At home in Ayrshire…
For Fun, Friendship, Horsemanship and Sport
Eglinton Hunt Pony Club currently offer a wide range of ridden and non-ridden activities for all our members ages and stages – see list below for more details.
Rides are organised in line with our Health and Safety procedures, it very important that age and ability is considered.
Camps
Summer camp runs over 4 days during the summer holidays. It’s an Eglinton calendar highlight and a HOT ticket, as numbers are limited. We are looking to introduce ballot software, to ensure a everyone has an opportunity for selection.
It is residential for seniors (age PC12), and their ponies and non-residential for juniors (age PC11 and under).
All ages and stages are catered for with at least 2 ridden sessions on grass per day, covering a range of disciplines and plenty time for stable management and badge work and a whole host of fun activities to keep everyone entertained
General/fun rallies
These are single day activities which usually take place during the school holidays or at weekends. They include a mix of ridden activities, stable management sessions or group hacks.
Dressage /flatwork rallies
These usually take place monthly on a Monday evening throughout the year. They are hour long sessions running on a surface indoors or outdoors depending on the time of year and covering everything from fun, basic riding on the flat right, through to practicing dressage tests. In the summer, there is also the opportunity to practice riding dressage tests on grass for members preparing for competitions.
Mounted games
Mounted Games is brilliant fun and suitable for all ages! It improves riders’ confidence and ability, whilst enjoying a fun, competitive sport.
In 1957 Prince Philip introduced a competition at The Horse of The Year Show for ‘ordinary children on ordinary ponies’ so this is how Pony Club Mounted Games began!
Training takes place on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from the start of the year through to the autumn. During the winter these are indoors, but move outside at the start of the summer.
Cross country rallies
These sessions usually take place on a Wednesday night. During the spring and summer they move around different cross country training venues to provide a range of opportunities at a variety of heights, to cater for everyone. During the winter, they run indoors on a surface in the form of arena event training, providing training on the technical aspects of cross country, riding including corners, skinnies, angles and lines.
Show jumping rallies
Show jumping rallies usually take place on a Friday night throughout the year although. These focus on a range of show jumping related activities from pole work to jumping full courses. They are on a surface outdoors in the summer and indoors during the winter. However, show jumping on grass sessions in the summer are also offered for members preparing for competitions.
Tetrathlon training
Tetrathlon involves pistol shooting, swimming, running and riding cross country and is great fun, as well as a good way to socialise with other like-minded Pony Club members.
No specific swim or run training is currently provided by the branch but instead, members are encouraged to join local swim and running clubs. Shooting training has run for many years on a Monday afternoon but unfortunately our coach of many years has recently retired and so training has been temporarily suspended until we can make alternative arrangements, see our vacancies on the contact us section. Training for the riding phase is available through the branch cross country training. Gate and slip rail training can also be provided on request.
Scottish Tetrathlon run indoor winter cross country training and also a non-ridden October training camp which is open to all PC members – see the Scottish Tetrathlon Facebook page for details
Achievement Badges
Members can work towards achieving a variety of badges, not all of which are riding related. Sessions run throughout the year, with the venues varying according to the requirements of the specific badge. More information about the badges that are available can be found on the pony club website https://pcuk.org/achievement-badges/
If you are in a position to help us run a particular badge, please get in touch!
Proficiency Tests
Training sessions are provided throughout the year to support members working towards achieving their Pony Club Proficiency Tests, which enable them to learn progressively about horse and pony care and riding. More information about the Proficiency Tests can be found on the pony club website https://pcuk.org/coaches/coaching-resources/tests-and-badges/
Social Events
It is also incredibly important to all o us to get together as a club, especially with all the hard work going on across all of the above areas, so watch this space for the more celebration events.
