Not worth getting wound up about. I agree with DH. You pay your money, you play with your horse. Enjoy it!
The first rule of Pony Club: You do not talk about Pony Club.
Sorry…couldn’t resist that one.
The first time I read your post I thought it said leading your horse withoout haltering first and I was going to argue that really IS dangerous. But going into its stall without haltering? Ehh…nah…
You are enjoying the benefits of training and safety - so enjoy! But, I guess I wouldn’t go out of my way to show all the kids…not sure what the day is like with the Pony Club kids around, but I guess I’d avoid feeding my horse while on crossties in the middle of a bunch of kids, for example…just so it doesn’t look like you’re doing it only for their benefit.
Otherwise, the moms can chill. Seriously, I was expecting more exciting rule breaking too (no helmet, flip flops, smoking…)
Hi everyone!
I am a long time lurker. This thread inspired me to register.
One of the problems that Pony Club has had for a very long time is the “myth” of Pony Club, “rules” that somehow become viewed as Pony Clubs official position on many different topics. Very, very often these myths are started because someone affiliated with Pony Club has a personal preference for how things should be done and requires it with their own students or club members. It can even go so far as an examiner or a judge imposing their personal preferences in an official capacity. The organization has struggled with this for a long time.
There is no rule or policy in Pony Club that hand feeding is not allowed. Members can hand feed at a meeting. They can hand feed at a rally. They can hand feed at a test.
There is no rule or policy in Pony Club that bridles must be figure 8’d. Members can hang un-8’d bridles at meetings, at rallies and at testings.
There is no rule or policy that horses must not be ridden bareback in a halter and lead rope, other than that which is covered in our discipline rules. I would no sooner attempt to ride this way at a rally than I would at a dressage show or USEA event. At home? Have at it. I encourage my Pony Clubber’s to ride bareback all the time. Heck, we do it at mounted meetings. I ride my horses with halters and leads on occasion, as do most of my PC kids.
Yes, we do have a rule that at rally one must put a halter and lead on a horse when working in the stall. Again…AT RALLY. Just makes it safer in an environment where the members are without parent or coach guidance. At home we all work in stalls with our horses without necessarily putting on a halter and lead if we know the horse.
I will tell you that I spend more time explaining what our rules and policies ARE NOT than I do teaching what they are. It is extremely frustrating because so many of the things I hear are just myth’s started because someone, or a few someone’s, decide to implement their own rules or procedures and these end up getting passed around as a new Pony Club “rule”. Before you know it the world out there is POSITIVE that Pony Club has this ridiculous position that is often just not true.
It makes me sad to see such a wonderful organization tainted because of rumors and false information. It makes me even more sad that often this taint is often caused by people who represent themselves as speaking for the organization as a whole, when they are really just pushing their own agenda. Not saying they are doing it with malicious intent, but the problems created from this are still damaging.
Please don’t help spread the myth!!! Question these things. The USPC Rules are available on-line. Don’t just blindly believe things because that is what you heard. A large percentage of what I hear about Pony Club is just not true. More often than not it is a person affiliated with Pony Club running amok! (The whole “you must tie to bailing twine” being a prime one. It never was a rule, but even many educated PC people ended up thinking that it was!)
If you don’t want to take the time to confirm what you hear as fact (and I get that life is short and if you are not a member then who cares?) that is fine, but don’t then spread it as being fact. Please!!!
Sorry for my little rant! Just write it off to one dedicated and lifelong Pony Club person who, sadly, spends more time correcting the falsehoods than teaching the good core curriculum that we have spent decades developing. Do we have some silly stuff? We do, but not even close to the amount we are accused of having!
Now, off to the barn to feed and muck with no leads ropes. I might just feed a treat by hand, and then grab my non figure 8’d bridle and ride. Heck, I might even hop on bareback with halter and lead rope and invite some Pony Clubbers to join me!
Personally, I use the people at the barn who have bad horse handling practice as examples for my child; I show her how to manage a horse properly (as per my thinking), and I point out how others do it differently. Whether the OP has ‘bad’ horse handling practices or, not I really have no idea, but I think you can teach children by example, whether the examples are good or bad.
Case in point, I made it a very strong point early on in her exposure to horses that when you lead a horse in or out of a stall, the door is always completely open, and to make sure the latch isn’t sticking out in a way the horse could run in to. The barn rat teens at her local barn are very sloppy about this, and at some point early on, my daughter saw a horse slam its hip into a half-closed door so hard it rattled the barn. Poor horse, but good example for the kid who got a real life “why” on my door policy.
To the OP, I wouldn’t worry so much about Pony Club mom’s giving you the stink eye. If you’re comfortable with the way you handle your horse, that’s what’s important to you. And if the mom’s don’t like what you are doing, they can use yo
u as an example to the kids, but it’s really no skin off your teeth.
I agree I thought you were teaching baby horses to load in flip flops, with a bucket of rusty nails, not “I go into the stall without haltering”. My spidey senses were way off!! 
I try to emulate good horsemanship when around kids, however, I don’t think your behavior qualifies for “bad horsemanship” or “safety concerns”. It may be more “in your head”. Even if it’s not, at some point young equestrians must start making their own judgement calls. I assume PC is training them by their rules of safety etc but that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be exposed to “other” ways.
Like driving a car, At some point, every beginner driver has get on the highway. Hopefully their instructors, parents have properly prepared them. I don’t drive with my hands at 10 and 2, but I’m hardly an unsafe driver.
My advice is take a breath, enjoy your horse.
Thank you, Mischievous! I am a PC graduate, and as I was reading the OP’s post, I was thinking, “Wow, this description does not sound like the PC I remember.” Pony Club is all about safety, cleanliness, proper horse care, general equine knowledge, and good riding. I was a member from age 8 till 21, and I don’t remember ever hearing that riding with a halter and lead rope or giving treats by hand wasn’t allowed or that putting up a bridle in a figure-8 was required. It’s a terrific organization, and any riding ability and general horsemanship I have, I owe to my Pony Club experiences.
[QUOTE=goodhors;7974225]
Shortcut by skipping the bridle use for riding…
You KNOW that going riding bridleless
…And you STILL won’t understand you brought things on yourself by consistant poor choices in horse handling.[/QUOTE]
As someone who consistently rides with a sidepull (the rope version similar to a rope halter with rings attached) or hackamore, I think it’s silly that you’re going on about riding bridleless.
I do things my own way, but if younger people are about I go that extra step.
This is in honor of the horsewomen and horsemen who patiently showed me how to do things the safe and correct way, all influenced by English horsemanship.
Oh, how I yearned to join the Pony Club!
Since I am severely handicapped I am quite happy to always do things the safe way. I do not hand feed since I do not want a horse to “mug” me ever, I am too unsteady on my feet. I stopped riding halter & bareback decades ago (my helmet was always on.) I have my helmet on before I even enter the barn, just as extra protection from any sudden move of a horse, I just cannot get out of the way fast enough. I talk to the horses a lot, to let them know where I am, if I do something new I explain it to the horse first out loud, useful to give any girl around an education on how to act when introducing something new to the horse, and I praise the horse for cooperating with me, especially when I gracelessly collapse on their side and they hold steady so I do not fall.
My riding teacher fully supports my impromptu lessons on horsemanship to any of her students. She had been in the Pony Club and appreciates me setting a good example to her students. It helps make up for the extra work she has to do to help me ride.
OP, I don’t think you’re doing anything wrong. Also, based on other peoples’ responses, it sounds like PC at your barn may be particularly anal.
I have to say, though, that when I returned to riding, I was taking lessons at Windrush in Boxford and the owner, Marge Kittredge – one of the first in the “therapeutic riding” movement – asked me if I’d been in Pony Club as a kid because of how I behaved with the lesson horses. I could not have been more proud! (Answer: no, I was never in Pony Club – but was riding a lot with a friend who had been, and she was constantly giving me little tips…)
I’m still not sure I am figure-8-ing my bridle properly… and OP, I also do a lot of the things you do 
Rolling my eyes at some of the posters who need to remove something from their posteriors.
OP: I think you are either reading too much into the “stink eye” coming from the pony club moms, or you are getting the stink eye because you are simply in the way/taking up a set of crossties/etc on busy rating weekends, when the kids are all on their best behavior. (Not that you don’t have a right to be, btw, as a paying boarder!) Because none of the pony club moms at my barn know how to put on a bridle, nevermind figure 8 one, so they are certainly not giving anyone the stink eye about it.
I board/train at a Pony Club barn. Kids regularly hand feed, ride bareback in halter and lead ropes, and all sorts of other “casual” things. Bridles are always hung up properly, but that’s a barn rule.
The only behavior of mine they were regularly horrified by is that they have not once seen me clean my tack. :lol:
quietann, thanks so much for that blast from the past!!!
Marge Kittredge was one of the first people to hire me to teach, as a fledgling professional fresh out of the Pony Club ranks. What a gem of a horsewoman. Common sense, more knowledge forgotten than most of us will ever possess and an exemplary teacher of horsemanship.
Have not thought about her in years.
[QUOTE=Lady Eboshi;7974357]
Pony Club teaches their version of good horsemanship, which just happens to be so incredibly control-freak that only the most tight-assed need apply.
a/QUOTE]
This is outright BS! Pony Club does a great job teaching kids how to be proper horsemen. Our family was very involved in PC, my three daughters have become quiet, confident riders, and capable horse women. Not a tight assed control freak in the bunch. If it’s not your thing…it’s not your thing… whatever.
OP - I wouldn’t worry too much about your effect on the kids or on the stink eye from the mothers. It’s your horse & your thing, not your job to be a role model…that’s what PC instructors are for. The only thing you mentioned that i wouldn’t have children do is go into a stall with a horse that isn’t haltered, and that’s a safety issue. Pony club is all about safety and horsemanship.
I would not worry about your barn habits, if they are that bad they can be pointed out to the kids as what not to do, however I don’t think that is the case. As for the moms giving you the stink eye, that in itself is very un Pony Club like behavior, in my opinion.
Pony Club can be a super great experience for kids, it should not be a them vs us in a barn. It should not be about a feeling of being better than some one else, its about education and safety.
Pony Club can take all of their ridiculous rules and shove them where the sun don’t shine. Can you tell I really don’t like Pony Club? LOL! I was an active Pony Club member for years but when I was told (after pointing out incorrect information in their manual) that it doesn’t matter correct or not, if it’s in the manual it’s gospel- I quit.
If some of these posters think your actions are so offensive…surely they would be sent into anxiety attacks watching me work with my guys.
I w/t/c and jump one of my guys bareback all the time in gasp a halter and lead rope. They get lead in and out of the barn by following me. And I don’t think I have ever put a halter and lead rope on them just to go into their stall, unless I’m giving dewormer or clipping or something and my horses want to be giraffes.
OP, I’d say what you do with your horses and your time is YOUR business. Let the moms give the stink eye. Maybe the kids will learn that the reason we spend all this time/money/effort on this “hobby” is to have FUN. And if you spend 99% of your time doing things because of the “what ifs”, well how is that a recipe for fun?
[QUOTE=lachelle;7974580]
If some of these posters think your actions are so offensive…surely they would be sent into anxiety attacks watching me work with my guys.
I w/t/c and jump one of my guys bareback all the time in gasp a halter and lead rope. They get lead in and out of the barn by following me. And I don’t think I have ever put a halter and lead rope on them just to go into their stall, unless I’m giving dewormer or clipping or something and my horses want to be giraffes.
OP, I’d say what you do with your horses and your time is YOUR business. Let the moms give the stink eye. Maybe the kids will learn that the reason we spend all this time/money/effort on this “hobby” is to have FUN. And if you spend 99% of your time doing things because of the “what ifs”, well how is that a recipe for fun? :)[/QUOTE]
I was going to type something along those lines and you beat me to it.
OP, just ignore those PonyClub moms. You are not doing anything that is unsafe. I hate those righteous types and I ignore them. I was taught riding and horsemanship as a kid by military riders, some of then from the Cadre Noir…after going through that, no one can fluster me, lol!
I agree, you pay money to board, and are not a PC instructor. Sounds like the PC moms have too much time on their hands, and can go bother someone else.
Thanks for saving me a lot if typing, Mischievous. OP don’t worry about those mothers. I’m a former DC and I do all the things you do and so do most of the horse savvy parents in our club.
OP:
If the PC Moms are anything like the 4H Moms I had to deal with let 'em glare & go on about your business.
Unless they are horsepeople too, you can’t fix their Stoopid.
One unfailingly referred to my geldings as “she” even after I (repeatedly) pointed out the very simple way of determining a horse’s gender.
A group of them accompanied their kids & me to an open show I took my greenbean to for some mileage.
There they lined the rail making catty, inappropriate, stage-whispered comments when the judge did not pin one of their kids.
These Moms were all about the trappings & prizes, nothing about learning.
And FWIW, I was once “ratted out” to my H/J trainer by another of her clients because I had taken my Show Hunter on trails - in tennis shoes, Oh! The Humanity! - and jumped a conveniently fallen log.
Trainer, bless her, just asked the snitch “Did they look good?”
