What are “Area” Qualifiers?
Every Pony Club is part of a region. New Forest Hunts is part of Area 14.
Each Pony Club Area hold annual qualifying competitions in four disciplines: Tetrathlon, Dressage, Eventing and Show Jumping. A number of teams and individuals come together to compete and those that qualify progress through to Regionals or the National Championships.
Competitors must meet certain eligibility criteria in order to enter – check the relevant rulebook for the sport you’re entering.
What are the Regional Championships?
The Pony Club Regional Championships are an entry level team competition in Dressage, Show Jumping and Eventing which are ideal for our more novice Branch members. They’re a perfect stepping stone for anyone looking to compete at The Pony Club National Championships in the future!
How do I qualify?
Teams and individuals compete at their qualifying Area Competitions and those that qualify at grassroot level progress through to the Regional Championship for their region.
2024 Regional Championships – Area 14
South West Region (Areas 14, 15, 16)
24th – 25th August 2024 at Bicton Arena, Devon
What are The Pony Club National Championships?
The Pony Club Championships is the pinnacle of Pony Club competition, with over 2,000 Members taking part over a week of fantastic sporting action!
The Championships sees Members competing in five Pony Club sports – Dressage, Show Jumping, Eventing, Mounted Games and Polocrosse.
How do I qualify?
Teams and individuals compete at the qualifying Area Competitions and those that qualify progress through to The Pony Club National Championships.
The JCB National Championships
9th – 17th August 2024 at Offchurch Bury, Warwickshire
Team Training
We’re always keen for as many members as possible to take part in these competitions. To help members prepare, we run team training sessions throughout the year, and build up the frequency of training through spring and early summer leading up to the Area Qualifiers.
Members are invited to express their interest in competing at Areas, and the teams for each discipline are normally selected from these groups.
Team training gives us an opportunity to see you and your pony/horse working together. Also, to represent your Branch in a team, it is our policy that you need to attend a minimum of 3 rallies in the current year.
Eventing
- Regional – 70cm & 80cm
- PC90 (equivalent to BE90) – 90cm
- PC100 (equivalent to BE100) – 1m
- PC Open (equivalent to BE Novice) – up to 1m10
- Chairmans Cup – up to 1m05
Becky Tooley & Ines Mitchell are our Team Managers for Eventing at Branch level, please contact them if you’d like to be part of a New Forest Hunts team.
Dressage
- Prelim
- Grassroots
- PC Novice
- PC Intermediate
- PC Open
Helen Dovey is our Team Manager for Dressage at Branch level, please contact Helen if you’d like to be part of a New Forest Hunts team.
Show Jumping
- Regional – 70cm & 80cm, up to 95cm
- Novice – 90cm, up to 1.05m at Nationals Finals
- Intermediate – 1m to 1.1m
- Open – 1m10 to 1m15 in the second round
Sophie Kyles & Hannah Wagstaff are our Team Managers for Show Jumping at Branch level, please contact them if you would like to be part of a New Forest Hunts team.
Tetrathlon
Tetrathlon is a four part competition, for teams and individuals, combining XC riding with 3 unmounted phases: swimming, running and pistol shooting. Competitions are often held over two days with the riding and, say, the run, being held on one day and the other 2 activities on the next.
Regular tuition is available to encourage all levels of competitor.
It may seem complicated at first but the main thing to realise about tetrathlon is that it is wonderfully informal, there is masses of support and camaraderie among the teams and competitors, and a poor performance in one phase can easily be made up for by extra effort in another.
During the winter we take part in triathlons (shooting swimming & running) to keep us fit and from April to September the tetrathlon season kicks in. We normally do one competition a month with the older / more experienced members also taking part in the Area and Regional competitions.
We train weekly on Thursdays for shooting and swim training in Lymington and encourage all competitors to have swimming lessons, although this is not compulsory.
XC rallies are provided within the pony club programme and extra team training is provided in preparation for competitions.
Run training is left to individuals but we run an incentive scheme to keep record of times with prizes, for the most improved each month.
- Beanies (7 and Under)
- Tadpoles (9 and Under)
- Minimus (11 and Under)
- Junior (14 and Under)
- Intermediate (25 and Under)
- Open (25 and Under)
Age is taken as at 1 January in each year.
Jane & Chris Mason are our Team Managers for Tetrathlon at Branch level, please contact them if you’d like to train for Tetrathlon and be part of a New Forest Hunts team.