One of the biggest events on the Victorian Pony Club calendar is the Werribee Pony Club Horse Trials. We asked young Kyle Mcleod who competed in Grade 5 on board Buddy (also known as the Bucking Banana) what he thought of his version of the Pony Club Olympics
The top 3 in the Grade 1 were Jaimee Hayes (1st), Lily Wickenden (2nd) and Kyle's friend, Sam Jeffree (3rd and winner of the Off the Track Award)
Werribee Horse Trials (or as I call it The Pony Club Olympics) is an event like no other. I call it the Olympics because, to me, it is. It is one of the biggest horse trials in the Victorian Pony Club and is an annual event that includes all five PCAV grades.
This year Werribee was definitely not a small event. There were just under 500 competitors competing from Grades 1 to 5 with a whopping 17 sections of 30 riders each. The atmosphere of the event was buzzing. Lots of clubs take the opportunity to make the event a social gathering with fellow teammates; some clubs even have their team marquee, promoting their team and the fact that we had trade stalls at the event made it feel like a big event. The Graeme Thorpe award is awarded to the club with the most placings.
One of the main sources of entertainment was the Grade One showjumping in the indoor arena on Saturday night. Some of these massive jumps included a treble, which is rarely found in pony club horse trials show jumping and was very interesting to watch. Just watching these riders jump gets you excited and I think it inspires younger riders like me to jump higher. The Grade 2 cross country was, well of course big. Even though I thought it was big, I thought it was mainly not spooky and when I watched the Grade 2, I thought it rode nicely. Sam Jeffree, who rode in Grade 2 said that the cross country was “a fair course for that level that rode well”. For Sam, the course obviously rode nicely because he got a clear round and finished with second place.
Having ridden preliminary dressage tests before, to me the Grade 3 dressage test looked like it had some movements that would keep riders interested. I believe this is good because if tests are too easy, riders are likely to be bored and not think. Grade 3 dressage tests are also the first level to have more collective marks making it a harder test. There were five sections of Grade 3 and 4 and three sections of Grade 5.
My cross country jumps seemed nice, small and cute. There were some jumps which looked difficult but rode nicely. This course was encouraging for nervous riders and beginners. For me as Grade 5 rider, now moving up to Grade 4, the Grade 4 seemed quite big. I will definitely be doing Werribee Horse Trials at Grade 4 next year!
The show jumping on the last day had some spooky jumps such as flaps hanging off poles, dazzle boards, brick walls, more dazzle board, more dazzle boards, even more dazzle boards. Did I mention dazzle boards? It's my horse’s worst nightmare! But the show jumping rode okay for other horses and most managed to get round.
Camping with friends of all sizes makes it even more fun!
Another reason why I liked this event, was because I got to meet new friendly faces out on cross country (where I was held for 20 minutes). I also got to catch up with some old friendly faces that I met at previous competitions. I find that pony club is good in the way that you meet new friends besides friends at school. Yet another reason why I liked this event was camping out - knowing that you are going to be camping overnight makes the event more exciting. Even if it is cold, it just makes the atmosphere even more exciting.
This event was an event like no other. It was fun and I got to make new friends that I will see in the future. I urge all riders thinking about eventing to go and give it a go. You'll never regret it.
Kyle Mcleod
