By Tommy Brannon
The mid-south hunter/jumper show of the season with one of the highest fun factors and undoubtedly the highest “cute” factor, with all the cute ponies and children, is the annual West Tennessee Pony Club Show. It is traditionally held at the Germantown Charity Horse show arena, this year on September 23 -24. For many riders who do not regularly compete at horse shows, this show gives them a chance to have the horse show experience.
There are also has some unique classes that are not usually seen at other shows. These classes can challenge the rider’s skills and the horse’s training, but are also a lot of fun. The Ride-A-Buck, a flat class, is ridden bareback with a dollar bill tucked between the rider’s calves and the horse’s sides. One by one the riders who are not able to keep the dollars in place are eliminated and asked to stand in the center of the ring. As the class progresses, the difficulty of the requested movements increases - from simple walk to posting and sitting trot, to quick halts, to counter canter, and to canter departs from a standstill. The last horse and rider to keep their money in place win all of the dropped dollars from the other competitors.
In the “Gamblers Choice” Jumper class, contestants can choose their own course. Each jump is assigned a number value depending on its degree of difficulty, and the rider chooses which to jump and in what order. The final optional jump called “the Joker” will result in subtracted points if it falls. The rider with the highest total points accumulated in the given time is the winner. Other fun classes are the tandem and pairs classes, in which riders compete as teams of two, riding at the same time in the ring.
Tara Krisle, well-known trainer and Pony Club graduate, designed the courses using jumps from several sources. She is writing a manual to be used by future show managers, as part of a management course she is taking, about how to put on the West Tennessee Pony Club Show. This show, which is run almost entirely by volunteers, parents and friends of West Tennessee Pony Club, is the organization’s main fund-raiser, helping pay for riding clinics, equine knowledge bowls, as well as the annual trek to the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY to compete in the Pony Club Regional Rally. Many of the competitors, some from out of town, are children and grandchildren of graduate Pony Club members.
United States Pony Club is an international organization that is open to youth riders up to the age of 25. West Tennessee Pony Club is involved in many horse-related activities, including horse care workshops, fox hunting, show jumping, dressage, eventing, vaulting, knowledge bowls, sleep-overs and swimming with horses, rating standards, regional rally competitions at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY and many other fun activities
To learn more about U.S. Pony Club visit www.ponyclub.org. For West Tennessee Pony Club, visit http://wtn.ponyclub.org, or e-mail: dc@wtpc.org.
Photos:
1197 Riders in the Rid-A-Buck class showing the dollar bill held tightly under the rider’s calf.
1199 Tate Allen on Squeeze the Charmin
1200 Griffin Allen with her sister Tate Allen riding Squeeze the Charmin.
1224 Isabel McMullin on Abercrombie (Aby).
1244 Griffin Allen being led by her sister Tate Allen in the lead line class.
1243 Jenna Enberg, age 2, mounted on Yoo Hoo and led by Madlyn Malone in the lead line class.
The mid-south hunter/jumper show of the season with one of the highest fun factors and undoubtedly the highest “cute” factor, with all the cute ponies and children, is the annual West Tennessee Pony Club Show. It is traditionally held at the Germantown Charity Horse show arena, this year on September 23 -24. For many riders who do not regularly compete at horse shows, this show gives them a chance to have the horse show experience.
There are also has some unique classes that are not usually seen at other shows. These classes can challenge the rider’s skills and the horse’s training, but are also a lot of fun. The Ride-A-Buck, a flat class, is ridden bareback with a dollar bill tucked between the rider’s calves and the horse’s sides. One by one the riders who are not able to keep the dollars in place are eliminated and asked to stand in the center of the ring. As the class progresses, the difficulty of the requested movements increases - from simple walk to posting and sitting trot, to quick halts, to counter canter, and to canter departs from a standstill. The last horse and rider to keep their money in place win all of the dropped dollars from the other competitors.
In the “Gamblers Choice” Jumper class, contestants can choose their own course. Each jump is assigned a number value depending on its degree of difficulty, and the rider chooses which to jump and in what order. The final optional jump called “the Joker” will result in subtracted points if it falls. The rider with the highest total points accumulated in the given time is the winner. Other fun classes are the tandem and pairs classes, in which riders compete as teams of two, riding at the same time in the ring.
Tara Krisle, well-known trainer and Pony Club graduate, designed the courses using jumps from several sources. She is writing a manual to be used by future show managers, as part of a management course she is taking, about how to put on the West Tennessee Pony Club Show. This show, which is run almost entirely by volunteers, parents and friends of West Tennessee Pony Club, is the organization’s main fund-raiser, helping pay for riding clinics, equine knowledge bowls, as well as the annual trek to the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY to compete in the Pony Club Regional Rally. Many of the competitors, some from out of town, are children and grandchildren of graduate Pony Club members.
United States Pony Club is an international organization that is open to youth riders up to the age of 25. West Tennessee Pony Club is involved in many horse-related activities, including horse care workshops, fox hunting, show jumping, dressage, eventing, vaulting, knowledge bowls, sleep-overs and swimming with horses, rating standards, regional rally competitions at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY and many other fun activities
To learn more about U.S. Pony Club visit www.ponyclub.org. For West Tennessee Pony Club, visit http://wtn.ponyclub.org, or e-mail: dc@wtpc.org.
Photos:
1197 Riders in the Rid-A-Buck class showing the dollar bill held tightly under the rider’s calf.
1199 Tate Allen on Squeeze the Charmin
1200 Griffin Allen with her sister Tate Allen riding Squeeze the Charmin.
1224 Isabel McMullin on Abercrombie (Aby).
1244 Griffin Allen being led by her sister Tate Allen in the lead line class.
1243 Jenna Enberg, age 2, mounted on Yoo Hoo and led by Madlyn Malone in the lead line class.
