The Pony Club is for all children and young adults up until the age of 25yrs, who wish to either compete or just enjoy their horse or pony while learning about horsemanship, and participate in numerous Pony Club activities on offer whilst making friends for life.

The Newmarket & Thurlow Pony Club branch is open to all young people who live within or adjacent to the hunting country of the Thurlow Hunt. We encompass a large area and presently have around 150 members. We are very lucky to have the use of Horseheath Racecourse and its surrounding areas as our base and hold the majority of our Rallies, Competitions and training here. We have a varied cross country course with a huge variety of fences including a water complex, banks, coffin, trakehners, hedges  and a huge variety of mobile fences which range from 30cm to 1.00m and are continually maintained and upgraded.  We also have a mini cross country area which includes a sunken road, ditch and ‘mound’ and have invested in a set of portable, plastic technical XC fences as well as a superb set of numerous show jumps.

Throughout the summer there are rallies, specialised training sessions, gymkhana evenings, picnic rides and of course pony club camp! We use a variety of venues besides our wonderful base at Horseheath which includes having access to the O’Sullivan Arena at Palace House through the year which is invaluable during the winter. Our summer camps are held at Tattersalls Park Paddocks (Intermediates), Horseheath (Juniors), Whitley House, Birdbrook (Minis) and the Seniors use a variety of locations.

There are also opportunities to compete as a team member in the disciplines of dressage, show jumping, eventing, tetrathlon, mounted games and polo, and the branch is usually well represented by teams in all of these events, who often qualify for the National Championships.

There are also badge days and test days to help improve our stable management.

The Newmarket and Thurlow Pony Club is run by a committee of parents and it is important that every family makes an effort to volunteer to join the committee or to assist in the running of events.  But most important of all, there is the opportunity to make friends with other people who have the same love of horses and ponies that you do…..