Hi Members,
Wow a new year begins and February is upon us already. Hopefully everyone has enjoyed a break over Christmas and we are all geared up for a fun year ahead with our ponies and horses.
Welcome!
Don’t be surprised to see some new faces at our rally this month. With 10 guest riders at our Feb rally, we ask that our members keep an eye out for new faces,welcome them aboard and make their day at our club a great day! 
2015 Christmas Rally and Awards.
Thank you everyone for making our 2015 Christmas Challenge another fantastic team event and our awards celebrations afterwards loads of fun.
A huge thank you to Britt, Georgia, Abbey, Sheridan, Maddy, Brigitte & Rose, our team leaders on the day who all did a wonderful job, happily guiding their teams through all of the events and leading by example, with smiling faces and positive attitudes.
Their job was made all the easier by the attitude of all of our riders, parents and supporters in getting into the spirit of the event – so a big thank you to everyone, including our resident photographer Jaz Gill, who wasn’t riding on the day, but spent the whole day taking some magnificent shots.
A huge amount of work went into organising and setting up both the team event and our evening function. A small group of people worked very hard to bring this all together. In particular, I would like to thank Gen & Tony Brocksopp, Britt Salthouse, Bec Cartwright, Craig Turnbull, Micaela & Greg Hanlon, who helped with preparations for the event, including the set up the cross country course, the show jumping ring, the bunting, the novelties and the junior ring, all on the eve of the rally.
The fun continued at night with great activities for our members, so a huge thank you to Jo Dobson and family for organising and coordinating a fantastic evening with entertainment for everyone. Thank you also to the very patient Tanja Bird who coordinated the RSVPs for the event and a big thank you to our wonderful treasurer, Sally Gill who so efficiently managed the finances prior to the event and was very busy on the day helping out with all sorts of tasks (including supermarket shopping).
Catering on the night was also a stand out! Thank you to Simon Pentifallo & Georgia Kerr who managed to create a delicious meal for us all with very limited facilities, which included a broken oven.
If you couldn’t make it to our Christmas party and awards presentation, a list of the 2015 winners is outlined below. If you have not yet received your trophy, please see us at the rally.
Groups
Some changes to rally groups have been made. If you haven’t done so already, please look at our website to check which group you are included in.
Grading and grouping is not an exact science and often riders’ abilities can vary across the disciplines. With this in mind, we work very hard to ensure that our riders are placed in groups that allow the group to operate at a similar level where everyone can learn, be challenged and enjoy the rally.
Please remember that pony club rallies are not intended to provide the same level of instruction as a private lesson and sometimes a group lesson can flow tremendously, and sometimes they don’t!
A reminder that riders wishing to be re graded or graded for the first time, need to come and see us before the rally starts.
Flat Teams, Pairs & Musical Ride 2016 –Fun, Team events!
A meeting will be held at the end of our Feb rally for any riders interested in participating in these events this year. The musical ride is a fun team event and riders do not need to be graded to participate in this event.
Unfortunately, our Zone Qualifiers for the State event are being held on the same day as the State Horse Trials. This means that any Grade 1 or 2 eventers interested in participating in both of these events will have to choose only 1.
The Qualifiers for the State events are being held on the 30th April, so we need to get teams organised and practicing! If you are unsure, come along to the meeting after the rally to find out more – Club rooms 3.15pm on Sunday.
Pony Club Camp – Postponed
Thank you to our members who expressed interest in attending our beach camp, scheduled to take place in March. Unfortunately, we didn’t quite get enough numbers to allow us to commit to this booking, so at this stage the camp has been postponed. We will revisit the idea later in the year and may consider joining with other pony clubs to ensure that we get enough numbers.
March Rally – Change of Date to Friday 18th March.
As the Adult riders are holding a competition at the grounds on Sunday 6th March, we are trying something different for our March rally – a twilight rally. Further details will be available soon, but please take note of the revised date – Friday 18th March.
Look forward to seeing you at the rally.
Sinéad
2015 CHRISTMAS TEAM CHALLENGE RESULTS
| Team | Place | Score |
| Vixens | 1st | 40 |
| Dashers | 2nd | 39 |
| Prancers | 3rd | 35 |
| Cupids | 4th | 32 |
| Comets | 5th | 22 |
| Dancers | 6th | 22 |
YHPC AWARDS 2015
| PERPETUAL AWARDS | WINNER 2015 | |
| Don Currie Memorial Trophy | Ciara Hanlon | |
| Dawn Hayden Showjumping Award | Brittany Salthouse | |
| Marchesi Dressage Award | Brigitte Theuma | |
| Peter Worrell Eventing Award | Kimberly Apted | |
| Grade 3 Dressage Award | Madeline Ballinger | |
| Pam Ellis G3 Eventing Award | Annalise Turner | |
| C Grade Showjumping Award | Abbey Turnbull | |
| The DVHRC Junior Achievement Award | Rose Stephen | |
| The Smith Family Showing Award | Emily Gamble | |
| Derlwyn Joshua Gymkhana Award | Sheridan King | |
| Ken Hebbard Most Improved | Jack Bissicks | |
| The Salthouse Games Award | Georgia Bissicks |
YHPC AWARDS 2015
| ANNUAL AWARDS | WINNER 2015 |
| Junior Eventing Award | Hannah Bird |
| Junior Dressage Award | Alysha James |
| Junior Showjumping Award | Mimi Scheffer |
| DC’S Award | Lily Dobson |
| DC’S Award | Rosie Brocksopp |
| Encouragement Award | Alice Darby |
| Encouragement Award | Alice Davies |