The New Zealand Pony Clubs Association (NZPCA) consists of 82 clubs encompassing 250 branches that work together to promote and improve the quality of riding and horse management instruction for riders and their coaches throughout

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The NZPCA has 8,800 members, which makes it one of the largest youth sporting organizations in the country. With almost all clubs having branches, rallies are usually held at the branch level, leaving clubs to organize other activities, such as certificates and inter-branch competitions. The eighty-two clubs are divided into sixteen areas, twelve in the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

and four in the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

. Each area is entitled to have one representative on the NZPCA committee of management, and send one team of up to six riders to both the NZPCA

Horse Trials Eventing (also known as three day eventing or horse trials) is an equestrian event where a single horse and rider combine and compete against other competitors across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. This ...

Teams Championships and the NZPCA Teams

Dressage Dressage ( or ; a French term, most commonly translated to mean "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrian sport defined b ...

Championships. National Championships are held annually for horse trials and dressage.

Showjumping Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics. Sometimes shows ...

and

mounted games Mounted Games is a branch of equestrian sport in which fast games are played on ponies up to a height of about . They require athletic ability, riding skills, hand-to-eye coordination, determination, perseverance, and a competitive spirit, which ...

currently have separate North and South Island Championships. There are also North Island and South Island Horse Trials Teams Competitions; the South Island competition is called Springston Trophy and the North Island competition is named Timberlands after the club that hosts it.

History

The formation of the New Zealand Pony Clubs Association began in 1944, when Dorothy Campbell read about the

British Horse Society The British Horse Society (BHS) is a membership-based equine charity, with a stated vision of "a Society which provides a strong voice for horses and people and which spreads awareness through support, training and education". It currently has m ...

and

Pony Club Pony Club is an international youth organization devoted to educating youth about horses and riding. Pony Club organizations exist in over thirty countries worldwide. Origins Pony Club began in Great Britain in 1929 when the Institute of the ...

in the magazine ''Riding'', which inspired her to write to the secretary of the organisation. At that time, many children in New Zealand were growing up on farms and most had ponies and often rode them to get to school. There was no television and not as many other sports activities available as there are now. So these children spent a lot of time with their ponies, but there was often no instruction available to teach them to ride safely or to care for their ponies properly. Dorothy Campbell thought that both children and ponies would benefit from some organised activities and she arranged to hold a first fund raising

gymkhana Gymkhana () ( ur, جِمخانہ, sd, جمخانه, hi, जिमख़ाना, as, জিমখানা, bn, জিমখানা) is a British Raj term which originally referred to a place of assembly. The meaning then altered to den ...

Hawkes Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

. She was amazed by the number of riders who attended. As a result of this enthusiasm, Dorothy established the Heretaunga Pony Club, which became affiliated to the British organisation. Over the next two years, quite a number of other pony clubs were formed, and a meeting was called in

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

on 15 October 1946, at which the NZPCA was formed. From this beginning, the NZPCA has grown to encompass 16 areas with 82 clubs and 250 branches throughout New Zealand.

References

* * *{{cite web, title = History, publisher = NZPCA, url = http://nzpca.org/new/nzpca/history.php, access-date = 2006-08-25, url-status = dead, archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20060909090214/http://www.nzpca.org/new/nzpca/history.php, archive-date = 2006-09-09

External links

nzpca.orgspringston-trophy.org
Equestrian organizations

History

See also

References

External links