West TN Pony Club At Mid-South Regional Rally By Nancy Brannon Mid-South Region of the U.S. Pony Club held its annual Mega Rally at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY June 19-26. West Tennessee Pony Club sent five members to the team competitions. The D Rallies were held June 24-25. In the D -1 Rally 7 & under, Alana Vogel, age 7, won the division on Just Call Me Grace. Her dressage score was only 34 penalty points and she had no faults in stadium jumping, finishing the riding part with only her dressage score. In Horse Management, she had only 7 penalty points. So, her overall score of only 41 penalty points put her squarely in first place. Teammate Natalie Hanisco, age 6, placed third on Woodlands Velvet Lace. Her dressage score was 47 penalty points. She had no jumping faults, but accumulated 11 Horse Management penalty points for a final score of 58 penalty points. In the D-1 Rally 8-10 year old Division A, Evie Langley, age 8, placed fifth riding Natchez Trace. Her dressage score was 40 and she had no jumping faults on the stadium course. She had only 7 Horse Management penalty points, giving her a total final score of 47.0, just a few points behind the winning score of 41.5 penalty points. All scores in this division were tight n ranging from 41.5 to 49.0, first to seventh place respectively. In D -2 rally, Andrea Rowan went as a stable manager for the composite team of Keeneland, Wilderness Trace, and West Tennessee pony clubs. This team placed first overall in the riding competition with a team score of 106 penalty points, and third in Horse Management with only 5 penalty points. Alissa Heeren, C-advisor for the D -1 team, won the Senior Division in the Tetrathalon Rally on her horse Blitz, held at Masterson Station Park June 19-20. The events in Senior Division Tetrathalon Rally for pony clubbers C-1 rating and above, age 16 years and up, are: swimming 200 yards; running 3,000 meters; shooting: 20 shots/1 hand, timed; and riding a stadium course of obstacles, maximum height 3’7.” Alissa explained what she had to do and how she prepared: “I had to shoot 20 shots with one hand, timed. We did 5 shots in 3 minutes (4 times) and the target was 10 meters away (32 ft.). I had to swim 200 meters (8 lengths of a 50-meter pool); run 3000 meters with XC jumps (3000 meters is approximately 1.8 miles, I think). I had to ride a stadium course over jumps at maximum height of 3’7” and the course also included a gate and slip rail. For the gate I had 60 seconds to open it, pass through, and close it while staying mounted. For the slip rail I also had 60 seconds in which to dismount, undo the slip rail and step over it, then lead Blitz over, put the rail back and mount again. The gate and slip rail were in the midst of the jump obstacles, i.e., the gate obstacle number 4, after jump number 3; then I would go on to jump number 5 fence; same with the slip rail. “As for training, I did 3 of the 4 events every day for about a month and a half before the show. For shooting, my dad measured the distance in my backyard, so I would just practice there every day when it wasn't raining. For swimming I had no trainer before I got a coach at the end of April, so I knew absolutely nothing! But my coach was extremely good, and helped me so much! As for running, I just ran on the back roads here at my house. Training for the riding part, I had jumping lessons with Beanie Cone for the month and a half prior to the show. It was a lot of work, but it was so much fun!” More WTPC News: West Tennessee Pony Club will hold its annual fund-raiser horse show September 24-25 at the Germantown Charity Horse Show arena. WTPC awards Alderwood points in this show. For information contact, Dana Kamp, Show Secretary by E-mail show@wtnpc.org or call (901) 237-8750 or (901) 569-0739. Visit WTPC on the web at http://wtn.ponyclub.org/