Wednesday 19th January
Thanks to everybody who supported the Christmas Show on 29th December.
Please let us know as soon as possible if you are renewing your membership as we have a waiting list for new members. The membership prices are the same as last year €100 for new members, €90 for renewals and €70 for 3rd member of same family.
Cross country training starting shortly please let us have your name if you want to start training for Minimus or Hunter Trials.
Shillelagh Children's Hunt Sun 24th at 12.30 in Annacurragh. Noni will be there to help any Wicklow members.
Boswell Equestrian has kindly agreed to handle the sale of Wicklow Pony Club merchandise. This is a huge help to us and Boswell is not taking any profit from the items so do please support them if you are buying Christmas presents. They have a number of events which should be of interest to Pony Club members and parents
1. Tom Holden Training Day Dec 30th
5. Ladies Jumping Day December 9th
Newsletters have been posted to every family. If you don't get one please let us know so that we can check you address in our database.
Our first Novice one day event was held on Sunday 20th September in Bel Air by kind permission of the Freeman Family. Thank you to everybody who helped to make this a very enjoyable and successful event.
Horse Trial Championships
We had great success in the recent Horse Trial Championships held in Marguerite Lodge, Kilteel, Co. Kildare. Because of the bad weather and the number of cancelled events we only had 7 Juniors and 1 Intermediate qualified so it was a wonderful achievement when Shane Farrar came 1st overall in the Juniors and the team of Clare Savage, Darah Callan and Becky Reid were placed 4th.
IPC Festival
We had a Junior and an Under 10 Games team qualified for the IPC Festival in Mullingar and they certainly came up trumps. The Juniors were placed 2nd and the U10s won
Camp
Camp this year was a great success with almost 150 taking part. The new venue was wonderful and it was great to have everybody together again for the first time in 3 years. Thanks to all the instructors and parents who helped to make it such a great success. Special thanks to the Wilding Family for the use of their land. Photos will be uploaded shortly. If aybody out there has any photos they would like to share please email them to me asap.
Minimus
Congratulations to all 18 members who travelled to Gowran, Co. Kilkenny for the National Minimus Championships. Over 450 Irish Pony Club members competed making it the largest Minimus ever. We entered 2 boys teams, 2 girls teams and a mixed team and we had a very successful weekend. Jack Savage came an amazing 2nd in the boys individual competition, Jack and Thomas Foley were placed 3rd and 4th in the boys individual running and the boys team of Jack, Thomas, Cormac Foley and Kevin Law took 4th place in the team competition. The girls team of Emily Kavanagh, Sarah O'Loughlin, Elena Tice and Lucy Gelletlie came 6th and our mixed team Ronja Steinbach and Lucy Savill took the best turned out trophy. Everybody who took part did themselves and the club proud. Huge thanks to Noni and Pam for all the work they have put into the training and preparation.
Showjumping Team Selection
Showjumping team training has been ongoing in Boswell on Monday nights with John Mulvey training the senior teams and Eddie Byrne the Robbie Bailey teams. There is one vacant place on the Robbie Bailey teams and a number of places on John Leddingham teams. Anybody interested in being considered for selection should come along to training on Monday next in Boswell.
| Robbie Bailey | John Leddingham |
|---|---|
| Rebecca Reid | James Kavanagh |
| Conn Callan | Darah Callan |
| Seanaí Ryan | Cayman Roe |
| Jessica O'Brien | Lynn Duffy |
| Sarah Gelletlie | Chloe Daly |
| Daisy McKenzie | Siún O'Donnell |
| Jenny Hughes | James Conway |
| Ciara Torpey | Lorcan Maule |
| Lauren Forde | Ben Kavanagh |
| Emily Kavanagh | Vicki Reid |
| Elena Tice | Emily Tebbitt |
| Lydia Dodd | |
| Kevin Law | |
| Shane Gallagher | |
| Sarah O'Loughlin | |
| Heather Glover | |
Horse Trials / One Day Events
Dates have been announced for the Horse Trial qualifiers. In order to qualify for the championships in August you must take part in at least 2 qualifiers and have 1 clear round and 1 with a maximum of 20 penalties. The entries have to be made through the club and the closing dates are more than a week in advance so if you intend to do any of them you should contact us in plenty of time but definitely before the date shown as some clubs only accept entries by post. Please note also that once the clubs have allocated a number and dressage time they will usually not refund the entry fee. All the qualifiers have the usual classes Members A & B, Intermediate and Junior (under 15 on 1st Jan) but some also run a Novice Intermediate (which is a seperate class for those over 15 who don't want to take on the Intermediate cross-country course) and an Under 12 course for those starting off.
| Date | Venue | Host | Closing Date | Contact us by | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sat. 20th June | Circle T Ranch, Dromiskin,Dundalk | Oriel & Louth | Fri 12th June | Wed 10th June | Nov Int |
| Thur. 25th June | Gurteen College, Roscrea, Co. Tipperary |
Area 8 | Thur. 18th June | Mon 15th June | U12 |
| Sun. 28th June | Annaharvey, Tullamore | Offaly & Westmeath | Fri 19th June | Tue 16th June | U12 |
| Sun. 5th July | Tattersalls, Ratoath | Area 7 | Fri 26th June | Tue 23rd June | Nov Int U12 |
| Sun 12th July | Stradbally Hall | Laois | Mon 6th July | Thur 2nd July | U12 |
| Wed 15th July | Sleedagh Farm, Murrinstown | Killinick | Wed 8th July | Sun 5th July | U12 |
| Sun 19th July | Tinahely Riding Club, Coolboy | Shillelagh | Mon 13th July | Thur 9th July | |
| Sat 25th July | Newtownbarry House, Bunclody | Carlow | Sat 18th July | Wed 15th July | |
| Sun 2nd August | Glandoran, Gorey | Island | Mon 27th July | Thur 23rd July |
Full details are available to view/download on the Irish Pony Club website.
Hunter Trial Championships
Wicklow had a record 4 Senior teams and 8 Junior teams entered in the Hunter Trial Championships which were held in Ballon, Co. Carlow on Saturday 18th April. We were blessed with a lovely day and a very nice course. Congratulations to all the teams and especially to our only team in the ribbons JJ Donnelly and Cayman Roe who were placed 5th in the Senior Consolation Pairs. We wish a speedy recovery to Heather who ended up in hospital for a couple of days. Full results are available on the Irish Pony Club website.
Pony Club Games
Games training has started so if you are interested contact Dervla immediately on 086 8131645.
Ponies Wanted
We have had a number of requests from parents looking for good reliable pony club ponies. If you have one for sale or loan please ring the pony club phone or send us a text and we will put you in touch.
Wicklow Pony Club Hunter Trial
A great day was had by all. Thanks to everybody who helped out the event could not go ahead without a huge amount of volunteers willing to give up some or all of their day. Thanks especially to Noni and all at Bel Air for the wonderful course and facilities. For results click here Results.
C Test
Congratulations to everybody who passed their C test held in Bel Air on Friday 10th April. Thanks to Bel Air and the examiners Helga O'Donohoe and LisaAnne Kearns and special thanks to Sandra Stanley for her hard work in providing the stable management lessons. We will be holding another C test later in the year and we also hope to hold a C+ in September / October.
Thanks to Boswell Equestrian for the watches which were presented to all the clear rounds in the starter stakes at the Hunter Trial and the Winter League. Mini Midi Maxi has resumed on Thursday nights with lower prices.
Hunter Trials
Carlow Hunt A good contingent of Wicklow members travelled to Ballon on Sunday 8th March and had a great day on a lovely course. Congratulations to everybody who took part and especially to Emily Kavanagh who took home two 5th place rosettes one with her Mum Jenny in the Adult & Child class and one with Sarah Gelletlie in the Pony Pairs and to Siun O'Donnell and Niamh Nolan who were placed 4th in the Novice Pairs.
Bray Hunt Hunter Trial was held in Kilruddery on Saturday 14th and again many Wicklow PC members competed on a very nice course. The day started well with Vicki Reid taking 3rd place in the Young Rider which was over the Open course and continued with Darah & Conn Callan winning the Novice Pairs and Darah also taking two rosettes in the Novice Singles.
Wicklow Hunt Hunter Trial was held on Sunday March 15th in Killahurler. The course looked quite strong but all the Wicklow pony club members who took part did very well with Vicki taking 6th in the Novice Singles.
Shillelagh Hunt Hunter Trial in Coolboy finished off a very busy week and again there was a good represenation of the Wicklow PC present.
The Pony Club Hunter Trials are listed below and anybody who hopes to go to the championships needs to be competing at the Wicklow Pony Club Hunter Trial and some of the others. All Hunter Trials are subject to weather and ground conditions so please check before travelling
| Date | Pony Club | Place | More Info |
| Sunday 5th April | Wicklow Pony Club | Bel Air | Flyer |
| Thursday 9th April | Bray Pony Club | Enniskerry | |
| Saturday 11th April | Island Pony Club | Glandoran | Flyer |
| Monday 13th April | Shillelagh Pony Club | Coolboy | Flyer |
Winter League
The final of our Winter League took place on Sunday 1st March in the indoor arena at Marlton Stud. Full results will be posted on the Newsletter/Results page. Thanks to all the members and parents who supported the league and to everybody who helped out especially Dermot, Gerry, Michael, Mary, Alan, Scarlett, Dara, Aislinn, Vincent and Sharon who kept us all supplied with tea, coffee and lovely toasted sandwiches. We would also like to thank Michael O'Connor who designed the courses and set up the sound and timing and generally made the days very pleasant for everybody involved.
Cross-country Training
We have now had a number of cross-country training sessions for Hunter Trials and for under 12s all very well supported. For some of the U12s it was their first experience out in a field on their ponies and the smiles on their faces coming back in was enough to show that even those who were nervous going out were completely hooked coming back. We will keep you posted on further training. Thanks again to Noni for all her hard work.
Summer Camp
Summer Camp dates are July 13th - 17th. If you want to go to camp and have not yet renewed your membership please do so immediately as space in the camp field is limited and we need to know the numbers in order to start planning.
Mock Hunt
Thank you very much to Noni, Maggie, Sandra and Clare for a brilliant Mock Hunt in Bel Air. It was a most enjoyable day and every member came back grinning from ear to ear - even experienced hunters thoroughly enjoyed the day and those who stayed away because they thought it would be too tame should make a note to come out next year. Thanks also to Henry Fleming who gave a very good talk on hunt etiquette before the riders set out.
