Thank you for interest in joining VH Pony Club information:
Thank you for your interest in joining View Hill Pony Club. We hope you enjoy your time with us. I have included some information here so you can see what is involved in being a member of our Pony Club.
View Hill PC is a branch of North Canterbury PC. We belong to Canterbury Area PC, and the national organisation of New Zealand Pony Club Association (NZPCA). You may see all these names at various times in our communications, and it can be a bit confusing!
View Hill PC
Our PC is closely linked with Kowhai riding school. A number of our pony club members use the Kowhai horses to attend rallies, compete and sit certificates. Likewise we have a group of members associated with Sumner Valley riding school, and use their horses in a similar manner. We also have many members who have their own horses/ponies- so we have a diverse and geographically widespread group! Although connected with these riding schools, Pony Club is a separate entity and has different requirements.
If you do use a horse from Sumner or Kowhai riding school, any costs of using their horses/ transport are separate to Pony Club, and you should still deal directly with the riding school about that.
Rallies
Rallies are usually held twice a month on a Sunday, although this varies. Our main communication is through our members only Facebook page, so if you think you will join, please join that group and keep an eye on the page. (search Facebook for View Hill Pony Club Members)
Questions specifically about rallies can be addressed to our rally Coordinator:
Annabel Fitzsimmons: annabelk@hotmail.com
Rallies are often held at Kowhai or View Hill domain, but we do travel to other venues for training days and outings. The focus of a rally may be training for a specific event, games, or certificate work which involves horse master ship and care.
Throughout the year we attend several teams competitions. There are different levels of competition some suited to younger riders, others to more advanced riders. As well as this, many of our members attend regular competitions, either with their riding school or independently. If you are new to competition and wondering which events are suited, and how to arrange this, it is a good idea to speak to your instructor.
Our head instructor is Becci Thomas: bec@kowhai.co.nz
Process for joining PC
Anyone wishing to join View Hill is encouraged to attend at least one trial rally to see if they think they will suit, and to get to know our instructors and members. You may attend up to three trials before making a decision. If, after this, you are wanting to join please advise the membership coordinator below:
Jac Chester: Jacchester11@gmail.com
You can go also go onto the View Hill members Facebook page and join via the Nominate Link.
If this occurs near the time of our annual renewal, there may be a delay, as it is best if we have the bulk of our members joining at a similar time of year 31st May each year. Fees are set yearly, with the 2023-24 season expected to be around the $140 a year for riders.
Registration requires an adult member to join for every rider under 18, and a percentage of this fee goes directly to NZPCA. Adult members are required for Pony Club because horse riding generally requires quite a bit of adult input and support.
No “horsey” knowledge is required but we do require an adult per rider to be available to help with our events and fundraisers throughout the year. The jobs required are easy to learn, and we have a great group of supportive adults who work together to make this happen for our riders. Assisting at events can range from working on the BBQ/ catering, to building or painting horse jumps, setting up dressage arenas, arranging prizes. On the day, and at many competitions, riders need to provide a helper, so you will likely become an expert dressage writer or fence judge, in time!
The fees that you pay joining Pony Club, and the fundraising we do, goes towards paying for our coaches to be trained, new equipment such as jumps and games, certificate fees and team entry fees. We provide financial support to our teams travelling away to competitions, and often fundraise to help accommodation and fuel costs etc.
Uniforms
It is not essential to have a View Hill PC uniform a soon as you join. For rallies, any clean red top will be fine. When we attend team events, the club supplies much of the uniform, however if competing regularly, riders usually have their own XC jerseys, which can be purchased through this site:
https://www.myshirt.co.nz/collections/view-hill-pony-club
At regular Pony club one day events, riders will usually wear their own Show jackets for the dressage and show jumping, and their View Hill rugby jersey for the Cross Country phase.
Meetings
Our club meetings are only held about four times per year. We are well aware that people are busy and with our membership coming from across Canterbury and the West Coast, we do understand that it can be difficult to attend. However, like all sports clubs we rely on parents and volunteers to make the club work, and to make decisions which represent the members – so we do need people to attend.
At our 2023 AGM we have a new president of the club, Sally Hickling . Sally will appreciate your support.
Please get in touch if you have any further questions, we look forward to seeing you and hope you enjoy your time with View Hill.