International Pony Club
Pony Club is one of the best young equestrian programs in the world; it is a club for children and young adults until they turn 21. It originated in England in 1929. There are pony clubs in 30 countries all over the world. Although the name Pony club implies that only ponies are allowed to be ridden any height horse is acceptable.
USPC
In America Pony Club began in 1954 and it is called the USPC or United States Pony Club. USPC headquarters is at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky. The USPC ideal is to teach children to be well rounded horse people with complete knowledge of riding on the flat, jumping, riding in the open and horse care. Their Mission Statement is "The mission of the United States Pony Clubs is to provide a program for youth that teaches riding, mounted sports, and the care of horses and ponies, thereby developing responsibility, moral judgment, leadership and self-confidence."-Pony Club Mission Statement
Clubs
There are over 600 clubs in the United States and over 12,000 members. Kids have to have access to a horse or pony but they do not have to own one. Many programs are offered including dressage, cross-country, show jumping, mounted games, tetrathlon, know-down, vaulting, foxhunting, and polocrosse. Not all programs will be offered in every club so be sure to check what is offered in your area. Pony Club includes unmounted meetings where children are taught about the health and care of their horses. Some of the unmounted lessons are feeding, shoeing and veterinary care. Under adult supervision, some of the more experienced Pony Clubbers may instruct and assist younger members.
Ratings
One of the aspects that makes Pony Club one of the greatest equestrian instructional programs in the world is their rating system. When a child enters Pony Club they are unrated they can begin to test into the higher ratings beginning with D-1 then D-2,D-3,C-1,C-2,C-3,B,H-A and finally A. D-1 through C-2 are local ratings given a the club level,C-3 is at the Regional and
For more information check out
http://ponyclub.org/
