An exciting new showing championship will be available for Pony Club members this year.
The Search for a Star Pony Club Championship will be held at Your Horse Live in November and be an introduction to showing for members of all ages.
It will enable members from lead rein through to young adults to learn about ring craft, turnout, and way of going, and then showcase these skills through qualifying, to compete on the centre stage at Your Horse Live.
“This is a great opportunity for our members to learn more about the world of showing, with a fabulous final at Your Horse Live 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 Search for a Star series provides a fun, supportive structure to help them achieve.”
The Search for a Star Pony Club championship will offer a lead rein and first ridden championship for children under 10 years old.
There will be an open class for older members that will be judged on suitability for all round Pony club activities, conformation, way of going and temperament open to any type of horse or pony that is both athletic and correct enough to be a show horse.
Each of the five Search for a Star qualifying shows held across England, and for the first time in recent years, in Scotland, will include the Pony Club classes.
“We are delighted to be offering this Search for a Star opportunity for Pony Club members,” said Head of Marketing at SEIB, Nicolina MacKenzie. “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 Search for a Star 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!”
The new Search for a Star classes will be open to any horse or pony ridden by a member of the Pony Club. The animal should be athletic and capable of doing all-round Pony Club activities. The horse or pony will not be ridden by the judge but the competitor will be asked to give a show. For each class there will be a best rider award.
The SEIB Search for a Star judges and stewards will be on hand to help and mentor competitors at qualifying shows. In addition to this Search for a Star 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.
“We are so proud and pleased to continue working closely with SEIB Insurance Brokers and expand the Search for a Star Championships at Your Horse Live with the launch of The Pony Club Search for a Star,” added Your Horse Live Event Director, Emma Bedford. “The Pony Club is an amazing institution that we are excited to welcome into our stable and look forward to welcoming the qualifiers into our 3,000 seater arena.”
In addition to the new Search for a Star Pony Club Championship, the Search for a Star Open Veteran Championship and Search for a Star In-Hand Championship, most of the Search for a Star classes that ran in 2021 will take place; also with finals at Your Horse Live are mountain and moorlands, open veteran horse or pony and part-bred traditional gypsy cob.
Search for a Star classes with finals at Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) include; hacks, hunters, working pony, working horses, riding horses, traditional gypsy cobs – of any colour, show cobs, and the longstanding SEIB Racehorse to Riding Horse final.
Further to the HOYS and Your Horse Live Search for a Star championships, 2022 sees the return of Riding for the Disabled (RDA) Search for a Star. Open to riders from RDA centres, this event will run at the RDA Championships at Hartpury College in July.
