Even though I received a lifelong ban from Pony Club for dirty boots and braids that were “just that bad,” we still love Pony Club here at Eventing Nation. The USPC’s Western Championships took place at the Horse Park at Woodside, California last week. The event ran approximately 10 days. It started with three days of Quiz, then moved on to Show Jumping, Dressage, Tetrathlon and Games for the next three days. The final round took place at the Woodside’s “Summer Event HT”. Nancy Pittman, who is the VP of activities for the USPC was kind enough to send us some info about the West Coast Championships. Thanks for writing this Nancy, and thank you for reading.
One of the exciting experiences for everyone early in the week was to have the International Tetrathlon team competing. Pony Club teams representing the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia and the United States participated. In Tetrathlon, competitors compete in running, shooting, swimming and jumping. Exchanges are always cultural opportunities as well, and this group had the opportunity to tour San Francisco, Yosemite, Tahoe and raft on the American River while visiting.
Some of the USPC competitors participated in multiple disciplines, coming from all parts of California and as far north as Oregon. The Northwest Region Eventing team came the farthest. Jessica Bryant and Kristi Cetak traveled down with their horses, stopping midway at a ranch in Ashland, Oregon. Jessica competed in Show Jumping and Kristi competed in Dressage along with the Horse Trials. Jessica shared that they all loved the weather and the facility. The facility was especially great because of all the arenas. They were on a mixed team with Sierra Pacific Region riders. The teammates shared that being on a team is great because of the bonding, having friends to cheer for and the team spirit they experienced.
A mixed team with Middle California Region members and Camino Real Region members commented about the fact that in Pony Club competitions, members compete as teams and they are judged on their horse management skills as well as competition scores throughout the competition. Madeline Sexton was the only Pony Club member competing at Preliminary level this past weekend. She thought that the cross country course was challenging, but fair. She finished clear with some time penalties. “I am still working on my communication between my horse and I because he can get so strong”, commented Madeline. On the Horse Management competition, the team pointed out that members with higher ratings have the challenge of meeting the highest expectations for horse management. This means that they are more likely to get a few penalties by missing any shavings in the tail, or having even a spot of dirt on their tack. Christine Flock, another member of the team came off the Horse Trials on her dressage score in Jr. Training division. She had 4th, but noted that there was only a spread of .9 between 1st and 4th. That is an exciting competition!
Devyn Hinkle, a member of Redwood Hills Pony Club in the Middle California region attended for the full ten days. She competed in Quiz the first weekend. She said that her Quiz team had a lot of fun together and did well as a team. Her favorite phase of the Quiz competition is the Mega Room because she is good at giving written answers. She said, “In Mega Room, you have a ton of stations with a different subject at each station. My best station was Games, where you have to match a picture of a games activity with the name of the game.” Devyn also competed in Games and the Horse Trial on her pony, Patches of Rocky. “We played about 25 games over 3 days”, said Devyn. “I like games because of the teamwork and the fun we have together. We all compete in Games, but only for fun because all of us ride in other disciplines. At the Horse Trials, I got a 2nd in Junior Novice Rider A. I don’t think my pony enjoys Games as much as Horse Trials and jumping because of all the starting and stopping in Games. My 13’2 hand pony will jump the moon!” Her stable manager, Elise True, said how proud she was of Devyn and Patches of Rocky for their accomplishments.
Alecia Haselton competed on a team made up of riders from Portola Valley PC, Moon Valley PC, Woodside PC and Santa Cruz PC. She won the The Draft Cross Breeders and Owners Association Rising Star Award. In this award the top scoring DCBOA
rider (riding a DCBOA registered horse) in Dressage, Eventing, Show Jumping, Polocrosse or Tetrathlon at each USPC Championship in 2010 are recognized. Alecia participated in Quiz and then rode her Irish draft “Cruising Altitude”, in Show Jumping and the Horse Trials. She likes him because he is “really, really honest”. She commented that show jumping is easy for him and that he has never refused a jump with her. His usual job is Foxhunting with her mother. She said that she does Hunter Paces with him. She has found that Hunter Paces are good practice for Horse Trials for both she and her horse. She said that it is a really fun way to get your horse conditioned and learn the feel of specific speeds at the same time since you have to compete without a watch. Part of the horse management challenge for the PC riders is to see what horses are the best conditioned by have a vet check after cross country. Alecia noted that the vet actually checked “Cruising Altitude” twice because his pulse right off the course was only 60. She likes draft crosses because they are so different. She commented that “He’s not so handy as my thoroughbred, but he puts his whole heart in to trying to please me”.
