Traditional Pony Clubs are non-profit, and only charge members to cover costs not covered by any fundraising they might do (this will vary widely from club to club)
A Pony Club Riding Center is a for-profit lesson barn following the Pony Club curriculum. Their members are full USPC members, and they can participate at any rally or championships. They just don’t (usually) own a horse and are dependent on the center for the horse, instruction, and transportation. What the center charges can vary widely from center to center.
Pony club riding centers are an excellent way to get kids into the Pony Club program without having to go all in with a horse, trailer, etc. Yes, the costs will always be higher per activity, but still probably cheaper than buying a horse, boarding it, buying a truck and trailer, etc. As a traditional club near a few riding centers, we find that a certain number of kids will naturally progress from the riding center, to accumulating a horse and trailer, and switching to a traditional club due to lower costs and more opportunities. Sometimes they’ll spend a year as dual members of both clubs before finalizing the switch.
I’m involved in a traditional club. We do not charge anything for unmounted meetings. If we brought in an instructor or special guest that we had to pay, then we’d probably pass that cost onto the members if we couldn’t justify it in the budget. Our club’s annual membership fee is only $15 (plus regional and national dues). We operate on a “pay as you go” system, where kids sign up for lessons and rallies that are offered, and pay their share. It’s all subsidized by club fundraising, in an amount to be determined each year. Our goal is to keep our bank account at about the same “cushion” from year to year. Some clubs in our area have major fundraisers, like USEA events, and are able to cover 100% of the costs of everything. Some have none, and the members pay the actual costs. Some charge much higher yearly or quarterly dues which cover lessons whether you attend them or not. All of this flexibility is allowed by the national organization.
There are several Pony Club Riding Centers in our region and neighboring region. They’re all a little different. What is the same between them all and with traditional clubs is the teamwork and knowledge. Rally days are long days and involve hard work, but kids love rallies. Some of them will admit that the riding part is not what they love the most about it. They love hanging out in their team area with the other kids, eating snacks, talking about whatever it is they talk about, and having no parents cramping their style all day (they do get some supervisory walk-throughs by the Horse Management judges, so are not completely feral). Parent togetherness is a side effect of rallies, and in my experience has been pretty positive. There have only been 1 or 2 people who I really didn’t want to spend all day with in my 11 years in Pony Club as a parent.
I do think $75 for an unmounted meeting is pretty steep! However, I’d want to know the other details, like how often are they, what are the costs for a mounted PC lesson, are you also required to take regular group lessons in addition to PC lessons, what’s the real cost of attending rallies (do they charge for horse rental or trailering?) You should also see if your region has a regional website or contact info, because then you could see when/what ALL of the rallies are. As a member of the region, your daughter could choose to be involved in other rallies besides what that center attends. She could go as a stable manager for another club, help out with horse management, or just do things like jump crew. The region probably also holds some regional educational activities, like a standards and ratings clinic, or HM clinic.
