New year 2026 newsletter

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

What a wonderfully successful 2025 we had in South Notts. We welcomed so many new members to make us the largest club in area 6, we currently have in our midst the national Secretary of the Year, we have three international competitors (Games, Eventing and Horsemanship) and national titles in Dressage and Eventing. We are right at the top of the pile in the Inter-Club Hacking Challenge, and we had the first successes at B+ and AH level for quite some years. You will hear about all these achievements and more at the Presentation Evening on Friday 23 January, so don’t delay, book today. Open to all members.

Winter/Spring Programme – our extensive rally programme continues at Brackenhurst until mid March, when (weather permitting) we will move to Shelford as we did last year. If you are not sure whether a rally is suitable for your child, then do call the rally organiser, whose number is on the event details on Horse Events. Do take the time to look through the calendar on the website, there is as always something for everyone.

Showjumping – we had a very successful day at the area qualifier back in November, and now need a last push at those area 6 league competitions to try and get us into the top clubs in area 6. As with dressage and tri events, all these events can be found on the area 6 calendar, and if they are open for booking, on the Branch calendar.   Anyone can go to other clubs to compete, it’s a lovely way to get to know your compatriots, and hopefully you’ll be proud to represent South Notts Pony Club.

Dressage – oh how lucky we were with the weather last weekend, and what a wonderfully successful competition it was. Everyone really did produce their best ever tests to give us so many qualifying spots at the Spring Festival in March. A massive thankyou to everyone that helped. We put on a truly wonderful, happy, relaxed event. The comments from other clubs were quite amazing to be honest, and to top it all, the weekend made a huge profit for the club, so thank you, helpers, competitors, supporters alike.

Eventing – the arena eventing qualifier is just round the corner for those of you competing at 70cm and above, plus there’s a 60cm class for fun.   Please don’t enter unless you have approval from Amanda, Eleanor or myself. Our new arena eventing rallies have been extremely well supported, and it is just fabulous to have ex member Eleanor steering this pathway, which is quite new for us all. On the back of this, there should be great improvements in our eventing and tetrathlon numbers this summer. Sometimes you just have to “get out there and give it a go”, so go for it, get booked on to a rally asap.

Games  – it has been great to see so many members giving games a go over the last couple of months, Halloween, Christmas and at our games rally last month. We have our own competition at the end of March, so look out for the practices, dates will be out soon.

Tri/Tet – the area triathlon is also not very away. Last year Hugo was our first qualifier for quite some years. Who is going to join him this year? The standard of performances is improving week on week. We also have our own competition in Bingham at the beginning of February and will need a few volunteers for this one too. Please ring Kat or myself if you can help.

Quiz/Horsemanship/Art – there was a great turnout in December for the South Trent friendly competition and our junior team were third, the first top 6 finish in that age category for a very long time. Super super results from all who went. There are more competitions coming up this spring and wonderful to have current members and Horsemanship experts helping the minis and juniors with their training. (The full circle of Pony Club!!). The number of members involved in non ridden activities has dramatically increased and has had a knock on effect on our successes with achievement badges and tests. We had 100% pass rate at C and C+ in December!!! Remember to book on to the D and D+ programme which starts on the 18 January.

Polo/Polocrosse/Pony Racing – these are still our minority sectors, but we had a super polo rally in the autumn, and I am working on a more regular session for those interested. Sadly we had to cancel the polocrosse taster session, but this is being re-arranged. Emily continues to fly the flag for us in pony racing. A club trip to watch her race this summer is on the cards!!!

Hunting/Hacking – it has given me enormous pleasure to see so many of our members enjoying trail hunting this autumn, as well as some of you following the local bloodhound packs. All these miles are helping to keep us up at the front on the hacking challenge too. We will soon have some complete all elements of the hunting certificate, which is growing in popularity. Do reach out if you want to know more about trail hunting and I will put you in touch with Ella, our co-ordinator.

The summer programme should be out by the end of February, but in the meantime, don’t forget the all important camp dates of 2-6 August (year 7 and above) and 10-12 August (year 6 and under). DO NOT BOOK YOUR HOLIDAY ON THESE DATES OR YOUR CHIDREN MIGHT GET A LITTLE BIT CROSS!!!

Jane