Letter from the Executive Director

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 the outstanding horse management staff, barn managers, judges, scribes, umpires, course designers, secretaries, discipline organizers, scorers, and ring workers. Your hard work and efforts have provided our members with the best experience, and you are truly inspiring. It was wonderful to be able to come back together in person and to catch up with these incredible people, they all did incredible things!

I feel fortunate to have so many great memories from this year’s Festival. From the members, family, and volunteer connections, to watching discipline competitions, attending clinics, and taking it all in at the amazing Opening Ceremonies and Member Showcase. Every moment made me so proud to be a part of this great organization. But perhaps what struck me most had little to do with Festival, and more to do with the Pony Club program and what it teaches and instills in everyone at every stage of their Pony Club journey, lessons in character that stay with you throughout a lifetime.

I was happy and honored to be able to spend much of Festival with one of the Pony Clubs most dedicated, steadfast, and iconic figures, USPC President, Ben Duke. As a Pony Club member, and A graduate, Ben is no stranger to national Pony Club competitions, competing in the Pony Club National Rally in Omaha, Nebraska in 1972. What’s more, Ben is very familiar with the foundation and cornerstones of Pony Club, which are education, and Horse Management. Ben was instrumental in compiling and editing the first USPC Horse Management Handbook and served many years as a Chief Horse Management Judge. Throughout a Pony Club volunteer “career” spanning nearly 55 years, until now, there is one thing Ben has not done, attend a Festival as a spectator. And it is here, as an observer, that I saw Pony Club traits, characteristics, and learnings, shining brightly. As the pictures clearly show, what Pony Club teaches you will never leave you.

Pony Club teaches that the more seasoned Pony Club members help the younger members.

Pony Club teaches to be kind to others and make new friends.

Pony Club teaches that if something needs to be done, be the responsible one and do it.

And as important a lesson as any, Pony Club teaches us to have fun!

While Ben may not have been satisfied with being just a spectator, he certainly was, and is, a great example of how Pony Club can positively shape a person, and how actions, words, and kindness can be an inspiration to others.

Happy trails!

Teresa