Pony Club Australia has announced the winners of the 2022 awards.

Rider 12 and Under
Isac Staley – Mornington Peninsula Pony Club

Isac always comes to pony club with a wiling attitude and a smile on his face. He is kind and respectful to his fellow riders, coaches and club officials. He volunteers at our club fundraisers and is always willing to help and support the development of the club.

This year he represented MPPC at the zone games and pairs event, the youngest rider on the team. His team placed 3rd in the games and 2nd in the pairs. He qualified for states where he placed midfield in the games and was unable to compete in the pairs due to his pair having an injured horse.

It was so exciting to see him put in the skills he had developed at the training sessions, he went from completing the games in a trot at zone to galloping at states. More recently he competed at Werribee PC HT where he showed great riding skills jumping double clear to finish in the top 10.

Isac always looks after his horses. He presents them well at rallies with a clean coat and always in healthy condition. He never punishes his horse but is always looking for ways to improve him. Myles, who he has worked well with to improve both Myles and his own riding.

He has a great attitude towards the club, attending working bees and events to help. Despite his age, he will assist his mum on cross country jump judging and offer his support to all riders.

Rider 13-17 Years
Abby Raymond – North Dorrigo Pony Club NSW

Abby’s improvement in her riding is inspirational to her peers, she works extremely hard and participated at the NSW State Camp at SIEC in January this year.

Abby has loaned members her outgrown horses to encourage new riders to the sport.

When at gymkhanas she helps the younger kids present their horses, and helps them with advice with the workouts and jump courses.  Abby doesn’t discriminate her age with her peers, she is generally in the midst of them, joking with them and sharing tips.

She has already offered herself as camp commandant for the upcoming camp, whilst she is also sitting her HSC exam year.

She won the Bellingen Shire Council Young sportsperson of the year award in January 2022.

Abby was also recognised for the Local Zonta award (supporting her local female peers).

Recently she presented herself at the Coffs Harbour View club and spoke of her Pony Club achievements, school and future endeavours.

Abby has been a member of the North Dorrigo Pony Club since she was four In the past few years her level of dedication has increased and expanded to State (where she generally places in the top two) and in 2019 she represented NSW at the PCA Nationals. Abby represented Zone 3 at the Sydney Royal Show for the Team Sporting Events and both years they placed 3rd.

Abby has her heights set on the 2023 NZ Tour and has just completed her C* & B Certificates. At the completion of her Year 12 her goal is to spend some time within the horse industry, her passion.

Outside of horse riding she is the Vice President of her school and a member of the Student Representative Council.

In conclusion Abby hasn’t achieved any of these awards without hard work, commitment & drive, the sky is her limit & we wish her well in making these dreams achievable.

Rider 18-25 Years
Sharne Haskins – Londonderry Pony Club NSW

Sharne, at the time of submission, has held a 100% Rally Day (or event representation) attendance since 2008. Each of these rally days however have not been always spent riding. Sharne, well before she could drive herself to pony club, would come along unmounted to assist when circumstances didn’t allow her horse to come. However, these days, Sharne often chooses to give up riding at rally days to provide instruction. This has been a particularly helpful asset as our Club over the past few years has seen a significant expansion, with over 70 riding members. Having her expertise and experience on the field is always well received by the riders. Earlier in the year, this also extended to stepping down from riding at our Annual Gymkhana to assist with not only the preparation leading up to, but anything and everything that was needed throughout the craziness of the day!

What can be counted on, whether Sharne is riding or not at a Rally Day or a Club event, is that she will be out on the field setting up in the morning and packing up in the afternoon (and let’s just say she has a particular fetish over having the jump trailer packed in a colour coded fashion- she has been seen to unpack, and restack the entire trailer to achieve such!).

Sharne competed at her first State Dressage in 2018, on Rocksbury Oliver Twist, a horse she had to substitute in, less than a month out from the event, due to her own horse’s injury. From that first competition together, and an opportunity to further the partnership with “Oliver”, she set a goal to represent NSW for dressage at the 2019 Nationals. Fast forward to 2022 and Sharne and Oliver had:

• Progressed from a novice to competent Elementary training Medium combination
• Been selected for the 2019 Dressage Squad attending PCNSW State Camp 2019
• Represented NSW at the 2019 PCA Nationals in Elementary Dressage
• Represented NSW at the Equestrian NSW Young Rider Dressage Championships
• Named Novice Pony of the Year at their local Dressage Club (2019)
• Been selected for the 2021 Dressage Squad PCNSW State Camp (cancelled due to COVID)
• Represented Pony Club Australia in the Pony Club International Virtual Dressage, finishing 10th (out of 28) and the 2nd highest Australian rider for the division
• Represented NSW at the 2021 Pony Club Nationals (Virtual) in Elementary division, improving on scores and results from 2019, finishing 9th (including a 5th and 6th placing) overall in the individual championship (out of 23) and making the NSW Team which were declared Reserve Champion in the Senior Dressage Team Challenge.

Sharne and one horse represented Zone 19 at a State Level in Showriding, Mounted Games, Team Sporting and Formal Gymkahana. Sharne trained both independently and under professional coaching religiously, and all whilst working two jobs and studying full time at university!

Sharne is awaiting assessment her B Certificate. She is also a three time NSW National representative in Quiz, where she has not only been a part of two Champion Teams, but was the inaugural Individual Senior Quiz Champion at the 2021 Nationals. Sharne has also represented Australia in the 2021 Pony Club International Virtual Quiz and looks forward to hopefully doing the same in 2022, and potentially on an exchange in the future. Her passion for quiz undoubtedly stems from her dedication and thirst for continuing to learn and improve her horsemanship skills.

Leadership has been an ever-evolving skill, which has seen Sharne progress from our Musical Ride Coordinator (a big spectacle held at our end of year jamboree), a role she has held since 2013, to blossoming to being an executive conducting rally days, and even coordinating our recent B-Kinder Charity Day. Sharne has her Gear Check Certificate, and completed her NCAS Instructors certificate in 2020. She is looking to undertake the next steps to progress to Level 1. Sharne uses her role as an instructor to lead with confidence and expertise, as well as understanding and compassion, particularly with riders who may be nervous.

As a forementioned, Sharne coordinated the 2021 B Kinder Charity Day, which was a particularly impressive display of leadership. Sharne liaised with local businesses, including the CEO of the Fly High Billie foundation, to arrange a series of pre-order merchandise, raffle prizes, canteen materials, a cake stall and an online raffle, to raise over $1500. Sharne produced and arranged the program of the day, which included rainbow mufti, painting ponies, donut challenges and more, all captured by an official photographer behind the backdrop of a rainbow decorated club house! The leadership displayed by Sharne in coordinating this event, illustrated to riders that we all have the power to do good, together- an invaluable lesson.

Sharne has had a particular effort and diligence towards crafting our “Team LPC”. A concept that she firstly conjured for social media is now well used and regarded right throughout our club, and even by other clubs referencing us. Sharne has developed the Team LPC concept over the past couple of years, with now every riding member receiving a “Team LPC” memento at the End of Year Presentation, Official Team LPC Riding Socks (which are a particular hit), and even off horse events such as Movie Nights at the local cinema (watching horse themed movies though, of course!). The Team LPC movement Sharne has driven, is certainly something that has improved the comradery of our members and will be a lasting impact she leaves on the Club.

Sharne’s contribution to management and programs extends right from a Club to a National level. At LPC, Sharne holds the position of Vice President (held since 2020), Publicity Officer (held since 2019) and assists on the Grants panel, within the executive committee.  Sharne’s role as Publicity Officer has perhaps been most impactful, growing our Club’s social media following and exposure across Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. She has produced materials for our club, such as video tutorials on operating the online pony club portal and new Just Go system, which have been endorsed by many State Pony Clubs, and even Pony Club Australia, with over 1.1K views. Throughout lockdown, various publicity and communications pieces, as well as activities such as the LPC Toilet Paper Challenge, were coordinated by Sharne to encourage our continued club comradery- a concept that has evolved via the Team LPC vision.

At a Zone level, Sharne also assists as a Publicity Officer, helping to promote events held by the Zone and its Clubs, as well as general content, such as coverage from events where Zone 19 Riders are representing.

Sharne’s contributions also extend to a State and National level, holding the position of Chair on both the Pony Club NSW Junior Committee, and the Pony Club Australia Youth Advisory Council. In these programs Sharne has helped produce various projects, including most publicly, the YAC Photo Competition and National Virtual Stables Showdown, as well as the Stables Showdown Competition at every PCNSW State event and trivia nights at State Camp and the NSW Nationals hub. Sharne, through her professional job, was proud to present a Nutrition and Equine Health talk at this year’s State Camp, for which she received rave reviews; she was recorded for future use in educational programs.

The entire Team at LPC would be in agreeance when saying that Sharne encompasses what it is to be a Pony Clubber. Her passion, efforts, dedication and ambition towards her riding goals, learning goals, her club and the greater pony club movement is undeniable. She takes great pride in her life at pony club, and is an amazing role model, friend and support to all of our riders, both within and beyond their equestrian journeys.

She is the recipient of the LPC Pony Clubber of the Year, LPC Service to the Club Award, The Zone 19 Pony Clubber of the Year and the PCNSW Keith Lowe Associate Award in recent times.

Volunteer of the Year
Dianne Ould – Peel Metro Horse and Pony Club WA

Dianne has been a long term volunteer coach and educator in WA for several decades. Dianne runs clinics, webinars and assessments for gear checker candidates across WA.

Dianne has contributed more broadly to the equestrian sector in WA such as the Shire of Serpentine Jarrahdale Equine Strategy. At Peel Pony Club, Dianne is an active committee member and the club maintains excellent grounds and facilities that enable it to host state events.

The head of the gear checking panel in WA, Dianne has been an extraordinary member of the National Gear Committee and willing to share her knowledge with the rest of the committee. Dianne has worked despite having to ‘let go’ of the WA state rules that she had developed over 20 years. She has become the national ‘go-to’ person on gear.

Dianne is always ready and prepared for meetings, having read the papers, identified the issues and considered the wider objectives.

She is committed to reaching consensus and decisions that are suitable for Australia, not just WA. And yet, she also brings this commitment to the management of the Peel Club.

Integrity – Dianne is honest, willing to engage in constructive debate, and committed to making the rules based on available evidence. Dianne was determined to make the rules current and sensible, balancing safety with freedoms and not dwelling on trivial issues, and taking the  diversity of riders and sports in Pony Club into account. Dianne also sits on the Gear Exemption Panel which decides on gear that may be necessary for a specific horse and rider combination.

Dianne listens and treats other people with respect, even though past decisions have had to be revisited, committee members do not argue their case from a knowledge base equivalent to hers and progress on the project was slow at times. 

She is an accomplished horse woman and has been assertive to remove items of gear from the approved list if they compromise welfare.

Contribution to development of her Pony Club for the benefit of members

She was Member Protection Information Officer for Pony Club WA for several years and visited many clubs to assist them with issues.

At Peel Metropolitan Horse and Pony Club she has been Treasurer, Chief Coach and event coordinator. She is a showjumping course builder and judge and is still coach and event coordinator. She started Hickstead jumping as a sport in WA. Obviously her work as head of the gear checking panel in WA and general go-to person for clubs.

The Kay Irving Coach of the Year Award
Jacqui Bladier – Mornington Peninsula Pony Club – Vic

Jacqui always have the welfare of the horse and the safety of the rider in the forefront of her mind. She coaches more than just how to ride, but also how to care for the horses. She recently wrote a safety and horsemanship handout for her Club members to allow parents and riders to handle and care for their horses in a safer manner. She teaches positive reinforcement and praise for the horse. She has a contemporary approach to problem horses and always ensures a rider has a successful outcome in their lesson. She ensures the basics are instilled in a rider before allowing them to progress through the training scale.

Jacqui has her Level 1 NCAS coaching certificate. She is also helping mentor our senior riders through their preliminary NCAS certificates and is always willing to share her knowledge and passion with them. She maintains the high standard of coaching and diligence associated with the qualification. Her lessons are always to a high standard, she gives her students her undivided attention, and keeps the riders on task to ensure everyone has a meaningful coaching experience.

The most common praise our riders and parents give Jacqui is her incredibly positive attitude and demeanor. Jacqui is not only a coach for our members, but a leader and someone our riders inspire to be like. She is easy to contact, communicate and organise with. She has a passion for riding, coaching, and pony club. She attends several rallies at MPPC throughout the year, and the riders always request another lesson with her. Her passion and dedication to the club is exemplary.

Gill Rolton Memorial Alumni Award
James Meyer – Goolwa District Pony Club SA (now in WA)

James completed his veterinary degree in the Inaugural Class at the University of Adelaide. Spending his formative years at Goolwa District Pony Club (SA), James remains an active member of Pony Club (past coach), FEI, Endurance, and  Equine Veterinarians Australia (EVA). James ran Fleurieu Equine Practice in SA for 5 years 2017 – 2022.

James relocated to WA at the beginning of 2022 and now works at Oldbury Equine Clinic.

Contribution to the horse industry

James frequently provides services for FEI events, such as the Adelaide International Horse Trials, as well as being an accredited Endurance veterinarian. James has seen clinical practice across SA & WA and his interests include equine dentistry as well as endocrine and metabolic diseases.

He has delivered training sessions on Horse Rescue and other topics for the broader horse community.

Links to Pony Club, past and present

James grew up on the Fleurieu Peninsula in SA, and began riding horses at the age of three, working his way through hacking, dressage and eventing.

James is a previous Pony Club president (Goolwa Pony Club in SA), he has officiated at Pony Club events, he took a team to China in 2018 and has been a source of veterinary advice in SA and now WA. James has run sessions on horse health for coaches and riders and vaccination hubs for Pony Club members.

Whilst Gawler Pony Club President, he was a vocal advocate for equity and transparency in Federal Grant funding (the Sports Rorts case) after Gawler was highly rated but not funded for its priority projects.

James was also a strong advocate for improved governance at the club and state level, was an early adopter of the PCA member database in SA.

Accredited Riding Centre of the Year
Phoenix Acres Equine Centre, Bundaberg Qld

Phoenix Acres Equine Centre in the past year has grown to a membership of 30 junior riders and two senior riders.

In January we held a start up camp to kick start the learning for the year. This proved to be successful because in the rallies that followed, our members knew the routine and basic skills needed to get themselves ready for rally each fortnight.

We have taken 13 of our members to one local gymkhana with great success; many of them came home with a number of ribbons and achievements. Some of those riders have gone on to official days within our zone for show jumping and jumping equitation, only riding in unofficial classes.

In April we held an assessment weekend with Beryl Burkhardt being our assessor. Beryl was able to sign off six students and award seven certificates. Another 25 members will sit their assessments in November.

October saw us take seven of our program horses to Burpengary to compete in the Special Olympic National event. One of our members also competed at this event and came home with one gold medal and two silver medals. Our horses performed well with their riders, many of which went home with medals also.

We have created a wonderful community at Phoenix Acres through our love of horses with all of our members improving so much each time they ride. We hope to increase the number of members in 2023. We look forward to continuing to bring horses to families that are unable to purchase their own ponies.

Club of the Year
Yandina Pony Club Qld

The last 18 months have been tough for all our riders and their families during Covid and now floods and consistent rain. This has led us to implement many initiatives to keep our families engaged in our Clubs activities which we believe has contributed to our steadily increasing membership from 51 in 2015 to 110 this year, including new memberships during the Covid lockdown which surprised even us!

This year we implemented three new Monthly activities in response to our growing diverse membership.

The first is our Mature Minded Mornings for any adult riding members who are able to attend. All adults are welcome regardless of riding level, experience or even if they are able to bring a horse or not. These were introduced as we saw a need to cater for our Adult members who may not be able to ride at our Rally Days due to coaching or helping their children. This is overseen by our Chief Instructor who sets up activities/exercises for our MMM to try in their own time and at their own pace. These mornings are run during school hours and have been very well attended with an average of 10 Adults each month. There is usually tea, coffee, cake and lots of chatting afterwards too!!

The second is our monthly Social Sessions for all members. These are held on an afternoon after school and are well attended each month. This is a chance for our riders, especially the children, to engage with each other in a relaxed social session. The riders have the opportunity to set up any activities they like (under the guidance of coaches) and some of the creativity of what they come up with is inspiring! The relaxed atmosphere allows our riders and families to connect in a meaningful way which can be harder to do during our more formal formatted Rallies and competitions they attend. This has been very well received by families and the friendships and connections between our young riders are blooming into lifelong connections.

Our third new initiative this year is our ‘Monthly Challenge’ which is run in our closed members only Facebook Group. Each month a Challenge is posted to help our riders stay motivated and gain new ideas and skills, even if they can’t attend our in-person activities. They require little to no equipment and are easy to set up at home in nearly any space. These vary from ground work, ridden and even visualization Challenges suitable for all levels and ages.

The Rally days are often influenced by what is happening in our area at the time as well as the advertised Discipline of the Month by PCA. We host a variety of guests from our local area, this year has included carriage driving, light horse troop, working equitation, polo expert, farrier, vet and pilates instruction. Every Rally has at least one unmounted session which will focus on sections from the PCA Syllabus such as Riders Toolkit, On the Ground or Horse Management. To create enjoyable rallies for our younger demographic, their day is made shorter and always finishes on a fun and positive note.

For the past two years we have held our Kick Start Camp to begin our Pony Club year. This overnight stay is the perfect way to reconnect and meet our new members for the year. This is where we also point out our Child Safety Officer and Horse Welfare Officer to our riders to make it clear who they can turn to if required.

Dressage and Jumping Clinics have become a standard in our Club before each disciplines’ season begins. These Clinics serve two purposes, firstly to ensure riders have the discipline specific knowledge and skills required and secondly as a fundraiser for our Club. Our Clinics always have an unmounted theory component to them to ensure riders know the rules, expectations and training required to attend the competitions during the season. We engage local coaches from outside our Club who have strong ties to the PC community and are often ex-PC members themselves. The Clinics are open to any PC members in our area and are always full with a waitlist!

Our proudest initiative this year is the two camps we have successfully run. Riders not only received consistent quality coaching for three days in dressage, showjumping, cross country, but also learn the valuable skills needed to prepare their horses before Camp and care for them during Camp. We were able to collaborate with local business and Qld Off The Track to bring these Camps together and bring in professionals for the off-horse sessions in the form of rider fitness and flexibility, positive mindset and horse massage and stretches. Riders and their families from all over South East Qld spent time together off the horse connecting over mealtimes together. Lifelong friends were forged and strengthened throughout the week. We have been approached by multiple Clubs, some as far away as WA to share how we made our Camps so successful, which of course we are so happy to share!

Our open Club FB page has nearly 1300 followers and is used as a platform to share a variety of posts to all our followers. We enjoy sharing our members’ successes, not just competition, but personal goals reached too. We understand the responsibility of the Pony Club image in the eyes of the general public and wish to uphold our Club to the highest of standards.

Good governance processes at club level including member protection, objective decision making, safety and risk management program, succession planning

At YDPC we keep up to date with all the latest policies and procedures by ensuring we read the PCA Newsletter each month and stay up to date with the ‘Club Resources’ page on the PCA website. We abide by the rules set out by PCA, PCQ and our Zone and we are always happy to seek advice when required from the level of governance required.

We were required to seek such advice before our last Camp where we had our First Aid Officer unable to come last minute. We filled out the Event Medical Variation Consent Form on the PCA website and were able to act on the advice received immediately to ensure the successful and safe running of the Camp.

This year we updated our 20 year old constitution to reflect the modern governance of our Club. This was a lengthy process as it was a handwritten document requiring some deciphering of the information it contained. This was headed up by our Secretary who was assisted by members of our Club. Our by-laws are also reviewed and updated as required each year.

To ensure we are following member protection procedures we have a committee position for a Child Safety Officer for our young riders to approach if necessary. We follow and promote the Sun Smart and Hot Weather policies as outlined by PCA.

We have an appointed Sun Protection Officer who is responsible for ensuring riders apply sunscreen during our Rally days. Our Club’s rally shirt is a long sleeve, sunsafe, SPF 50+ in cool material from a local business. We have a large water dispenser always available at our Clubhouse and riders are encouraged to bring their water bottles to refill during the day.

As we also consider our riders’ horses part of our membership, we have a committee position of Horse Welfare Officer who riders can approach for help and advice. Our HWO will also guide a member if they notice an issue or problem which needs addressing. We are very lucky that our HWO is a vet who is always happy to help and advise. All of these appointed committee positions also serve to give feedback to the committee on areas that may need improving or educating.

YDPC is currently working towards creating a Strategic Plan to provide a focus on the long term direction of our Club. This will ensure that the committee and members work together under a set of rules and agreed behaviours to achieve the same goals for the succession of our Club for decades to come.

We advertise the Committee positions early in the preceding year to allow for interested members to ask plenty of questions and to shadow the role for a time to ensure they are happy with the role.

Decision making is always done objectively and transparently through committee meetings with at least a quorum in attendance. Member consultation is done before any major decisions are made through emails and meetings.

We take the safety and risk management of our Members very seriously. At the start of each year we complete a safety audit of our grounds and equipment and create a timeline for any repairs, changes or purchases required. We ensure our Coaches are of the required level for the task they are teaching. We have our human and horse First AId kits updated yearly and readily available at our clubhouse for our members. All events have the relevant Risk Management checklists completed before the events start.

Innovation in club management, such as sponsorship programs, financial management, use of online database for management of memberships and events.

YDPC was one of the first clubs to get acquainted with the new Just Go program implemented by PCA. We were able to create a how-to Just Go Guide for fellow clubs which was shared by over 56 Clubs across Australia, proving to be a great help to many who were struggling with the new system.

We have used Just Go from its inception for all our memberships, Rally days, events, clinics, camp and all other nominations, even assisting Monil with finding certain hidden gems on the site! We also use Just Go as our primary email communication correspondence with our members.

We have role-specific emails for the Club Executive Committee that can be passed onto anyone who takes over the roles in coming years by simply changing the password. To ensure continuity of quality of our events we have created a template for Rally days, clinics, events, camps etc we run with all vital information and checklists recorded. We also have a spreadsheet set up to track participation of volunteers at our events.

This year we have chosen to utilize Google Drive to keep all important Club documents in one place with easy access by all Committee Members at any time. This is to ensure continuity between the Committees as the members change over the years.

Our templates have been so successful that our Secretary has been asked by our Zone committee to create Competition Templates that are inclusive to all levels of riders at Official & Unofficial Days.

Our treasurer is an accountant with years of experience and we now use the program Xero for accurate financial management and reporting. We use Xero to record banking, invoices, payments and ease of end of financial year reporting. Just Go is used extensively for the management of our membership and events including Rally days.

We have been approached by QOTT to develop an OTT leaderboard program through their Bronze Level sponsorship provided by them for us to run with our members. It is nice to be recognised in our community as a worthwhile Club to partner with. 

Our CI has been a driving force in embracing the Syllabus and ensuring she actively teaches the important skills to riders at every opportunity. As mentioned earlier, the Syllabus is an underlying theme within all that we run at YDPC.

We have never had a focus of attending State or any competitions for our members. Our focus for our members is improving horsemanship, learning and a love of their horses.