SEIB has added a new class for Pony Club members to its Search For A Star (SFAS) series.
The SEIB SFAS Pony Club championships will be held at Your Horse Live in November and are designed to be “an introduction to showing for members of all ages”.
The championship will offer a lead-rein and first-ridden championship for children under 10 years old. There will also be an open class for older members and any type of horse or pony that is both athletic and correct enough to be a show horse. The animal will be judged on suitability for all-round Pony Club activities, conformation, way of going and temperament.
The new SFAS classes will be open to any horse or pony ridden by a member of the Pony Club. The horse or pony will not be ridden by the judge but the competitor will be asked to give a show and in each class a best rider award will be presented.
Each of the five SFAS qualifying shows in England and the one in Scotland will include the Pony Club class.
“This is a great opportunity for our members to learn more about the world of showing, with a fabulous final in front of a great crowd,” said Pony Club CEO Marcus Capel. “I am very excited to enable our members to enjoy different experiences with their horses and ponies and the SFAS series provides a fun, supportive structure to help them achieve.”
SEIB head of marketing Nicolina MacKenzie added: “We are delighted to be offering this opportunity for Pony Club members. We have been keen for some time to provide classes for younger people and offer education, training and support. Older Pony Club riders are also very welcome to come along to our qualifiers and in addition they can enter the other SFAS classes, or even take part in the racehorse to riding horse series. Showing teaches so much that is relevant to other disciplines, including turnout, way of going and of course showing the horse or pony off for a judge when it is not feeling at its most cooperative, a very useful skill when producing a dressage test!”
In addition, SFAS has two “weekender” events planned for 2022. These will include a day of training followed by a full qualifying show for both Horse of the Year Show and Your Horse Live, one in Scotland and one in England.
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