Is Pony Club still " a thing"?

[Linda]

Our pony club has had its ups and downs. We went through a stretch when the parents weren’t getting along and it about derailed the club. One of the parents would even stand by the rail and make snarky comments to the young kids as they rode by about how they would never be as good as her daughter because her parents could not afford a nice horse. sigh After working with this woman for about six months, , I eventually removed her from the club.

Its too bad, because her daughter was insecure and didnt have a lot of friends. She did have a nice horse but was timid and insecure. Pony club was a great venue for her. It gave her confidence and she was very involved in all the activities and rallies. She loved it. And because of her mother, she was no longer a member. sigh

But at the same time, we also had a rider who couldnt afford a really nice “made” horse and ended up adopting a rescue. I must say that even I was skeptical about that horse …but she stuck to it, qualified for nationals and won! Wow what a great example of what you CAN do if you put your mind to it !

I have a background in HR doing conflict resolution and have vollunteered my time to pony club when conflicts occur. Absolutley ALL of the issues I have mediated, have been with the parents. Some of the clubs members cant always afford a horse on their own so some of these clubs have lesson horses. And even with a riding schedule, there are still conflicts about whose gets to ride “Locky” in todays lesson. Its the parents who are the issues. The kids get along. And most of the time, if two kids show up for a lesson on one horse, they work it out together and split riding the horse in the lesson that day. But then the parents get all frazzled and try to kick the other rider off the horse. Amazing attitudes actually. But Im sure that happens in girl scouts and 4H too. .

Overall, I think its a great opportunity to learn about horses other than just showing up for a lesson and your horse is tacked up in the cross ties ready to go. The broader education is priceless. But from my experience, its the “nuts and bolts” of making it all work without the adults getting in the way that can be the issue.

[soloudinhere]

[QUOTE=Linda;8139637]
Our pony club has had its ups and downs. We went through a stretch when the parents weren’t getting along and it about derailed the club. One of the parents would even stand by the rail and make snarky comments to the young kids as they rode by about how they would never be as good as her daughter because her parents could not afford a nice horse. sigh After working with this woman for about six months, , I eventually removed her from the club.

Its too bad, because her daughter was insecure and didnt have a lot of friends. She did have a nice horse but was timid and insecure. Pony club was a great venue for her. It gave her confidence and she was very involved in all the activities and rallies. She loved it. And because of her mother, she was no longer a member. sigh

But at the same time, we also had a rider who couldnt afford a really nice “made” horse and ended up adopting a rescue. I must say that even I was skeptical about that horse …but she stuck to it, qualified for nationals and won! Wow what a great example of what you CAN do if you put your mind to it !

I have a background in HR doing conflict resolution and have vollunteered my time to pony club when conflicts occur. Absolutley ALL of the issues I have mediated, have been with the parents. Some of the clubs members cant always afford a horse on their own so some of these clubs have lesson horses. And even with a riding schedule, there are still conflicts about whose gets to ride “Locky” in todays lesson. Its the parents who are the issues. The kids get along. And most of the time, if two kids show up for a lesson on one horse, they work it out together and split riding the horse in the lesson that day. But then the parents get all frazzled and try to kick the other rider off the horse. Amazing attitudes actually. But Im sure that happens in girl scouts and 4H too. .

Overall, I think its a great opportunity to learn about horses other than just showing up for a lesson and your horse is tacked up in the cross ties ready to go. The broader education is priceless. But from my experience, its the “nuts and bolts” of making it all work without the adults getting in the way that can be the issue.[/QUOTE]
I 100% agree that if there is a problem it’s usually parent driven.

Inevitably, the problems always stem from parents being hyper involved in their children’s lives.

They cannot volunteer any time or expertise because they are so busy hovering over their child. The ones who do everything for their kids are just as bad as the ones who stand and watch and hover.

I can’t stand it and I would donate a lot more time if u didn’t have to deal with a parental group that is equal parts competitive, clueless, and overbearing.

[Linda]

soloudinhere - I TOTALLY agree with you. I just dont “get it” that the parents think they need to run the show - from who rides which horse, which days, which times etc…and of course, the gossiping of "did you hear what mary said today in the lesson about jane. REALLY?

I am direct in my approach with the parents. They sit in the bleachers outside the ring and I stand in that general area. SO…when the gossiping in the stands starts, I hear it and stop the lesson.

I walk over and say to the parents - now what was that all about? I thought you were saying something about sylvia. What was that??

And then I remind them that we wont tolerate snarky language and behavior in lessons from anyone. We are supposed to be setting an example for the riders !

So unless they can be polite, we will stop the lesson and they can all leave.

The first few times, they didnt believe me. Then they did when five minutes into the lesson, I cancelled it. A few times since then, I have excused the parent and unfortunately the rider.

The child really doesnt have power over her parent - but I do. So they are either polite…or the lesson stops and everyone leaves the ring. While the others may not have been participating, the peer pressure from the others who want to continue the lesson, generally stops the behavior.

If it happens more than once, I privately tell the parent that the next time I will remove the child from all future lessons.

I was challenged on that only once…and the peer pressure from the other parents made the misbehaving parent drop her child off for lessons and LEAVE. Too bad. But now its SO much nicer!

[luvdogz72]

[QUOTE=Linda;8139637]
But at the same time, we also had a rider who couldnt afford a really nice “made” horse and ended up adopting a rescue. I must say that even I was skeptical about that horse …but she stuck to it, qualified for nationals and won! Wow what a great example of what you CAN do if you put your mind to it ! [/QUOTE]

SO COOL!! love the message it sends.!

Also want to say that the three pony club books are some of the best riding books around! I bought them as an adult and love them. Only one of all the
instructors I’ve had has ever even mentioned them and they have been invaluable to me.

Books have taught me about half of what I know about riding and horses. They can really explain things - better than instructors can in many cases.

[Lucassb]

[QUOTE=vxf111;8138406]
She said she did very little riding at PC events… not that she did very little riding at all. I used to ride at a barn with a good PC. A few of the kids did hunters and rode a fair amount but used borrowed mounts for PD ratings/events. It would be fair to say that they did minimal riding with the PC but got plenty of saddle time on their own/with their non-PC affiliated trainer. I don’t know if that’s the case for Lucassb or not-- but I think there’s plenty of value in the unmounted part of PC. If you’re pretty agile and pay attention and take advantage of the saddle time you do have-- you can make the lessons pretty useful.[/QUOTE]

V, you are correct. I did take (weekly) lessons outside of PC, and I also learned quite a bit from the auditing and unmounted opportunities I got thru PC.

@soloudinhere;8138548

she said “I did not have access to a mount.” I think you’re reading a lot more into it than I did; I took it as face value “I had nothing to ride” which is pretty much exactly what it says.

I did not own a horse when I was in PC. I did however take weekly lessons and occasionally got a catch ride at a lesson barn during that time. I was still able to get my ratings within PC system, using a borrowed (very nice event) horse lent to me by our DC.