Introduction to the PRA
I suppose you could say that Pony Riders existence is largely due to my complete ignorance of normal equestrian rules when I purchased my first mare Kestrel. You see, although I had ridden for years I had never had one of my own until I was an adult. I had competed on borrowed mounts but only as a junior and therefore had never really come up against the height/age problem at shows.
When I bought Kestrel it was because I fell in love with her. It never occurred to me that we would have trouble attending a few local shows - afer all I didn't want to affiliate or anything, just have some fun. Having spent 18 months breaking and schooling Kessie I was therefore a little put out when I began planning for our first outings and discovered that she was 1.5" too short to compete with me as a rider.
At the time Kessie was kept at a fairly large livery yard and there were several other pony riders who all had the same problems. It seemed to me that there was room for movement in these frustrating rules and so I decided to write to a couple of national magazines about this issue. My actual suggestion was that a club/society of some sort which catered for this currently ignored group of equestrians would be a good idea - I did not offer to found such a club.
I initially wrote to Your Horse and Horse and Rider. The response was overwhelming. I had around 100 letters from all over the country with people asking how to join the pony society I was setting up! After I had got over the shock, I decided to give the idea of setting up such an association serious consideration. The first thing I did was to try and decide what exactly such a club should aim to achieve and what it could reasonably offer to its members. I took my inspiration in part from the Endurance Horse and Pony Society and the Western Equestrian Society - both of which are successful clubs catering for a minority interest with members scattered all over the country. After hours of discussions with other friends and horsey fold the result was a draft constitution and a questionnaire was mailed to everyone who had originally written in.
I had some very touching letters from girls in the 13-18 age group that pointed out that they were also coming up against discriminatory rules. Our junior membership was born in the hopes that it would give such youngsters an alternative to selling off much loved ponies in order to continue to compete.
The other fundamental change was the decision to include 14.3 ponies. It was pointed out to me that owners of 14.3 ponies were almost more discriminated against than those with smaller mounts. These aninamls can sometimes be too pony-like to successfully compete against horses and they are unable to enter "pony classes" due to the 14.2 break.
The rest - so they say - is history. There have been many changes along the way but I think I can safely say that it has been an interesting experience and one which I wouldn't have changed for the world.
Nikki Parsler, PRA President
- Last updated: 21 June 2006