By Renee Wood
The Seville Pony Club is preparing for it’s upcoming Australian Horse Trails event, with up to three hundred competitors expecting to join the day.
The annual event is a state qualifier for pony club members and holds open sections which other association member can join in on.
Seville Pony Club member Rachael Edwards said dressage, show jumping and cross country will be in the program.
“The thing that’s really unique about Horse Trials is it doesn’t age discriminate or gender discriminate. They’re all on equal footing so they all compete under the same rules,” Ms Edwards said.
“We pride ourselves on catering for 35 centimetres right through to the open champs which is 1.10m.”
Ms Edwards said a dedicated committee have been working hard to get the event up and running after the pandemic.
“Because of lock downs we couldn’t run as many fundraisers that we would have liked to in the previous years, so this one we’ve made it extra special.”
Many businesses have thrown their support behind the event, and this year Healesville Toyota is the overall banner sponsor gaining naming rights.
Calista Barrie-Gresham from Healesville Toyota said, “One of the car freighters Peter mentioned it to me and being from a horse background, I thought it was a fantastic opportunity to build more relationships and get involved with the community because it’s very important to us here.”
Ms Edwards said the club is grateful for all the support businesses have provided.
“The club is a small grassroots pony club and we couldn’t do major events like this without the support of organisations like Toyota, which turns a little local country pony club into a major event.”
Pony Club members are eager for the trials, grade three competitor Millie is looking forward to her first competition for the season.
“I love cross country because of the adrenaline rush you get and you have to work towards getting in on the optimal time and just having fun,” she said.
Millie is currently training across all the disciplines and is working on getting her pony ready for the big day.
“Most of my days of the week will be flat and dressage training, and then we’ll do a polls ride to get him really moving and getting him bending and then we’ll do a hill work day just to get his muscles over his top line working.”
Pony Club member Kimberley is also looking forward to the trails and has missed competing during lockdowns.
“Last year I just missed getting out, I just wanted to get out and do something go on cross country, show jump all of that sort of stuff,” she said.
Riders will now be using the next few weeks to get ready for the weekend of February 19-20 and spots are still available for more competitors.
“I’ve been doing heaps and heaps of training. At home I focus mainly on dressage, I try and get out for as much experience as possible, so she [Kimberley’s pony] doesn’t shy and to make sure she’s prepared.”
