Regional and Area Teams

We support our members to compete in Regional, Area and National Pony Club competitions. These include dressage, arena eventing, show jumping, tetrathlon, mounted games, area quiz and horse & pony care. Our branch teams compete against the other Pony Clubs in Area 8. For the riding disciplines, the teams that do the best in the area competitions qualify for the Barrier Spring Festival in February or the Pony Club Championships in August.

For those who are not quite experienced enough for the Area teams, there are Regional competitions, designed for less experienced and novice combinations. These are a great opportunity to take part in a team for our branch.

We ask for interest in competing in Regional and Area competitions via our Entrymaster system and Charlie Firkins is our Team Coordinator.

Teams are picked based on their capability and proven record of competing at the appropriate level for the discipline. It is important to take part in rallies so that the DCs, Team Organiser and Instructors have a good sense of rider and horse/pony capability – to compete at the regional or area level, members must have attended at least three rallies. When putting themselves forward for a team, the members must ensure they are available and prepared to travel to the qualifying events and the championships.

Sometimes horses are precluded from competing because they are over qualified. It is up to the member to ensure that they and their horse/pony are eligible to compete by checking the Eligibility Rules on the main Pony Club website. This can also be discussed with the Team Coordinator.

Riders and horses/ponies need to be immaculately turned out when representing the Branch.

Full details of rules for eligibility, tack, dress and qualification can be found on the main Pony Club website in the Useful Information section.

Area 8 competitions for 2024

Mounted Games – 18th May, Stratford Hills (hosted by Essex Farmers)

Show Jumping – 29th June, Frenches Farm

Eventing – 7th July, Isleham

Dressage – 21st July, Ickworth

The Gosling Cup

The Gosling Cup is a well-established and long-running competition, unique to Area 8. Essex Farmers aim to enter a team into the Gosling Cup each year.

It is open to teams in the southern Branches of Area 8, to participate in a competition that consists of:

Turnout of Pony & Rider: in which pony, rider and tack are all assessed individually
Individual Ride: a current dressage test
Team Ride: a special quadrille dressage test, in which all four ponies are in the arena together!
Handy Hunter Trial: using whatever cross-country course is available, this can include some simple challenges e.g. opening gates
Show Jumping

Each year, the competition is hosted by one of the participating Branches. It is a brilliant day with spectators, who are also often previous Gosling Cup competitors themselves.

The History of The Gosling Cup

This competition was the brainchild in 1945 of the late Mrs MS Gosling, the then District Commissioner of the East Essex Hunt Pony Club, for her own branch and for teams from four adjacent branches.

Rachel Gosling and her contemporaries were concerned about varying standards within the Pony Club in the early years after the war, and the original competition included turnout to help raise those standards, individual ride – today’s dressage, showjumping and handy hunter – our cross country. Gymkhana events rounded off the day but this was long ago dropped in favour of a team ride.

Truly a blueprint for the present form of a one-day event, the success of The Gosling Cup over the past seventy years has led to a refinement of the rules, and an expansion in the number of competitors, as it now involves up to twenty five teams of four members from invited Pony Club Branches in Essex, Suffolk, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire.