Thank you for your interest in joining View Hill Pony Club. 

I have included some information here so you can see what is involved in being a member of our Pony Club. 

View Hill PC

View Hill PC is a branch of North Canterbury PC.

We belong to Canterbury Area PC, and the National Organisation of New Zealand Pony Club Association (NZPCA). 

You may see all these names at various times in our communications, and it can be a bit confusing! 

Our PC is closely linked with Kowhai Riding School. A number of our pony club members use the Kowhai horses to attend rallies, compete and sit certificates. Likewise, we have a group of members associated with Sumner Valley riding school, and use their horses in a similar manner. We also have many members who have their own horses/ponies- so we have a diverse and geographically widespread group! Although connected with these riding schools, Pony Club is a separate entity and has different requirements. 

If you do use a horse from Sumner or Kowhai riding school, any costs of using their horses/transport are separate to Pony Club, and you should still deal directly with the riding school about that. 

Rallies

Rallies are usually held once a month on a Sunday, although this varies. Our main communication is through our members only Facebook page, so if you think you will join, please join that group, and keep an eye on the page. (search Facebook for View Hill Members 2023/2024 or ask an existing member to add you to the group) We are trying to keep this page for members only. 

Questions specifically about rallies can be addressed to our rally coordinator Annabel Fitzsimmons: annabelk@hotmail.com

Rallies are often held at Kowhai or View Hill domain, but we do travel to other venues for training days and outings. The focus of a rally may be training for a specific event, games, or certificate work which involves horse mastership and care. 

Throughout the year we attend several team competitions. There are different levels of competition, some suited to younger riders, others to more advanced riders. As well as this, many of our members attend regular competitions, either with their riding school or independently. If you are new to competition and wondering which events are suited, and how to arrange this, it is a good idea to speak to your instructor. 

Our head instructor is Becci Thomas: bec@kowhai.co.nz

Process for joining PC

By joining View Hill Pony Club you are agreeing to provide volunteer support at events, working bees, rallies, fundraisers and any other activity where volunteer help is required. We are unable to run our events without parental help, and there is a job to suit everyone. We usually run two events each year, and smaller fundraisers as needed.

Anyone wishing to join View Hill as a rider is encouraged to attend at least one trial rally to see if they think they will suit, and to get to know our instructors and members. You may attend up to three trials before making a decision. If, after this, you are wanting to join please advise the membership coordinator:

 Steph Immler: steph.immlernz@gmail.com                             

and the link can be sent for online registration. If this occurs near the time of our annual renewal, there may be a delay, as it is best if we have the bulk of our members joining at a similar time of year. Fees are set yearly, with the 2024-25 season expected to be around $160 for riders under 18 years. 

Registration requires an adult member to join for every rider under 18 ($40), and a percentage of this fee goes directly to NZPCA. Adult members are required for Pony Club because horse riding generally requires quite a bit of adult input and support. No “horsey” knowledge is required but we do need an adult per rider to be available to help with our events and fundraisers throughout the year. The jobs required are easy to learn, and we have a great group of supportive adults who work together to make this happen for our riders. Assisting at events can range from working on the BBQ/catering, to building or painting horse jumps, setting up dressage arenas, arranging prizes. On the day, and at many competitions, riders need to provide a helper, so you will likely become an expert dressage writer or fence judge, in time!

The fees that you pay joining Pony Club, and the fundraising we do, goes towards paying for our coaches to be trained, new equipment such as jumps and games, certificate fees and team entry fees.  We provide financial support to our teams travelling away to competitions, and often fundraise to help accommodation and fuel costs etc.

Uniforms

It is not essential to have a View Hill PC uniform as soon as you join. For rallies, any clean red top will be fine. When we attend team events, the club supplies much of the uniform, however if competing regularly, riders usually have their own XC jerseys, which can be purchased through this site: 

 https://www.myshirt.co.nz/collections/view-hill-pony-club

At regular Pony club one day events, riders will usually wear their own show jackets for the dressage and show jumping, and their View Hill rugby jersey for the Cross-Country phase. 

Meetings

Our club meetings are only held about five times per year. We are well aware that people are busy and with our membership coming from across Canterbury and the West Coast, we do understand that it can be difficult to attend. However, like all sports clubs we rely on parents and volunteers to make the club work, and to make decisions which represent the members – so we do need people to attend. 

Our President of the club in 2024/25 is Sally Hickling and our Vice President is Lesley Whellans.

Please get in touch if you have any further questions, we look forward to seeing you and hope you enjoy your time with View Hill.