New Zealand Pony Clubs Association

Last updated

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. The NZPCA has 8,800 members, which makes it one of the largest youth sporting organizations in the country.

Contents

With almost all clubs having branches, rallies are usually held at 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 and four in the South Island. 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 Teams Championships and the NZPCA Teams Dressage Championships.

National Championships are held annually for horse trials and dressage. Showjumping and mounted games 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 and Pony Club 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 in Hawkes Bay. 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 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.

See also

Related Research Articles

Equestrianism Use of horses for sport or work

Equestrianism, commonly known as horse riding or horseback riding, includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes the use of horses for practical working purposes, transportation, recreational activities, artistic or cultural exercises, and competitive sport.

Horse show A judged exhibition of horses

A horse show is a judged exhibition of horses and ponies. Many different horse breeds and equestrian disciplines hold competitions worldwide, from local to the international levels. Most horse shows run from one to three days, sometimes longer for major, all-breed events or national and international championships in a given discipline or breed. Most shows consist of a series of different performances, called classes, wherein a group of horses with similar training or characteristics compete against one another for awards and, often, prize money.

Kentucky Three-Day Event Eventing competition

The Kentucky Three-Day Event, currently the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event due to sponsorship, is an eventing competition held at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky. Land Rover Kentucky is a CCI5*-L eventing competition. Five stars is the highest level of competition in the sport, the same level of competition as Eventing at the Olympics and the World Equestrian Games. The event is sponsored by Land Rover. Prize money of $400,000 is distributed among the top placings with $110,000 as well as a Rolex watch awarded to the first place horse and rider.

Karen OConnor American equestrian

Karen Lende O'Connor is an American equestrian who competes in three-day eventing. Although she did not come from a family of equestrians, her interest in horses started at an early age, and she received her first horse for her 11th birthday. O'Connor began competing internationally in the late 1970s, and in 1986 began riding for the US national eventing team. Since then, she had ridden in five Olympic Games, three World Equestrian Games and two Pan-American Games, winning multiple medals, including a team silver at the 1996 Olympic Games and a team bronze at the 2000 Olympic Games. She has also posted numerous wins and top-10 finishes at other international events. As of 2013, O'Connor is not competing, having suffered fractures to two thoracic vertebrae during a fall at a competition in October 2012.

Sheila Mary Willcox was a British-born eventer who won several national and international three-day events, including the Badminton Horse Trials and the European Championships. She won Badminton three consecutive years (1957–1959), and was the first woman rider in the UK to achieve international success.

All England Jumping Course at Hickstead Show jumping venue in England

The All England Jumping Course at Hickstead, known widely as Hickstead, is an equestrian centre in West Sussex, England, principally known for its showjumping. It hosts two international competitions, the Al Shira'aa British Jumping Derby Meeting and the Longines Royal International Horse Show. The course was the first permanent showground for equestrian sport in the country, opening in 1960. The first Hickstead Derby was held in 1961.

Mounted Games is a branch of equestrian sport in which fast games are played on ponies up to a height of about 152 cm (15 h).

United States Pony Clubs American riding association

The United States Pony Clubs, Inc or USPC is an American association of pony clubs. It was established in 1954, and was based on the model of the Pony Club of Great Britain, established in 1929. The national office is in Lexington, Kentucky.

English riding

English riding is a form of horse riding seen throughout the world. There are many variations, but all feature a flat English saddle without the deep seat, high cantle or saddle horn seen on a Western saddle nor the knee pads seen on an Australian Stock Saddle. Saddles within the various English disciplines are all designed to allow the horse the freedom to move in the optimal manner for a given task, ranging from classical dressage to horse racing. English bridles also vary in style based on discipline, but most feature some type of cavesson noseband as well as closed reins, buckled together at the ends, that prevents them from dropping on the ground if a rider becomes unseated. Clothing for riders in competition is usually based on traditional needs from which a specific style of riding developed, but most standards require, as a minimum, boots; breeches or jodhpurs; a shirt with some form of tie or stock; a hat, cap, or equestrian helmet; and a jacket.

Pony Club Association of New South Wales Australian equestrian organization

The Pony Club Association of New South Wales is the controlling body for Pony Clubs in New South Wales (NSW) where young people can ride and learn all disciplines of equestrian sports. The Association co-ordinates, develops and promotes Pony Clubs in New South Wales and instruction for its members.

The Pony Club British equestrian organization

The Pony Club is a voluntary organisation founded in England in 1929. It has now expanded internationally and Pony Club branches can be found worldwide. It is one of 16 organisations that form the British Equestrian Federation.

German Riding Pony Breed of horse

The Deutsche Reitpony or German Riding Pony is a very popular pony breed in Germany. It is described as a "miniature warmblood" with refined, horse-like characteristics that make it suitable as both a children's pony and as a mount for sport horse competition in Europe. Originally bred in Germany and later throughout Western Europe, the breed is relatively new to North America.

Pony Club Secrets is a series of junior and intermediate reader children's books published by HarperCollins in the United Kingdom. The series was created by author and journalist Stacy Gregg, and is loosely based on her experiences as a young rider growing up in New Zealand. It blends authentic horse and pony detail with a mixture of fantasy and adventure. The series is set in a fictionalised version of New Zealand, in an area called Chevalier Point.

Pony Club Association of Victoria

The Pony Club Association of Victoria, commonly abbreviated as PCAV, is the recognised State Sporting Organisation and controlling body for Pony Club in Victoria where young people can ride and learn all disciplines of equestrian sports. The Association co-ordinates, develops and promotes horsemanship in Victoria and instruction for its members. The Association is a member of Pony Club Australia.

Pony Club Australia

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.

Laura Tomlinson British dressage rider

Laura Tomlinson MBE is a German-born British dressage rider competing at Olympic level. As of 30 June 2012 the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI) ranked her 3rd in the world riding Mistral Højris and 36th on Andretti H. In that year, Tomlinson, riding Mistral Højris under her maiden name of Laura Bechtolsheimer, won two medals in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London; gold for Great Britain in the team dressage with Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin, the first ever Olympic team gold in the discipline for her country, and bronze in the individual dressage behind gold medalist and compatriot Dujardin.

North American Sportpony Breed of horse

The North American Sportpony is a relatively new pony breed in the United States. Its origins are from a diverse group of breeds, because the "Sportpony" is not derived from specific bloodlines, but rather is a conformation type, akin to the American Warmblood.

Beatriz Ferrer-Salat Serra de Migui is an equestrian from Spain who competes internationally in the sport of dressage. She won two Olympic medals, a silver and a bronze, at the 2004 Games, and also competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics, 2000 Summer Olympics and the 2020 Summer Olympics. She began riding in international competitions in 1995, and has since competed in the 2002 World Equestrian Games, winning individual silver and team bronze, and in several European Dressage Championships, where she has won several additional individual and team medals. Based in Spain, Ferrer-Salat continues to compete internationally, as well as acting as the chair of the board for the Spanish Dressage Riders Club.

Emma Booth (equestrian) Australian para-equestrian

Emma Booth is an Australian Paralympic equestrian. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.