AN enthusiastic gathering of young horse riders at Cathcart over the weekend heralded an exciting new chapter for our South East region’s pony clubbers.
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Young riders from Cathcart, Bombala, Eden, Cooma, Adaminaby and Nimmitabel Pony Clubs came together on Sunday at the Cathcart Pony Club grounds to ride, learn and socialise with their horses as part of a combined pony club rally.
While the concept of combined rallies is not new, Sunday’s gathering of around 20 horses and young riders was the first time in many years that the Bombala region has seen such an enthusiastic contingent of riders from across both Zone 18 and Zone 14 come together for a school holiday fun day.
Like so many other regional sporting clubs in the south east, while membership of our local Pony Clubs remains steady, it is often difficult to attract and cater for our up and coming young riders at local rally days when only a few volunteers and parents are available to help.
By combining forces at a regional level with other clubs, the Cathcart school holiday rally concept has hopefully paved the way for future combined training days in the South East this season.
Indeed, by Sunday afternoon, with smiling faces and tired ponies all round, the Executive Committee of Eden Pony Club were already planning another combined rally at Eden in August, and young riders were also setting their sights on the planned Bombala Spring Horse Show planned for the October long weekend.
Of course, Sunday’s rally day would not have been possible without the wonderful support, co-operation and dedication shown by our wonderful pony club volunteers and coaches for the day, including our hard working Zone 18 Chief Instructor (CI) Kim Summerell from Cathcart PC, Assistant Zone CI Jody Jones from Bombala PC, Nimmitabel PC’s showjumping guru Peter Evans and the High Country’s Deputy Zone CI Sarah Woodhouse.
Thanks to the support of these skilled equestrian volunteers, riders were coached across the day in a variety of disciplines, from showjumping right through to the all important flat work, horsemanship and sporting events.
Thanks must also go to the many parents and grandparents of riders from across the region that supported and assisted on the day, both in the arena and in the kitchen, and a special mention also to Wally Summerell who helped set up the arena and fenced areas of the grounds in the lead up to the rally.
Thanks also to Cathcart Pony Club’s Chloe Campbell, who generously donated a brand new MP3 player the Cathcart Pony Club raffle, raising over $50 for the club.
Both Cathcart and Bombala Pony Club are keen to encourage any new or potential pony club members to come along to a rally this season and find out just how much fun a day out on your horse can be; not to mention the safe and friendly learning environment that pony club offers to up and coming riders.
If you would like to learn more about pony club and also a local PC instructor’s course planned at Cathcart at the end of August, you can call Zone 18 CI Kim Summerell on 0432 693 276 to be put on the contact list for future local rallies or check out the NSW Pony Club website at www.pcansw.org.au