The Pony Club is working with equine welfare charity The Blue Cross to help educate young horse owners and carers about equine welfare. For the next three years the Blue Cross will be sponsoring the Pony Club’s ‘Horse and Pony Care’ competition plus a range of other initiatives.
“We have always been at the forefront of teaching youngsters the fundamental principles of good equine care from an early age, thereby ensuring that we produce generations of properly educated horsemen and women,” said Pony Club chief executive Judy Edwards.
The Pony Club’s Horse and Pony Care inter-branch competition involves teams of three members demonstrating their ability to look after their horse’s welfare and their practical and theoretical equestrian knowledge. The finals take place at the Pony Club Championships in August.
Kerstin Alford, director of equine welfare at The Blue Cross, said: “Ultimately, we hope that increasing education in this sector will go some way towards reducing the cases of neglected or misunderstood horses or ponies that sadly end up at our door.”
Each year up to 100 horses are rehomed by The Blue Cross from rehabilitation centres in Oxfordshire, East Sussex and Staffordshire.
“We also very much hope some of the equines rehabilitated by The Blue Cross will find their way into the care of Pony Club families,” Judy Edwards added.
For more information visit: www.pcuk.org and www.bluecross.org.uk.
