Pony Club believes that our Alumni are our greatest achievement, and our investment toward assuring a strong, vibrant equestrian culture in the future.
Pony Club Alumni can be found all over the world, in show rings, veterinary practices, boardrooms and classrooms, gracing Olympic podiums or shoeing horses in your neighborhood barn. They are coaches, teachers, executives, law officers, parents and citizens just like you.
They are the people who are making a difference by giving back to their communities through the same volunteerism that was part of their formative journey. But they all share a common experience and that is the lifelong connection to the Pony Club family.
With clubs operating in 27 countries around the globe, Pony Club Alumni have friends and peers wherever they go. Many lifelong friendships have had their roots in the shared journey that is Pony Club.
Edmonton
1960's
I was a member of the first Pony Club in Edmonton, and attended the first meeting they held. The first testing took all members to the Edmonton Gardens to sort out the levels. We wrote all the tests starting from D until we didn't pass one. Then we all mounted and rode in the Gardens. There were a lot of horses in the ring, well over 30 and we all rode and did as we were asked until we were grouped. The lower levels dropped out as they were placed. My sister Janice Meen and I stayed until the last group and joined as C1. All future testing was done in July and my family went to BC for the month of July so it was years before I tested again. My last year as pony clubber, now in University, I finally got to test at Fort Edmonton Park and got my C2 on that occasion. That same day I did my first combined event as part of the test and I was hooked for life. I remember many of the senior education classes: - disecting a horses leg in fermaldihide over one winter to learn the muscles and bones, we named our legs and it wasn't uncommen to get a call saying 'I can't make it tonight, keep Fred in the formalduhyde for me and I will cut up more of him next week'. - working in groups at the McDonald's, going from station to station being quized and learning something different at each station - kind of a precurser to Quiz now. - I remember Marg Ellard hosting so many lectures and hands on horsemanship, even after their barn burned down. - I remember the paper chase at the Bonnello's following a paper trail trough the ravines and fields on horseback and getting lost. - I remember Vet lectures, cleaning tack as a group, and meetings at the Sportex. Our group seemed huge - more like a region than a club. - I remember doing a one day Rally at Tom Budd's on a borrowed pony and getting our pictures in the Edmonton Journal. I do not remember any regional events but until Red Deer and Calgary also had clubs there was no region to compete with. We did not have PPG or Tetrathalon, but we were very active with both unmounted and mounted meetings.
Clearwater Valley
1977-90
My earliest Pony club memories are from my very first Camp at the farm of Doris Jacobi. My sister Vicki and I were the youngest and newest members. We stayed in our tent trailer. We didn't know what to do, and Doris, along with the older campers, including Jaki and Phillipa Beck, and many others, helped us and made camp great. The funniest time of camp were the skits we had to make up and perform. I will always be thankful to Mrs Jacobi for introducing me to jumping (on Star), and for selling me her horse Bahn Reigh when I got too big for Star. 'Bonnie' gave me the confidence to keep riding and to try bigger and better things. When we moved from the Jacobi farm, Liz Ball became coach, and I am certain I wouldnever have gotten as far as I did without her!!! I am now in the Winnipeg area, married, with two children, Kendra age 9 and Erik age 5. Kendra is now in the Mars Hill Pony Club and we are looking forward to the season from the parent end of things!!