So, what is the Pony Club?
The Pony Club is an international and voluntary youth organisation focused on all things Equine!
The organisation was first established in 1929 and regularly hosts activities and events for participating children and young adults! It also strives to educate young people on the care and management side of horses and ponies by providing a series of Pony Club tests which can be worked towards to gain badges of achievement!
The first recorded Pony Club event was in fact a gymkhana hosted by the Oxted (Surrey) branch in 1928, in 1934 the Pony Club organisation had approximately 8,350 members across just 103 branches however today they now have around 30,674 members across 345 branches!
Because we’re situated in the heart of the South Downs and surrounding areas, our catchment area for Pony Clubs comes under Area 13. All the Pony Club branches local to us, fall into this area and they are as follows; Crawley and Horsham South, Lord Leconfield Hunt, Cowdray Hunt, and the Goodwood and Petersfield Branches. On top of these branches there are also local Pony Club centres such as Arundel Riding School ( https://www.arundelridingcentre.co.uk) and Lavant House Stables (https://www.lhstables.co.uk ) who also provide an exciting and supportive environment for those who do not necessarily own their own pony. Across all of these branches & centres, regular Pony Club rallies are held throughout the year; such as show jumping and flat work. These rallies are renowned for providing fun, training and competition to their members.
What do we do?
At Stockley our job is to represent these Pony Clubs as a movement and to support them in the work they continue to do, we aim to provide our customers with an up to date online calendar of events for our customers to get involved in as well as up to date rally and competition news and results!
The Pony Club has been a starting point for numerous successful professional and Olympic riders, and is often said to be a valued and sentimental part to many equestrian’s childhood. A few of the Stockley team were even members of the Pony Club growing up!