Next PPC Games training:-
Friday 23rd and 30th March
6pm in the Pony Club Field Hallington
To book in contact Joanne Clark
We have our very own games competition this Sunday 18th March starting at 10. 30am at LRAC. Please come along and support your teams. We are also going to Belton Horse Trials on the 1st April for Mounted Games competition. This will be running along side the Internmational ODE. We are always looking for new team members – its great fun ! And open to all members up to and including age 15 this year who have a pony not bigger than 14. 2hh.
We practice on Fridays at Kenwick in the winter and the Pony Club field in the summer 6pm-7. 30 at a cost of a mere £5 per session. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t done it before – everyone has to start somewhere. Com, join in and give it a go. We have competitions throughout the season where we can go and camp out with the ponies which is great fun with a fantastic atmosphere.
More info contact Joanne Clark 07514952246.
Well done to the games team on their nomination for best team award at the recent SWN awards evening.
Come join in the fun!
A GRAND DAY OUT!
After an absence of some ten plus years, TWO junior novice games teams turned out the represent the South Wold North branch of the pony club at Area Mounted Games. The aim? An attempt to win through to the Zone finals and then the unthinkable; through to the finals held at the Horse of the Year show! Dare we dream?
Orders from team trainer Dawn Urry, were for the competitors to be at the games field (in the grounds of the famous Burghley House) by 9am, this would have been accomplished if not for an SOS telephone call from Joanne Clark, the games manager , to say she had suffered a blow out in a front tyre on her lorry, just off the A1 outside Burghley golf course! Luckily everyone and each of the ponies were safe and sound, and so the team set about bringing them back.
BIG thanks to Karen Elliot and Hazel Spowage for throwing their own ponies out of their trailers and setting off to rescue the ‘Clark 3’. In the meantime, the ever resourceful Mrs Clark, had saddled up her charges and along with Becca (Clark) set off at a spanking hunting trot, riding one pony and leading another, through the outskirts of Stamford to get to the games field. It was a case of Burghley or Bust!! Needless to say….. it was Burghley and not bust!
The teams were presented for tack and turn out and everything went smoothly, they then entered the arena for the first time for the parade, where branch colours, mascots and flags were proudly paraded. The SWN ‘A’ team, of Jemma Smith, Katie Austin-Thomas, Katrina Spowage and Rachel Clark won 4th place in the tack and turn out! Well done to all involved, (yes, I mean mums and dads and AUNTIES!!!)
The teams were to contest 8 races. bending, bottle, old sock, stepping stones, rope, Pony Club race, mug and 5 flag. The B team of Becca Clark, Christian Moore, Harry Elliot, Nina Moore and Georgia Burnham, managed to get into 7 of 
the 8 finals.
Whilst some of the games are fast and furious like bending, others like the flag race require speed and accuracy, and this is where both SWN teams triumphed. Whilst other teams dropped mugs, overshot the flags, dropped the bottles and bounced the socks, SWN resolutely stuck to the tasks in hand and ensured that bottles were placed, socks dropped 
softly and batons handed over firmly to win their places in the finals. The lead off ponies for each team, raced their hearts and were only a meter or two off the pace of the leaders in the more experienced teams, this gave the second riders a real chance of staying with those in front. The third riders were required to be accurate in everything they did. The last riders, well, to ride in this position requires a cool calm head on young shoulders that does not react
and flap under pressure, because the pressure was certainly on at times.
When the final race had been run, and the points were totted up, the A team finished 4th with the B team 4 points behind in 5th. A MASSIVE well done to the riders, the ponies and the parents, who’s dedication allowed the SWN to send representation to Area.
An even BIGGER thank you must go to the Burghley Pony Club for their excellent organisation and all their colossal efforts to provide good ground on which to contest the games.
It goes without saying that the teams would not have even got to any of the competitions without the dedication and expertise of team trainer Dawn Urry and assistant Tiger Urry and the organisational skills of Joanne Clark. Thank you ladies.
As with all pony club events, they cannot be held with out the assistance of volunteers for the organisational jobs. Step forward rookie line stewards Cheryl Thomas and Greg Smith, who looked very professional for their first time stewarding and who’s lanes ran without too much controversy!
As a spectating parent, and I think I can say I speak for us all, I have to say how PROUD I was of all the riders and ponies and HOW exciting it was to watch. The children have only been training since before Christmas, and in the beginning it is fair to say they were a bit …errrr…. Not good! But my oh my, they have come so very far in such a short space of time, it has been an amazing transformation.
If you would like to take part in games, everyone is invited no matter how long you have been riding or even if your pony has never done the games. All are very welcome to try this exciting sport. Games teaches balance, control, and enhances trust between the pony and rider and in turn increases confidence to go on and do other things. It also teaches the children about team work and working as one unit.
Many of today’s top riders started off competing in mounted games ………….. food for thought
For further information about joining us at games , please contact Joanne Clark on 07514 952 246