massive well done to our members who represented the Crawley & Horsham Hunt Pony Club at the these Championships at Horseheath.

A special mention must go to our Grassroots show-jumping team of Daisy, Darcey, Elsa and Emma who won overall. They achieved 11 out of 12 clear rounds with only one 4 faults in the very last round. Darcey was 1st individual, Daisy was 6th and Elsa was 8th individually.

Molly Bevan was an individual in the show-jumping and rode competitively.

Further congratulations to the Grassroots horse trials team of Imogen, Phoebe, Elsa and Lily. They finished 3rd out of a total of 25 teams. A tough cross-country course made for an exciting competition. Elsa finished individually 2nd on her dressage score of 27.1 and Lily finished fourth on her dressage score of 32.5. Phoebe and Imogen had a great day too.

We were also well represented in the dressage by Katie, Molly, Lily and Imogen.

We are very proud to have had great representation at the National Championships at Offchurch Bury as well this year.  Congratulations to all those who qualified and for riding so well at the event.

Our riders were Elsa and Georgia who competed in the Novice Dressage,  the Show Jumping team of Briony,  Andrew and Ella who were 10th and Georgie Pound and Amy Saunders who competed as individuals in the Eventing.  Georgie finishing an impressive 5th in what was a difficult and technical competition.

Next year we aim to reach the Championships across all disciplines again.