LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR I hope you enjoy this issue of Discover USPC with a recap of USPC Festival 2021, as well as the other fabulous and exciting news from all around Pony Club. What is Festival? Simply put, education + competition = Festival. The first Festival was held at the Kentucky Horse Park in 1983. Mary Lou Anderson, then USPC President, had a brilliant idea to gather the entire Pony Club family in one place for both championship competition and education. Thirty-eight years later, the triennial Festival celebrated its 13th event with UPSC Festival 2021. An essential part of USPC Festival is education. This year, over 370 members and nonmembers participated in Festival Education, learning from many of the world’s top clinicians in both mounted and unmounted workshops and clinics. Mounted clinics included: Cross-Country, Distance Riding, Western Dressage, Gymkhana, Games, Polocrosse, Show Jumping, and Dressage. Unmounted workshops included groundwork, horsemanship, equine dentistry, equine photography, sport psychology, rider fitness, and more. To all who participated in the Festival Education, thank you for attending and choosing to learn and grow, and thank you for working to be the best partner possible for your equine friend(s)! The Championship portion of Festival offered competitions in eight disciplines: Dressage, Eventing, Show Jumping, Games, Polocrosse, Tetrathlon, Western Dressage and Quiz; and two Invitationals: Gymkhana and Western Trail. More than 650 Pony Club members participated in team competitions, which were judged based on riding abilities and horse management skills. To all who participated in Festival Championships, thank you for the sportsmanship and teamwork you showed and the horsemanship you demonstrated. You all did an incredible job! Without a large army of volunteers, everyone working hard, and full of enthusiasm and love for the Pony Club, it would be impossible to hold a Festival. A heartfelt thank you to our operations team who worked sunrise to sunset, setting up, tearing down, filling water coolers, lifting, hauling, repairing, and even attending to wasp patrols; our amazing volunteers working the information booth and show office, answering questions, providing directions, sharing schedules, and always with a smile; our announcers and award ceremony host who kept us updated and informed, provided color commentary to competitions, and helped make the award presentations something special; our lunch and competitor party attendants who had a most important job, keeping us fed; our traffic coordinators, crossing guards and people movers who kept things moving, and all of us safe; our D-Camp instructors, who provided our D Campers instruction, fun, and memories that will last a lifetime. And all ponyclub.org
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