Iveagh Branch
of the Pony Club
Newsletter 2011/2012
Another very successful year – 163 members represented the Branch at Area Competitions and 56 represented the Branch outside of Northern Ireland
THE IVEAGH FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY
The Iveagh Branch will be fifty years old next year, so we hope to celebrate with a special Gymkhana with lots of older members, – ex-members don’t exist, once an ‘Iveagh’ member always an ‘Iveagh’. We will also hold a party.
As part of year-long celebrations, we are proud to announce that we are working on a beautifully illustrated book, to coincide with the Golden Jubilee. This will be a dynamic and lively compilation and a memorable tribute to The Iveagh Pony Club’s past and present.
We would gladly welcome photographs, memories and anecdotes from past members and parents, current members and parents, as well as friends and associates of The Iveagh Pony Club. This support is vital in collating the information required for the book.
SOUTH AFRICAN VISIT
This year we had a visit from some members of the Kwazulu Natal Branch of the South African Pony Club organised by Susie Hamilton Stubber, ably helped by Carla Troughton. After they arrived and were installed in Ballydougan Cottages the South Africans visited the Twelfth Parade in Rathfriland, did a tour of Belfast, went to the Giants Causeway and the National Stud.
Susie held an international competition at Richhill and the visitors also competed in the Area Trials, where one team came fourth in the Intermediate competition and Keith Toucher did the best Intermediate Dressage Test.
Very many thank-yous to all the parents who had visitors to stay and provided animals for them to ride and a very big thank you to Susie and Carla who worked so hard to make the South African visit a success.
DRESSAGE
Many members took advantage of the Dressage training sessions held in the spring which were a great experience. The Open Team of Hannah Dunbar, Iona Hamilton Stubber, Katie McKenzie and Rachael Suffern qualified for the Championships at Draycott but Rachael was unable to go, so was replaced by Jonny Mulligan. Iona Hamilton Stubber also competed in the Dressage to Music Championships. Jordan Smith qualified for the Novice Championships at Kelsall Hill.
Our best Dressage Tests for 2011: Open – Katie McKenzie, Intermediate – Carla Troughton, Novice – Jordan Smith and Junior – Kate Shields.
In the Combined Training Qualifier for the Irish Pony Club Competition at Dublin Horse Show, Casey Webb qualified but unfortunately was unable to go.
Dengie Dressage Qualifiers will be held at the Meadows in January and February. We will also be holding Dressage Training sessions in the Spring and we would hope to hold a Dressage League later in the year.
SHOW JUMPING
Another very successful year. In the Junior Dengie Final, Kathryn Morton was the winner, Jack Scott 2nd, Carl Webb 3rd, Matthew Johnston 4th, Megan Orr 5th and Niamh McArdle 6th- a fantastic result.
In the Senior Dengie Aoife Dooley was 1st and 6th, Connor Cunningham 3rd, and Rachel Chapman was 10th. All travelled to the Championships in Warwickshire, while in the Open Final Gareth McCombe was 1st, Sarah Adamson 2nd, James Johnston 4th and Amanda Hylands 6th. Gareth, Amanda and Sarah travelled to the Championships, where Amanda won her third Pony Club Open Championship (WOW), Gareth was 3rd and Sarah 4th and Sarah also won a Dengie Horsemanship Award for the second year running!
At the Area Show Jumping, the Open Team of Amanda Hylands, Aoife Dooley, Sarah Adamson and Tomas Dooley came first. Gareth McCombe, Katie McKenzie, James Johnston and Tomas Dooley qualified for the Open Individual Championship at Draycott, Derbyshire where Gareth was 2nd Associate. The team of Gareth, Tomas, Sarah and James came 2nd on faults in the jump-off but went to 3rd on aggregate time in the Open Team Championship and James was awarded a Horsemanship award.
We had two teams at the Novice Show Jumping Championships at Kellsall Hill. Ciara Muirhead, Megan Orr, Sarah Sinton and Bonnie Smith did well but didn’t make the jump off, while Rachel Lindsay, Abby Morton, Hannah Orr and Nicholas Tougher were just one second behind the winners to become Reserve Champions with 44 teams at the Championships! Meanwhile Jessica Crozier jumped brilliantly to come 9th in the Individual Championships out of 74 competitors!
The Junior Team of Amy Boyce, Niamh McArdle, Connor McClory and Herbie Purce qualified for the Robbie Bailey at the Irish Pony Club Championships where they went well and enjoyed the experience.
Altogether we had 82 competitors at the Dengie finals and 108 at the Area Show Jumping and brought 15 rosettes back from the UK Championships.
2012 SHOWJUMPING
The Dengie Qualifiers are underway. There will be Show Jumping including xpoles and Jump X at Moyallon in January and February, as well as jumping at the Meadows. The Moyallon Derby will take place in April as well as Team Show Jumping and Mini Pairs in June. We hope to hold a league in the summer as well as designated training Rallies followed by the Junior Gymkhana in August, Mini Derby /xpoles Show, The Silver Show in September and The Halloween Show in October or November.
EVENTING
Our best year yet at Open level. The Open Team of Hannah Dunbar, Katie MacKenzie, Tori Mills and Casey Webb qualified for the Championships at Draycott, as well as Jonny Mulligan who went as an individual. At the Championships, Jonny and Katie were placed 7th, Tori was 6th while Hannah was 4th. As a result, the team finished an amazing 2nd (Reserve Champions) and were awarded an HSBC training day with Mary King and William Fox Pitt which they all thoroughly enjoyed.
The Novice Team of Sophie Buller, Oliver Ferris, William and Nicholas Tougher qualified for the Novice Championships at Kellsall Hill where they came 8th out of 42 Teams and Sophie was placed 8th individually. So ALL our eventers came back from the UK Championships with a rosette!
Amy Richardson and Carla Troughton went as Intermediate Individuals to the Irish Championships at Tattersalls, where Carla came a very well deserved 3rd in her Arena. Altogether a very successful year! At the Area Event we had 35 competitors while at the Home Championships we had 72! All this helped by the fact that we held some very good cross-country events last year, The Spring Derby and One day Event at Tyrella by kind permission of David Corbett, Two Go As You Pleases at Scarvagh House by kind permission of Alfie and Vina Buller, as well as training sessions at Ballynagarrick by kind permission of Sonya Rowe.
CROSS-COUNTRY, HUNTING ETC
On 28 December the Iveagh, Newry and South Tyrone Hunts are all holding Children’s Meets at Loughbrickland, Tullyhappy and Rhone Hill respectively. The Staghounds will hold their Children’s Meet at Loughanmore on the 2nd January. Information will be texted out.
There will be a Fun ride Summer Island (weather permitting!) on 2nd January. This will be suitable for little people as well as Parents but there will only be jumping in the sand arena, apart from stray logs! In January and February we hope to run some Cross-jump at Moyallen, followed by the Moyallon Derby in April, there will be some cross-country training sessions at Ballynagarrick, The Spring Derby will be held in Tyrella during February, as well as the One Day Event in March. There will be some cross-country Rallies in April, as well as specific Team Training Rallies. The very important Mini Events will be held in May and June. Iveagh are running the Area Trials next year, which will keep us all busy!
QUIZ
‘Quizzing’ started this year with practices on Sunday afternoons at Vanne’s, Sharon’s and Shirley’s houses, with lots of fun and craic and a bit of learning thrown in. Pony Club quiz teams cover a range of ages, but the rules state that each team must have one member under – 12, one under – 14, one under – 16 and one under – 21 (on or before the 1st January).
We usually start off the quiz year, with the” West of the Bann Quiz”, but unfortunately our warm-up for the Area Quiz was cancelled due to the other Branches social commitments!! Oh well…maybe next year!
The 2011 Area Quiz Competition was hosted by the North Down Branch and it was held one very foggy night at Clandeboye Lodge in Bangor. The Iveagh Branch sent six teams and the occasional parent. The various topics included: – Farming and the Countryside, Equestrian Nations, their Flags and Capital Cities, Horse and Pony Care, First-Aid, Shoeing, the Picture round, an Odd-One-Out or Missing Word round and of course most importantly The Pony Club round.
The Iveagh team finished in first place, with a fantastic score. The team consisted of Emily McCleane, Carly Green, Casey Webb and Jack Scott. Unfortunately, due to a mix-up they were unable to go to Morton Morrell to the NFU Mutual National Quiz, the honour going to East Antrim.
The West of the Bann Quiz in February kicks off the quizzing year! We will start Sunday practices early in the New Year. The 2012 topics are as usual, many and varied, ranging from the expected Pony Club round, Map reading, Know your Horse, Rider, Tack and Turnout for the different disciplines, an individual practical round, a round taken in pairs (the points of the horses foot), Shoeing and Ailments, Equestrian Olympics and Para-Olympics and a final picture round.
The quiz is great! Both children and parents learn while having fun (and food)! Also don’t forget there is a parent’s team at both the West of the Bann and the Area Quiz, so time for the parents to get their thinking cap’s on. Our Sunday afternoon practices will be advertised both on the website and with Vanne’s texts, so please clear your diaries and warm up your brain cells.
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
SUNDAY AFTERNOON PRACTICE starting 08/01/2012 – venue VANNE’S HOUSE (4 pm)
WEST OF THE BANN QUIZ –MID FEB – venue TANDRAGEE
AREA QUIZ – KILLAULTAGH TO ORGANISE – venue and date TBC
NATIONAL NFU MUTUAL QUIZ – 01/04/2012 – WARWICKSHIRE COLLEGE MORETON MORRELL
POLOCROSSE
This year Iveagh Pony Club Polocrosse had a very successful year. We must thank Craig Kileff for all his fantastic coaching to our all our enthusiastic team members, Vanne for all her support and David Corbett of Tyrella House for allowing us to use his excellent facilities.
We tried to get lots of match practice before the Word Cup, which was to be held in Rugby, England in the middle of July. This entailed travelling as far away as Wexford and Waterford. The Irish World Cup Team even gave our Northern Ireland team some coaching and passed on some useful tips. All the travelling and practices paid off because despite knocks and bumps on both human and equine team members, the World Cup International Pony Club Competition went very well. Our team comprised four Iveagh members, Emily McCleane, William Armstrong, Rebecca Mackey and Nial Auret with Matt Fynn from North Down, Lizzy and Rachael Graham of Mid-Antrim. They played on ground that was so parched there were 2” wide cracks on the pitches – this was followed by two days of monsoon-like rain, which turned the pitches into a quagmire. Even so, our Northern Ireland team went on to beat both England and the USA and we were commended by the Chairman before hundreds of people at the prize giving. No one was more surprised than William Armstrong when he and ‘Luchi’ were awarded “Best Horse and Rider” in the pony club competition. We were treated to world class polocrosse and the team have made friends from around the world. A fantastic experience for the team and their followers alike, the Irish Squad and supporters gave lots of practical and vocal support to the team.
After recovering from the excitement and the social whirl of the World Cup we had less than a month to organise a team for the Pony Club Championships at Draycott Manor near Derby. Emily McCleane with Matt and Toby Fynn made up an Area 17 team, they cleaned up, winning all their matches right up to the final which went to Golden Goal, just being pipped into 2nd place by Breacon Hunt. However, our team won the Overall Tack and Turnout prizes – of large, Carr, Day and Martin grooming boxes filled with goodies.
As if that was not enough our teams went on to compete at the Irish National Championships, Thomas Kileff and his team won Primary Junior Section, Rebecca and Jason Mackey and their team were first in the D Grade Section, while William Armstrong and Emily McCleane and their team were fourth in C Grade Section.
We are looking forward to having some more Iveagh competitors playing the’ King of the one horse sports’ to enable us to build on this season’s successes. First training is an Area 17 polocrosse rally at Gransha Equestrian Centre in Bangor on Sunday 18th December 2011. Hope to see you there.
See Iveagh web-site for report and photographs shortly and Sky Sports TV and Horse and Country TV are currently showing the World Cup Matches – spot the local Iveagh players!
This is now our fifth year back into this fun sport and it involves contact with several other branches on a regular basis. There will be training at Silverwood in the New Year. Contact Sharon Lyle-hall on 07752 920008 for further details.
TETRATHALON
Tetrathalon went really well this year. We had three members at the Easter training at Greenmount, – Claire and Sara Sinton and Rachel Chapman. Sara Sinton was on a Northern Ireland team that competed at Milton Keynes.
Training began in January at Banbridge for swimming and running. There was great improvement in the swimming and running abilities of the members. Thanks to Lyndsey McCombe and Jean Finney for their coaching help.
All the tetrathalon competitions were very well attended by Iveagh. Our own tetrathalon was held at Moyallen with use of some of the Richardson grounds, many thanks to the Richardson family. At the Areas we had forty children competing, they all enjoyed a fantastic weekend at Maddybenny. Three qualified for the championship places in Hartbury, they were Hannah Dunbar, Nina Mulligan and Stephen Richardson, but unfortunately were not able to take up their places. We had both a junior girls and a boys team qualify for the Southern Championships, only three individuals were able to take up their places, Adam Haugh, Stephen Blair and Sara Sinton where they all performed well. Our minimus team were first place, with our fledgling teams finishing 1st, 3rd, 4th and 6th
Training will start on Thursday 12th January with running and swimming. Please contact Shirley for more details on 07825 141171. This is for all ages and abilities and leads to tremendous friendships being formed.
GAMES
Games Training started in January and we had two members selected for the Northern Ireland Team to compete at Royal Windsor – Joshua Rowe and James Johnston. We had competitions from April at various venues; this was a league to qualify for the Balmoral Show to compete for The Wilkinson Sword. Out of the six teams, Iveagh were first. Next was the Area Games hosted by Seskinore and held at The Show Grounds in Omagh, where we had a junior and a senior team qualify for the Zones. The senior team then qualified for the Championships where they competed in the A Final, finishing a credible fourth.
Jason Mackey represented GB on the International Games Team who travelled to America, where he had the trip of a lifetime with Team GB finish first. Read all about it in the 2001 Pony Club Annual.
Practice will start on Monday 9th January at Ballymac Stud, by kind permission of Steven, Trevor and Jenny Smith. Junior practice 6.30pm and Senior practice 7.30pm. Contact Gareth McCombe 07764970955 for further information. This is one of the really fun disciplines but does require dedication!
IVEAGH PONY CLUB PROPER DRESS CODE FOR RALLIES
This year we would like to see members adhere to our proper dress code at rallies wherever possible. Please see below the expected standard of turnout:
Rider:
Black, navy, cream or white jodhpurs
Black Pony Club Sweat Shirt with white polo shirt or polo neck underneath, or shirt and Pony Club Tie
Black or Brown Jodhpur Boots with or without half chaps or rubber riding boots with smooth soles
Black or Navy riding hat cover
Black Pony Club coat if cold
Gloves
No Jewellery
Boys – Hair short and neat
Girls – Hair neatly tied back, plaited or in a hair net
Pony:
Correctly fitted, clean, PLAIN brown or black tack – no fancy browbands etc
Black, brown, navy or white numnahs only
No bright colours
UPCOMING EVENTS/NEWS
WEBSITE
Please don’t forget that if you have any news, reports etc, please contact our webmasters Cathy Green, Teddy Dunbar or Barney Purce who will upload your information onto the website, please contact them by email.
Tel Cathy Green 07934 966363 or email
tdunbar.firesafety@hotmail.com
It is the intention to make much more use of the website this year and all forms etc will be available to download
HELP
Volunteering to help out at specified events worked really well this year and we will be repeating this. Just remember when you volunteer, we need you to help, so if you have children at the event, either offer to help before or after the event, or organise for a friend to do your job. We do understand it is difficult to arrange days off work, but if everyone doesn’t pull their weight then the club cannot function.
GROUNDS
We are very fortunate to have such wonderful facilities at Moyallen and it is important we maintain them so we do need parent help for certain areas. Vanne will be collecting volunteer names to take responsibility next year for certain areas, e.g. loos, caravan, judge’s box and kitchen. The grass arenas are out of bounds from October to March but the sand arenas are available.
We intend to have the Cross Country back in action in 2012 so we will need to work hard to achieve this, so we can run our XJump competitions.
TESTS
These are one of the most important features of the Pony Club. E Test carried out at Camp and the others after specific training. Susie Hamilton Stubber is now the test convenor and can be contacted on 07802566029. Full information is also available at Moyallen.
NEW MEMBERS
The New Members information booklet is available at Moyallen at the Pony Club Office.
COMMUNICATION
As you know, we publish a Newsletter once a year and we hope to email this to all members and have it available to view on the website. It is planned that all documentation will be available to download. Please include an active email address with your membership form.
Details of upcoming events and urgent messages are still being sent by text via Pony Club phone. On 3.1.12 Vanne will be texting all, so if you do not receive a text on this date, please send her a message with your current phone number and name so that you can be added. The Pony Club phone number is 07884 258325 and is held by Vanne or one of the committee members. IF YOU DON’T ASK, YOU WON’T KNOW!
RALLIES
If you wish to go to a rally you MUST book in by testing the Pony Club phone 07884 258325 by Sunday evening. This is in order to ensure sufficient instructors and to limit ride sizes. The Moyallen Rallies will continue to have a charge or £3 per pony. The levy will continue at £5 for the winter rallies for juniors and £10 for seniors. Junior rallies are on Tuesdays and Senior rallies are on Wednesdays and are restricted to those who are 15 on 1.1.12 or hold C+ test.
IF YOU WISH TO BE SELECTED TO REPRESENT THE IVEAGHS ON AN AREA TEAM YOU MUST ATTEND AT LEAST THREE RALLIES!
DENGIE SHOW-JUMPING AND DRESSAGE
Both these competitions are sponsors by Dengie Feed. The Show-Jumping is an indoor competition operating on three levels, Junior, Senior and Open. Qualifiers run throughout Northern Ireland and all are welcome to compete. The Final is held for Area 17 in March and winners will then travel to England. The dressage is run under a similar system with two levels – Novice and Open. Details of qualifiers are available on the main PC site, in local press, and on branch websites. The Iveagh run their show-jumping qualifiers in Millbrook, Bessbrook from October to February and the dressage at The Meadows in January/February. There will be clear round show-jumping available at The Meadows following your dressage test.
AREA COMPETITIONS
There will be no team file this year. Instead a form can be downloaded and emailed to Vanne saying which competition you are entering.
COMBINED TRAINING
For the last three years members have gone to The Irish Pony Club Combined Training (Dressage and Show-Jumping) at Dublin Horse Show. Last year Carla Troughton and Iona Hamilton Stubber were both placed. This year Casey Webb qualified but was unable to go. This year we hope to run a qualifying competition, to qualify your pony must be registered bred in Ireland, but anyone can compete in qualifying events. Everybody welcome and good dressage practice.
PARTIES
The Junior Party for those still at Primary School will be held on Friday 9th December at Smiths’ Ballymac Stud at 6.30pm, this is always a great start to the Festive Season.
The Pony Club Party and Annual Prize Giving will be held at the Bannville Hotel, Banbridge on Friday 6th January at 7pm, with music for the younger members. The Awards Ceremony starts at 7.30pm sharp. All are very welcome.
This year we will hold a talent show after the Awards Ceremony, for all ages including parents!! We will also have a karaoke machine, followed by dancing.
COMPETITIONS
We will be running unaffiliated SJ and XC at Moyallen starting 14 January 2012 for four weeks. Horses and Ponies do not have to be registered and riders do not have to be members of the Pony Club. We will be holding a Spring Derby at Tyrella on Sunday 25th February, this is a SJ course immediately followed by a short XC course. The Iveagh Derby will run again on Easter Tuesday, 10th April. We will be holding a one day event at Tyrella in March. The Mini-Eventing League will be on Thursday 24th May, Thursday 7th and 14th June 2012. Mini Pairs Show Jumping on Thursday 21st June. Team Show-Jumping to help select teas: Novice and Junior Tuesday 19th June. Open and Intermediate Wednesday 27th June
FUN RIDES
The Pony Club is now running Endurance Riding with ILDRA. If you are interested please contact Adele Greer on 07940 856408.
CAMPS
These are one of the best ways to improve horsemanship due to sustained instruction.
Easter Camp Wednesday 11th April – Friday 13th April
Senior Camp Monday 2nd – Friday 6th July
Junior Camp
Monday 9th – Wednesday 11th July
Area 17 will also organise an Associate Camp possibly in August