The Dubai Pony Club meets weekly at The Emirates Center in Bab Al Shams, United Arab Emirates. This year we had over 45 Members from the ages of 7 to 16 years. Although predominantly girls there were also 5 boys who made up our numbers this year. Most of the Pony Club Members do not have their own ponies so use the ponies provided by Emirates Equestrian Center for their rallies. We split the children according to age and ability into three groups, the rallies take place in their own groups but the entire Pony Club comes together for shows and competitions.
2011/2012 was a very successful year for the Dubai Pony Club. Due to Dubai’s extreme temperature and climate we began the year focusing on dressage and flatwork. Each group received tuition and practice in dressage tests and this culminated in a Pony Club dressage competition. The FEI World Dressage Challenge was being held at the center during this time so the children could all watch and see what they were aiming for in the future.
In October we held our very popular Halloween show which incorporated fancy dress and a small showjumping competition. In November we began jumping in earnest as the weather had cooled considerably. December was a short month for us but ended with our Christmas show which incorporated gymkhana games, handy pony competitions and yet more fancy dress.
In the first week in January six of our Pony Club riders rode a musical drill ride display for the crowds at the Dubai Showjumping Championship and International World Cup Qualifier held at Dubai International Endurance City and twelve of them were involved in a gymkhana games display at the same event. These two displays promoted the Pony Club not only in Dubai but also the GCC region.
January sees the start of our Eventing season and started to work on cross country with the Pony Club. Our youngest members jumped rustic poles in the safety of an arena however our more experienced riders were given the opportunity to ride on our purpose built cross country course. A One Day Event was held at the Center and the more experienced Pony Club riders were encouraged to participate. Despite a fairly serious sandstorm on the day the event was well attended and our Pony Club riders all came back safely having thoroughly enjoyed the thrill of a One Day Event. A Pony Club express Eventing competition was organized in February and again was a great success. The rest of February was given to rallies and gymkhana games practice.
March saw us preparing for Pony Club Tests and concentrating on stable management as the weather began to heat up again. At the end of March we had our very popular three day/ night Pony Club camp. The camp encouraged children of different ages and abilities to work together as a team throughout the weekend and culminated in our own version of the Nations Cup.
Mock exams were taken taken in April and Diane Crabtree our BSHII Registered Instructor examined all our younger riders for their D and E tests. We are happy to report that all of them passed.

Report and Photos

The New Zealand Pony Clubs have three National Competition Events: Dressage, Games and Horse Trials.  Equestrian NZ have held a Pony Club Area Teams Show Jumping competition at the Horse of the Year for the last four years.  Visit www.nzpca.org for more details.

Dressage: To alleviate the huge expense of crossing Cook Strait, which separates the North and South Island the National Dressage competition is held in both Islands, with the same tests being used and the same judges flown to both venues.

Games: Since the 50th jubilee year in 1996 the Areas have held the Prince Phillip Games competitions. Again, to alleviate huge traveling distances these are held in Zones, with each Area being able to send a maximum of five teams, either Club or Branch teams. 

Horse Trials: The longest running National event this began as a Club teams event in 1956 then became an Area event in 1960. From 1969 the format has been a team of three DC riders (16yrs and under) and three A1 riders (17 and under 21yrs).

Show Jumping Teams Event:  Newest event, being held at the Horse of the Year since 2008.  Two pony riders (16yrs and under) compete at 1.05m while two hack riders (under 21yrs) compete at 1.10m.  The second round of the competition is competed in the Main Oval, a huge thrill for our Pony Clubbers.   

Pictured is a Franklin Thames Valley A1 rider at the 2012 Horse Trials Champs held in Oamaru, South Island. 

During 2012 it was decided, for ease of operation, to amalgamate the various Branches in Zimbabwe into one Branch under the direct control of the Executive Committee. 
This has proved to be the right move and as a result Pony Club has enjoyed a vibrant year with a well attended Pony Show – which included our Zambian counterparts.  Zimbabwe then sent two teams to Lusaka to attend the Zambian Show and a good rapport has been established between the two countries.

In the Eventing discipline there has been a marked increased in the number of Pony Club members competing and a successful Dressage team competition and Championship was held earlier in the year.

Our year will finish with a camp to be held at the home of our Chief Instructor and we are encouraging our slightly older teenagers to give active help and tuition to our youngest recruits.

On Saturday 31st March and Sunday 1st April 2012 Members of Thailand Pony Club took progressive tests. The Visiting Examiner was Miss Jo Eling who is an examiner with The Hong Kong Pony Club and BHSII.

Successful E Test Candidates were:
1) Tilly Harker
2) Charlotte Masson
3) Annabel Brett
4) Bekki Ruprecht

Successful D Test candidates were:
1) Tora Ruprecht
2) Sasha Ruprecht
3) Eilish Moore
4) Jessica Cumming

Successful C Test Candidates were:
1) Claudia Thomson
2) Ella Wishart (pictured)
3) Annabel Montgomery-Day
4) Jessica Montgomery-Day

Well done to all the successful Members!