Pony Club Manuals?

[Kyzteke]

A friend of mine has a 10 yr old daughter. In my area there is no such thing as “Pony Club”. 4-H is it and the instruction in horsemanship is pretty much restricted to O-Mok-O-See competition. Even that instruction is fairly primitive…as an example, the instructor’s solution to most everything in horse control is “get a bigger bit!”

Luckily, even my friend realized this was a bad answer.

My friend herself has no real education in horsemanship and all that it entails (horsecare, nutrition, horse safety, basic proper form in the saddle, etc. etc), but she TRULY wants for her daughter what she never got for herself – a well-rounded, educated exposure to honest to goodness HORSEMANSHIP, which is something difficult to come by here in the backwoods of redneck country.

So my question: is there some way I could get my friend’s daughter some of the older Pony Club Manuals?

I realize they are no substitute for good, educated instruction, but I understand they covered quite a bit of subject matter and were compiled in age-appropriate, properly structured levels.

I never had a chance to “do” Pony Club myself, and learned horsemanship via the long and mistake-riddled method of hands-on, so I can sympathize with my friend’s desire to open up her daughter’s equine horizons.

Example: when shown a video (by me) of an upper level dressage competition, the girl was totally dumbfounded. Her response, “What sort of competition is this? It just looks like they are just riding…they aren’t even going fast. How can they tell who win?”

Ok, no fair laughing…not only was she NOT kidding, but you would be surprised how much of America (and certainly in my area) has such a limited knowledge of the horse world.

Most of these people don’t want to be educated, but this gal (or at least her mom) truly does, so I’d like to help in whatever way I can.

Any idea where I could get a collection of PC manuals for this little girl? Any other suggestions?

I have offered to pay for a single lesson from a local dressage trainer for both the girl & her daughter, but my income is also limited (as is their’s), so the PC idea came to me.

PMs are welcome. Thanks to all for any ideas you may have.

[AdrenalineJunky]

Do your local tack stores not carry them? I’m in Canada and our tack stores always have them, as well as Chapters which I guess in the states would be equivalent to barnes & noble. A quick search on amazon also shows that they carry them so you really shouldn’t have a problem getting copies of them if you look around. I think they are a great source of knowledge for any horse person to learn more about the horse so getting them for this girl would not be a bad idea at all. Getting instruction from a quality instructor would be one of the best ways for her to learn as well, can she get a paper route or do some babysitting to help pay for her own lessons? Raking peoples leaves or shoveling drive ways? I also wasn’t clear if she has her own horse or not already.

[Too_Old_for_Pony_Club]

The British Pony Club produces one manual called “The Manual of Horsemanship”, while USPC has three (the D, C and A/B Manuals). I have an old edition of The Manual of Horsemanship that I’d donate to an interested kid. Feel free to PM me.

[Dewey]

I also have several copies of the old Manual of Horsemanship from the 70s, the one published by the British Horse Society and the Pony Club. However, the newer American ones are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online retailers. They even have Kindle editions now.

As a former Pony Clubber, I can’t recommend these books strongly enough. Here’s a link to the first one, the one she should start out with.

http://www.amazon.com/United-States-Pony-Manual-Horsemanship/dp/1118123786/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

[lcw579]

As DC of a Pony Club I second Dewey’s recommendation of the D manual. Perfect for someone just starting out and written in an accessible style.

[ladybugsbw]

I highly highly recommend the “D” manual for anyone who needs a perfect start to learning safe and correct horsemanship. It is an easy to read book and has great diagram type pictures that will help any age. As she progresses, she can purchase the “C” manual (the middle book), which goes into further detail of care and riding. I pony clubbed until last year and I still use all three of these books as reference guides to horse care and more.
They are all on amazon, and the new (ish) ones have some more up to date information than the original, although both are wonderful.

[Kyzteke]

[QUOTE=AdrenalineJunky;7367148]
Do your local tack stores not carry them? I’m in Canada and our tack stores always have them, as well as Chapters which I guess in the states would be equivalent to barnes & noble. A quick search on amazon also shows that they carry them so you really shouldn’t have a problem getting copies of them if you look around. I think they are a great source of knowledge for any horse person to learn more about the horse so getting them for this girl would not be a bad idea at all. Getting instruction from a quality instructor would be one of the best ways for her to learn as well, can she get a paper route or do some babysitting to help pay for her own lessons? Raking peoples leaves or shoveling drive ways? I also wasn’t clear if she has her own horse or not already.[/QUOTE]

We have ONE tack store that carries English sort of stuff; it’s over 1 hr away. I can ask if they carry the PC stuff, but I guess I thought since we don’t have PC, they would not be likely to carry them.

The girl hopefully can eventually do stuff like baby-sitting to earn extra income, but we are in a very rural, low-income area where grown men are will to “rake leaves” for minimum wage.

She does have her own horse and has been riding for some time, but still hasn’t progressed beyond riding w/her hands. And it doesn’t help that the horse hasn’t really been “trained” by anyone but the mother & daughter, with the input of the 4-H, O-Mok-O-See leader (she of the “Get a Bigger Bit” school of horsemanship). So the horse has little knowledge of leg aids, lateral work or pretty much anything but “go really fast.”

I never really thought about Amazon…I guess I figured you had to be a Pony Clubber to get the manual!

So I should start her out with the “D” version? How often are they updated? Thinking maybe I could get a used one (my income is also limited) but no sense in teaching her to outdated info.

Her mom realizes there is more to learn, but isn’t that educated herself, so that’s a problem. I’ve offered to give the kid some lessons in the basics and also the mom, but it would be nice to give her some structured, “official” education in all aspects of horsemanship.

[Desert_Topaz]

There’s only been one update to the US manuals and it happened last year. You definitely don’t need to be a pony clubber to buy them.

[Highflyer]

[QUOTE=Desert Topaz;7367786]
There’s only been one update to the US manuals and it happened last year. You definitely don’t need to be a pony clubber to buy them.[/QUOTE]

They have been rewritten a lot over the years, actually. You want either this one (newest): http://www.amazon.com/United-States-Pony-Manual-Horsemanship/dp/1118123786/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389496904&sr=8-1&keywords=d+pony+club+manual or this one: http://www.amazon.com/United-States-Pony-Manual-Horsemanship/dp/0876059523/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1389496904&sr=8-2&keywords=d+pony+club+manual

Either would be fine, since she’s not prepping for a rating-- the basic information hasn’t changed.

A lot of the other pony club material is available via the USPC website here: http://uspcbooks.stores.yahoo.net/mema.html

[Kyzteke]

[QUOTE=Highflyer;7367839]
They have been rewritten a lot over the years, actually. You want either this one (newest): http://www.amazon.com/United-States-Pony-Manual-Horsemanship/dp/1118123786/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389496904&sr=8-1&keywords=d+pony+club+manual - the basic information hasn’t changed.

A lot of the other pony club material is available via the USPC website here: http://uspcbooks.stores.yahoo.net/mema.html[/QUOTE]

Great! I bought the first one for her…my contribution to the future of American horsemanship. Not sure how she is going to mesh this with her interest in barrel racing, but maybe I can get her hooked on eventing or jumpers instead.

Also bought her “The Horse Conformation Coloring Book” which looks so cool I may steal it from her. What better way to spend a snowy Sunday than this and a brand new box of Crayolas (the BIG box with 50+ colors)?

And some wine, which for some overly strict reason, my mother would never allow me to have back when I was 10. Mothers…:rolleyes:

[furlong47]

I got mine at Barnes and Noble. Didn’t even need to order online - they had them in the physical store. There is a lot of general information and stuff about care, feeding, etc which will apply to any discipline.

[crosscreeksh]

eBay always has some listed.

[Desert_Topaz]

[QUOTE=Highflyer;7367839]
They have been rewritten a lot over the years, actually. [/QUOTE]
Whoopsies, misinterpreted something someone told me a few months ago. They had a hard time getting the latest versions updated apparently as they don’t actually own the copyrights to them.

[Highflyer]

[QUOTE=Kyzteke;7368976]
Great! I bought the first one for her…my contribution to the future of American horsemanship. Not sure how she is going to mesh this with her interest in barrel racing, but maybe I can get her hooked on eventing or jumpers instead.

Also bought her “The Horse Conformation Coloring Book” which looks so cool I may steal it from her. What better way to spend a snowy Sunday than this and a brand new box of Crayolas (the BIG box with 50+ colors)?

And some wine, which for some overly strict reason, my mother would never allow me to have back when I was 10. Mothers…:rolleyes:[/QUOTE]

Next step is to find a couple more kids and start your own club