Pony Club Tetrathlon provides Members with a challenging competition requiring practical horsemanship, general athletic ability and a steady hand for shooting. Tetrathlon originated as a competition for boys however there are now competitions for girls and for different age groups.
Tetrathlon is a four-part competition, for teams and individuals, combining cross country riding with three unmounted phases: swimming, running and air pistol shooting.Bean bag throwing for the younger members. Triathlon is a winter competition which omits the riding phase.
Ages are all taken on the 1st of January so you may go up before someone in your school year!
Open and Intermediate 25 and under
Junior 14 and under
Mini 11 and Under
Mini Mini /Tadpoles 9 and Under
Beanies 7 and under
Running
In Tetrathlon, runners go off in small groups over a carefully measured course and each competitor’s time is measured. A bogey time is set for the course and for each second over or under that time a number of points are deducted from or added to 1,000 points.
Distances
Boys Open- 3000m
Boys Intermediate- 2000m
Girls Open and Intermediate- 1500m
Juniors- 1500m
Minimus and Mini Mini/Tadpoles 1000m
Beanies 500m
Bogey times which score 1000 points are shown below:
Open Boys- 10 minutes 30 seconds
Intermediate Boys- 7 minutes 0 seconds
Open and Intermediate Girls- 5 minutes 20 seconds
Juniors- Girls 5 minutes 40 seconds Boys 5 minutes 10 seconds
Minimus- 4 minutes 0 Seconds
Beanies 2minutes.
Riding
The riding phase usually takes place over fixed cross-country fences however, arena jumping and showjumping can sometimes be used as a substitute especially in the winter.
Where possible Tetrathlon courses always include a gate to open and close whilst mounted, and a slip rail at which the competitor dismounts, takes down the rail, leads his pony or horse through, replaces the rail and remounts.
Maximum points for going clear and inside the time are 1400. Points are deducted for refusals, L fences, time, falls . In Tetrathlon you may get back on once you have been declared fit and carry on.
Maximum Heights
Open- 1.00m
Intermediate- 1.00m
Junior- 90cms
Minimus- 80cms
Mini Mini 60cm
Beanies 40cm (but are often smaller)
Swimming
Competitors will score points according to how far they can swim in a certain time:
Open Boys- 4 minutes
Open Girls- 3 minutes
All Intermediate and Junior Competitors- 3 minutes
Miniumus, mimi mini and Beanies – 2 minutes
For example, competitors at minimus level would score 1000 points for swimming 4 lengths.
Competitors should swim in heats, the number in each heat depending on the width of the pool. Aids such as floats are allowed at the lower levels.
Shooting
This phase uses any make of single shot 4.5mm calibre air pistol and Pony Club Targets. Guns are provided by the Branch. Safety while shooting is paramount and our Shooting Coaches Sheila Parmenter and Phillip Harland, take all areas of safety very seriously.
Competitors each have 5 shots fired consecutively with a time limit of 4 seconds per shot at each target. There is a maximum of 2 targets per competition.
Targets are checked by the scrutineers/judges and marked as follows:
10 marks for a Bull
8 marks for an Inner
6 marks for a Magpie
4 Marks for an Outer
2 Marks for outside the outer circle
A maximum score is worth 1,000 points. To work out the total points scored by a competitor the marks from both targets are added together and multiplied by 10.
Beanies throw 10 bean bags at a round target on the ground and are marked as above.
Looking forward to seeing lots of you at our sessions and out competing.
Emma Norwood
07922254031