Pony Club enjoys a successful season.

The South Wairarapa Pony Club has completed a very successful season in which they provided four of the five riders in the Wairarapa- Wellington Team which won the NZPCA Mounted Games Teams National Title. This was capped by the team captain Jeremy Thurston being selected for a national team to travel to America.

The New Zealand team will attend competitions being held in Le Grange Kentucky from the 9th to the 15th of July. There they will be competing against teams from Australia, South Africa, Canada and The United States. The biggest challenge is that they will be riding provided ponies and that they will only have three days to get used to and bond with before the competing starts.

The NZPCA Teams Championships were held over two days at Solway with teams from all over New Zealand competing. The Wairarapa-Wellington  team of Jeremy Thurston, Piper and Lucy Marshall  Xanthe Furket and Alex Anstis won from Hawkes Bay in a nail biting finish. This is only the second time the Wairarapa- Wellington team have won this prestigious contest with much of the credit going to the team coach Ginni Thurston.

At the National Pairs competition held earlier at Hastings Lucy Marshall and her partner Emily Jones from Wellington came in split seconds behind the winners from Hawkes Bay.

Mounted Games are fast paced pony competitions designed to test the skill of the riders. The original concept was devised by Prince Philip in 1957 as a fun way for young riders to develop and then test their riding ability. Mounted games  have developed to be a competition for all ages with a governing association having membership from twenty two countries. 

To compete riders require a high degree of athletic ability, good riding skills, hand-to-eye coordination, determination, perseverance, a competitive spirit and an  ability to work together with other riders. To be successful requires dedication, hours of training to perfect the skills imparted by their coach, in this case Ginni Thurston. These along with an intelligent, quick, agile pony who can learn the various routines. 

Examples of this exciting sport can be seen on YouTube, simply type in ‘Mounted Games’ where there are videos of many competition including the World Event held at Denmark. Well worth a look.