Pony Club Australia Ltd is a not for profit organisation that encourages people to ride and teaches them horsemanship and how to care for horses.

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

has the largest Pony Club membership in the world with just under 40,000 financial members. In Australia, there are approximately 850 clubs spread over the seven states and territories. Its members are the recognised State Sporting Organisations for Pony Club in each state and the Northern Territory including Pony Club Association of New South Wales, Pony Club Association of Queensland, Pony Club Association of Victoria, Pony Club Western Australia, Pony Club Association of South Australia, Pony Club Association of Tasmania and Pony Club Association of the Northern Territory. Pony Club Australia members also include the individuals who are registered with its Member States. Pony Club has always been the foundation of horse-riding in Australia and continues to play a pivotal role. Pony Club riders participate in diverse sports including Mounted Games and Modern Pentathlon, play polo and polocrosse, and pursue careers in the racing and broader horse industry. Pony Club members have gone on to fill the Australian Olympic equestrian teams, such as Shane Rose, Megan Jones,

Wendy Schaeffer Wendy Lynn Schaeffer, OAM (born 16 September 1974 in Adelaide, South Australia) is an Australian equestrian and Olympic champion. She won a team gold medal in eventing at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Schaeffer was inducted into th ...

, Gill Rolton
Phillip Dutton
th
Roycrofts

Stuart Tinney Stuart Brian Tinney, OAM (born 7 December 1964 in Mundubbera) is an Olympic-level equestrian rider, who competes for Australia. He won a team gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics, a team bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and also comp ...

, Sonja Johnson, Clayton Fredericks,

Edwina Tops-Alexander Edwina Tops-Alexander (born 29 March 1974) is an Australian showjumper known for her participation in three Olympics, finishing in the top ten twice. She is the first Australian to place in the top 10 at the World Equestrian Games and the firs ...

, Paul Tapner,

Scott Keach Scott Keach (born 21 April 1965) is an Australian equestrian who competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics in the three-day event. In 2016, he was again named to compete at the Olympics, this time in the show jumping. The 28-year gap between Olym ...

and others. Regardless of the level of participation, Pony Club Australia emphasises education, safety, horsemanship, variety, friendship and fun. Pony Club Australia is recognised by Sport Australia as the National Sporting Organisation for Pony Club. The Australian Government through the Australian Sports Commission recognises Pony Club Australia to develop Pony Club in Australia.

History

The first Pony Club in Australia was formed in 1939 at

Ingleburn, New South Wales Ingleburn is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 40 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of City of Campbelltown. It is part of the Macarthur region. Ingleburn ...

. Many early Pony Clubs were affiliated with the British Horse Society Pony Club (BHSPC) and used their resources – syllabus, instruction notes, even the badges and ties. The development of the knowledge and ability of riders was the concern of Pony Club from its foundation. The emphasis has always been: * The safety of the rider * The comfort of the horse * The enjoyment of the rider * The progress of the rider The first Inter-Pacific Exchange was held in America during 1962 and in Western Australia in 1979. Teams participated from New Zealand, Great Britain, the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, Canada and Australia in the 1979 Inter-Pacific Exchange.

The Syllabus of Instruction

Pony Club in Australia has been teaching young people to ride and care for their horses since 1939.

Structure

Pony Clubs are arranged into zones and, in turn, states. Pony Club Australia Ltd is a

company limited by guarantee In British, Australian, Bermudian, Hong Kong and Irish company law (and previously New Zealand), a company limited by guarantee (CLG) is a type of corporation used primarily (but not exclusively) for non-profit organisations that require legal pe ...

, whose members are the state Pony Club associations and members of Pony Clubs across Australia. The Patron of Pony Club Australia is Olympic rider

Heath Ryan Heath Ryan (born 2 July 1958) is an Australian equestrian who represented Australia at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing as part of the dressage team. Born in Sydney, Ryan was Australia's three-day event champion three times, and won every I ...

Qualifications

Pony Club Australia offers qualifications in coaching and training in gear checking.

Centre membership

Horse ownership is not possible or desirable for everyone, but it should not be a barrier to participating in equestrian sport, recreation, and activity. For the first time in its 80-year history, Pony Club Australia have made it possible for people who do not have their own horse/pony, or exclusive use of a horse/pony to advance their skills through the Pony Club Australia programme of training and education. Funded by a 2019 "Move it Aus" grant from Sport Australia, Pony Club Australia has starte
Centre Membership
Riders who do not have their own horse/pony, or exclusive use of a horse/pony can become Centre Members of Pony Club Australia. Centre Membership is for youth and adult riders. Centre Members can develop their skills in horse handling, riding, care, knowledge and management by working their way through the syllabus and achieving internationally-recognised Certificates of Proficiency. Participation is made possible by Centre Members riding school horses at Pony Club Accredited Riding Centres across Australia. If Centre Members purchase or sole-lease a horse, they transfer to club membership and join one of over 800 Australian pony clubs.

Disciplines and Competition

Pony Club Australia teaches riders the skills in riding, horse care and sportsmanship that are the foundations of recreational and competitive riding. In addition to the Olympic equestrian disciplines, Pony Club riders participate in a variety of sports, including the quintessential Australian horse riding events of

polocrosse Polocrosse is a team sport that is a combination of polo and lacrosse. It is played outside, on a field (the pitch), on horseback. Each rider uses a cane or fibreglass stick to which is attached a racquet head with a loose, thread net, in whi ...

campdrafting Campdrafting is a unique Australian sport involving a horse and rider working cattle. The riding style is Australian stock, somewhat akin to American Western riding and the event is similar to the American stock horse events such as cutting, w ...

team penning Team penning is a western equestrian sport that evolved from the common ranch work of separating cattle into pens for branding, doctoring, or transport. Today it is a fast-paced event that gives a team of three riders on horseback from 60 to 90 s ...

and Stockman’s Challenge. A description of these and other sports can be foun
here
In 1994 the International Mounted Games were held in the southern hemisphere for the first time at Beverley, Western Australia, competing teams were from Canada, Great Britain, United States of America and Australia. The Australian team won the International Mounted Games in 2019 and placed second in 2017 and 2018. In 1995 the Pony Club Association of New South Wales hosted the first Pony Club National Championships at Wagga Wagga.Pony club history
Retrieved 2010-10-11 The 2021 National Championships will be held in Victoria.

International teams and Inter-Pacific Championships

In 2019 Pony Club Australia sent teams to compete in Mounted Games in the USA, Showjumping (Inter-Pacific championships) in Hong Kong and activities in China. Pony Club members travel with a coach and/or manager and applicants need to be resilient and capable of riding borrowed horses.

References

{{Reflist
Yates, Kelly. "Equestrian fraternity will miss a pioneer" ''Cranbourne News'', 15 May 2008
Equestrian organizations Sports governing bodies in Australia