From The Editor

Welcome to the fall newsletter. I would suggest some munchies, a comfortable chair, a glass of cold milk and some uninterrupted time to read this. There are many excellent articles on the summer's activities. A big thank you goes out to all who have sent in write-ups on the various events. I am Carollyn Crewe, your National Director, stepping in for Gay Hansen to be the editor of this newsletter as Gay was very busy helping out with the National Quiz. My E-mail is crewe@istar.ca if you would like to send a message.

Here are the results of the : Regional Rally, Regional Dressage and Show Jumping Championships and the Regional Tetrathlon Championships.

Regional Tetrathlon Championship:

The Hansen-Holownia farm near Sackville,NB was the main venue for the 1999 Regional Tetrathlon Championship, May 29&30. Ten competitors from two branches, (Tantramar and Eastern Shore) attended. Three teams vied for possession of the Regional Tetrathlon Team Challenge Cup. Teams were made up of three or four male and female tetrathletes of any level,Novice, Junior or Senior.

Competition began at noon on Saturday, with swimming at the Mount Allison University pool. Results of the swim competition were very encouraging with three of our swimmers recording times faster than optimum, and most swimmers recording personal best times. Swimming is. generally regarded as the toughest part of Tetrathlon and we have a number of athletes that are obviously working hard on their swimming. Shooting was next, held at the range at Tantramar High School.

Unfortunately unforeseen difficulties with the returning targets delayed our start and shortened the shooting time that could be allowed for each competitor. This resulted in lower than normal scores for all involved. On the positive side, the results of coaching and practice were obvious. The Eastern Shore club organized instruction in air pistol for their members last winter, and it showed! Their scores were roughly three times higher than at the last clinic. Competitors traveled to the Hansen-Holownia farm for horse orientation. Six Tantramar horses were shared between the competitors. Practice on the flat and over fences was necessary to ensure appropriate matches of borrowed horses and riders. A buffet supper for all was followed by a general coaching session by Rachel Bedingfield and discussion of rules and recent rule changes. A walk of the running course was the last event of the day. The running competition took place first thing Sunday morning. With a strong Tantramar Marsh wind from behind for the last leg of the run, good running times were had by all. There were many personal best times and excellent scores. One competitor's recent months-long battle with the Running Monster finally paid off: his first-ever optimum score in running! Riding was next. Stadium jumping was 12 jumps at 375m/min for seniors, 10 jumps at 325m/min for juniors and 8 jumps at 275m/min for novices. Maximum heights are 1m, .8m and .6m respectively. The object of the riding course is to test the ability of the rider, not the horse, so there were plenty of tricky parts. No rider was eliminated but only three had clear rounds. Lunch was followed by the presentation of awards. The results are as follows:

Special thanks to all those who volunteered their time and skills,without them, these events are just not possible. Rachel Bedingfield from Avon could not compete due to an injury so she acted as our very capable coach. Rachel and Julie Christie (Tantramar) judged the stadium jumping. Bob Berry of Sackville was range officer. Mothers brought food, chauffeured competitors and horses and acted as timers. Thaddeus fed us a hearty buffet supper.

Thirty six horses and over fifty members representing nine of the eleven clubs in the Region competed in the NS/NF Regional Pony Club Rally held at the HantsCo. Exhibition grounds July 28-30. A Pony Club Rally involves four phases: Dressage, Cross Country, Stadium Jumping and Stable Management. Teams are made up of four riders with the best three scores to count in each phase, plus a captain and one or two helpers. Teams were divided into D and C level. Riders were able to enter either Starter or Pretraining level depending on their horse's capabilities.

Day one brought a talk on setting up a tack room and what is expected in the Stable Management and turnout inspections. Day one was also Dressage, which was held in the main arena, with Odette Williams from PEI as the Dressage Judge. Odette also came on Friday to be the Jump Jury. Thanks Odette for your help. Shortly after the last horse finished Dressage the sky's opened up and there was the most torrential downpour. Thanks to the quick thinking of Mrs. Henry none of the stalls were flooded as the water poured into the barn. Mrs. H called on the troops and soon many were making repeated trips with wheelbarrows to the shavings pile at a fast run to make a dam while a few others went outside to dig a trench to divert the water. After the barn was under control some of the Tetratheletes took advantage of the flooding in the parking lot to get in some swimming practice! After everyone had a chance to dry off there was a talk on cooling out your horse after cross country followed by a game of Win,. Lose and Draw. On Thursday everyone trailed their horses out to Red Bank for Cross Country day. A big thank you to Keith and Barb Lewis for allowing us to use their facility. The day was overcast so not too hot. Refusals, a few falls and a couple "off courses" made for some drastic changes to the placings to date. Everyone returned to Windsor for a BBQ and fun on the water slide and go carts (there appeared to be potential race car drivers among the crowd and I observed that when it comes to go cart racing - Girls Rule!)

Friday was Stadium Jumping in the main arena with Rebecca Miller in charge of setting up Sandra Conrad's course design. Thanks Rebecca and Sandra for your help. Following Stadium Jumping the Captains and Helpers competed in an Equitation Over Fences or Equitation on the Flat class. A mounted Presentation in the arena finished off the event.

Stable Management throughout the Rally included Turnout Inspections before each event as well as stable inspections of horses, stalls, feed rooms and tack rooms each day. It is three days of doing everything correctly with no short cuts! Beth Rand Smith did an excellent job of organizing the Stable Management phase with lots of help from former Pony club members. Teams received feed back each day on the results. The Stable Management phase emphasizes the proper care and safe handling of the horses, equipment and stable area and the importance of team work. Thank you Beth for a great job. It was hard work but everyone learned a lot. And HATS OFF to all the captains and helpers who worked so hard over the three days. An event like this doesn't just happen. It requires a lot of work and preparations and a big thank you goes out to Jennifer Healy and Julie Ansems who were in charge of organizing the Rally. They did a really good job and everything went very smoothly. A thank you should also go out to all the parent supervisors who took on the responsibility for the welfare of their team and pitched in to help take the dressage ring down, act as cross country jump judges and timers, help set up the Stadium course and a lot of other jobs that needed to be done. A thank you to all the other parents and volunteers too that helped out where needed throughout the rally.

Over 50 members met at the Central Nova Horse and Pony Association grounds in Truro on Sept 4 for the Regional Pony Club Dressage and Show Jumping Championships, hosted by the Colchester Pony Club. In the Dressage division three dressage rings ensured that everyone had completed two dressage tests by early afternoon. A thank you goes out to our dressage judges: Cheryl Cassista, Marylew Murray of Fairwind Farm Equestrian Centre and Roz Moskovits of Hearthstone Equestrian. In the Show Jumping Division each rider does the course twice with the second round timed as a jump off round. A thank you goes out to our jump jury: Debbie Roode and Gilbert Bartlett. Many people volunteered their time and energy to put on this event. A thank you goes out to Opportunity Pony Club for handling the canteen, to Mary Chisholm for doing Tack Check and to Suzanne Perry of Opportunity Farm for pitching in to help where ever needed.

Read here for information on the National Rally and the National Tetrathlon Championships.

TEAM NOVA SCOTIA PLACES WELL AT NATIONAL RALLY

Elizabeth Crewe (Colchester), Alison Johnson (Colchester) and Chantal Pelham (Avon) represented the Nova Scotia region at this year's National Rally Championship held August 22-27 in Bethany, Ontario. The Rally was hosted by Central Ontario region, and took place at the spectacular Saddlewood Equestrian Centre, one of the foremost riding camp facilities in the country. Competing there were four Training teams and ten Pre-Training teams.

Accompanied by Pam Graves (NS/NF National Rally Chair), the team endured a twenty-four hour train ride to get to the event (where the words "We're never taking the train again!" were often heard!), arriving in time to set up one of the nicest, best organized tack rooms in the barn. They were given their mounts for the week ("Robbie", a spirited bold gelding lent to Elizabeth by Chris McCallum, and "Sprite", a very sweet, very green mare lent to Chantal by Sandy Zelmer), and had two days to get used to them before the Rally began.

Dressage day was somewhat less than stellar for the girls (Robbie has a definite aversion to dressage rings, and Sprite is not quite convinced that she knows how to turn), and Team Nova Scotia finished far down the list of placings. Cross Country day, however, was a different story. Elizabeth and Chantal both had clean rounds, and Alison wowed the stable management judges with her incredible cooling out set-up and procedures. By the end of the day, the team had moved up several placings.

Stadium day had its ups and downs --literally-- with two riders from other teams falling off in the ring (and one in the warm-up ring as well). Elizabeth and Robbie had a rail, and Chantal and Sprite had a stop and a rail over the very tricky course (there were only 5 clean rounds in the whole division!). Then Alison rode superbly on Sprite in the Captain's equitation round, but had an unfortunate rail which knocked her out of the ribbons. When the dust had cleared, the Nova Scotians were in 2nd place overall, and 3rd in Team Stable Management, with Elizabeth picking up a 4th place in the Individual Cross Country standings. Alison finished up 7th in the Captains standings (although with all her hard work organizing the team and holding everything together, we're not sure why she didn't get a 1st!).

Competitors and chaperones alike were treated to several clinics throughout the week. Hugh Moreshead gave a lecture on Cross Country course design, and then took us all out to walk the course from the designer's point of view. Danny Foster lectured on Stadium course design, finishing up by dragging all of the competitors out to set up the actual Stadium course for the Rally (now, there's a way to save money on a ring crew!). There was a clinic on proper turnout and presentation at Official Vet Inspections with the Rally's Technical Delegate, Don Armitage, and a dressage critique with Dressage Judge, Dorita Kozak. A visit to Kawartha Downs, the area's standardbred racetrack, rounded out the week's activities (where the Nova Scotians lost money betting on a horse named "Chantal", who ended up finishing third from last in her race!).

Just before leaving for the train station to come back home, Jan Smith, owner of Saddlewood, lent the team and their chaperone some horses and sent them off on a hack through some of her 400 acres. The scenery was breathtaking, the horses were wonderful, and a great time was had by all as they walked along wooded paths, cantered through fields and jumped cross country fences. It was the perfect way to end the week (and a welcome bit of fun before facing that long train ride home!).

Our team learned a great deal during National Rally, not least of which is that we Nova Scotians can hold our own against the rest of the country. Congratulations Elizabeth, Alison and Chantal! Well done!

Five Pony Club members represented Nova Scotia at the National Tetrathlon Championship held in Calgary, Alberta on August 8 to 13. For the first time ever our region was able to send a full women's team. Senior members were Jeanette Johnson (Eastern Shore) and Tracey Smith (Tantramar); juniors were Jennifer Wilson and Inga Hansen (both of Tantramar). Joseph Holownia was our lone male competitor and was placed on a men's scramble team with another junior from Central Ontario and a senior from Alberta. Gay Hansen accompanied the team as chaperone. Forty-eight competitors from 8 Canadian Pony Club Regions attended. We survived the jet lag, had a marvellous time and did very well in competition! The team arrived in Calgary a day early so we were able to rest and tour Spruce Meadows before the competition started.

Accommodation was at Canada Olympic Park, the home of the 1988 Winter Olympics. We spent five days living under the flags of the world, at the foot of the largest ski jump any of us had ever seen! We were in awe ....ski jumpers must be braver than eventers! The first day of competition was very busy, shooting in the morning, running at midday and horse orientation in the afternoon.

Shooting was a bit of a disappointment for our competitors; several gun malfunctions and lots of bad nerves. Nevertheless, Joseph placed 5th, Tracey placed 6th, Jennifer 7th and Inga 8th. The run was very challenging and took place during the hottest weather we had all week. Joseph won his run and managed a personal best-time as well. Jennifer placed fourth with another personal best-time. Horse orientation took place at the Millarville Race Track where the horses were stabled. At National Tetrathlon, competitors from the host and adjoining regions bring horses to ride and share with competitors who travel from greater distances. Each horse is ridden twice, once with the owner and again with a visiting competitor. This provides the organizers with the challenge of matching twenty five visiting riders with horses that are both safe and competitive. Not an easy task, you may be sure! All went very smoothly and within three hours all our riders had horses they were comfortable with. Inga had a steady "appy" medium-pony, Jennifer had a large experienced Quarter horse and Tracey had bold and fast large-pony. All three mounts remarkably similar in temperament to their own horses! The matches were more novel for Jeanette and Joseph.

Jeanette had a large, scopey but somewhat high strung eventer and Joseph's horse was large and calm but very green. Riding took place over two days at Black Diamond Ranch, the home of the Koolah Three Day Event. This is a huge farm, with literally hundreds of cross country fences. Juniors ride stadium jumping and cross country at the pretraining level, seniors at training level. The courses were particularly challenging this year, with most fences at full height and many at full width too. There were lots of exciting obstacles including ditches, water, drops and banks. A big additional challenge for most of our riders was that it started to rain immediately after the owners. finished their cross country ride. The rain came down in torrents all night, letting up the next day, just enough for riders to see the fences as they galloped to them. To say it was slippery is an understatement! They rode carefully and bravely. All did exceptionally well on unfamiliar horses. Inga had a rail in stadium jumping, Jennifer had two and both went clean (with time faults) in cross country. Tracey had a difficult ride on the only pony at the training level; rails, refusals, and a fall, plus time penalties.

Jeanette had rails, refusals and time faults but was one of the few training level riders to actually manage to complete the cross country course in the rain. Joseph's horse had accumulated an alarming 12 refusals and many rails on the first day, when it was ridden by the owner. He was very pleased (and relieved) with only one refusal and a rail in stadium jumping and a clean cross country ride (plus time faults). In the riding, Jeanette placed 3rd, Tracey 6th and Joseph 7th. The swimming was held at Lindsay Park, a huge sportsplex in downtown Calgary. Here, we enjoyed getting wet! Joseph won the swim, finishing with the best time of the whole competition! In a very exciting heat, Inga tied for first place with a Western Ontario junior girl and Jennifer finished second. Jeanette swam a personal best and finished fifth.

The last day was spent on a white water raft trip in Kannaskis County. This was followed by the awards banquet and dance at Boundary Ranch just outside of Calgary. Our women's team placed third , just 20 points behind the second place team. Joseph's scramble team finished in first place. We also took home lots of overall individual awards: Joseph - second place; Jennifer - fourth; Inga and Jeanette - fifth and Tracey - eighth.

We flew home on August 13, tired, satisfied and looking forward to next year! Thanks to the Alberta Region for a great competition, the Nova Scotia Region for generous financial support and to Rachel Bedingfield for her help and coaching, especially in running.

For information or to register for Tetrathlon clinics, please contact Gay Hansen at (506) 536-2532 or e-mail: ghansen@mta.ca

International Event

by Julie Ansems

Our amazing trip to South Africa began on May 21st. Jill Barker and Belinda Maier took an early flight out of Halifax, and Julie joined them in Toronto a few hours later. Six hours later, we arrived in Amsterdam. We spent about two days there, touring around the city. It is definitely a city of bicycles and canals! We also toured through a very interesting wax museum full of many famous figures.

Eventually, we jumped on our next plane to Johannesburg, which was about 11 hours away! Shortly after landing, we took a small connecter flight to Pietermaritzburg (and I mean small, the plane sat about 30 people!) We landed at the massive airport (we had to get our luggage off the plane ourselves, and carry it through a small, one room building). Our hosts met us there, Joan and David Gillespie. We loaded up our gear, and drove off (on the left side of the road). Since Joan was one of the main organizers for the horse show, David took us for a tour of the area. With Jill driving, and Dave telling us of his many adventures, we were off to enjoy the amazing scenery. We also went to a spot with Zulu Dancers, and we had an enjoyable meal of crocodile steak. The next day we visited the home of our host's son and his family. They have a lovely farm for raising and training polocrosse and racehorses.

There were beautiful flower beds outside each stall, and they had a pasture full of pregnant mares. We found it odd that the foals, in another pasture, had full winter coats. It was actually winter time in Africa, so at noon it would be about 300C, but the evening would drop off dramatically to 50C. It was completely dark by 5:30 in the evening as well! We had an interesting discussion with Nikki, the owner of the property, and she told us that it wasn't very uncommon to buy horses for 400 Rand (about $100 Canadian!!) And they were very nice horses too, with a racetrack in the area, most of the horses were Thoroughbreds or Quarter horses. The next morning we started off by visiting a small, local game park.

We were able to pat some of the elephants. Unfortunately, the one that we could ride was off in the woods somewhere. We then headed to the show Grounds to try out the horses for the show. We both ended up keeping the first horse we tried. Belinda had a nice 14 yr old eventer, who hadn't competed for a couple of years, but was a proven veteran. Despite his lack of conditioning, he was very excitable and fiery. Julie got a very pretty jumper, who was 9, but was a regular jumper. His owner was riding another horse in the show, since most riders there had a couple horses each (which isn't too surprising considering the cost of horses!).

The competition began the next day. The grass show ring was a smaller version of Spruce Meadows. In the first class, Belinda had two rails (which we would later discover was common since he was lazy with his feet), and Julie had two refusals (which was no surprise to the locals either). We quickly discovered the trick to riding these horses was ride as fast as possible and hold on. The next class, was the Cable Stitch class, which was very exciting. As a pair, you jump as many jumps as possible in sixty seconds, and have the fastest time as you cross the finish line after the sixty second bell. One rider jumps the first 3 jumps (in order of the course), then the next rider does the next three, etc. When you finish the course, then you start over again, skipping any jumps that were knocked down. As a pair, we finished 4th out of 25 pairs. As it was South Africa's Royal show, it was very similar to ones in Canada, with many merchants and entertainers present.

That evening we attended a Braai (a Barbeque) where we were able to meet with a lot of the other riders from South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe. The next day was the speed class. Belinda had a rail, and Julie went clear, as she rode as Jill instructed "like a cross country course". Julie ended up placing 12th of 50+ competitors. The rest of the day was spent trying to find unique gifts to buy. We found Africa to be a lot more modern than we expected.

The next day saw a lot more excitement. A new course designer had arrived, and cranked the jumps up to about 4ft (from 3'3 the days before) which caused a lot of problems. The sound of people crashing into and through jumps was not encouraging while riding in the warmup ring. Julie horse decided he wasn't in the mood anymore, and were eliminated early in the course. Belinda had an amazing round, one of the 11 clear rounds of 50+ competitors. However, she was eliminated for going before the bell (which was controversial since there were two show rings going at once next to each other, with the same type of bells). She also did not go through the start flags (which also caused some confusion since basically a serpentine had to be done going into the first fence.)

The final day was the International Show Jumping Championship. In the first round, Belinda had 2 rails, and Julie had 2 stops. The second round was better with one rail each (well Julie's was a whole jump since her horse pulled a dirty stop, but were going to fast for him to stop so they went THROUGH it.)

After the disappointing finish, we were invited to ride in the Prince Phillip Games Championships. The teams had already qualified throughout the week, but a local club had a few extra riders so we formed a scramble team. They found us some good horses (since were rarely saw any ponies, the games were played on mainly Thoroughbred horses, which made things quite interesting.) Despite our lack of knowledge or skill of the games, we had a lot of fun, and even managed to win one of the games!

The following day, we drove out to Dave and Joan's son's farm for an early morning ride. The grooms were taking the race horses out for a exercise, so they tacked up two old polocrosse ponies for us to ride. We went for a nice gallop (which was especially exciting for Belinda, a rare opportunity for a Lancer)

Later in the evening we watched a polocrosse game, and we were addicted. There is a lot of contact, but full of excitement! We flew out early the next morning to Nelspruit (via Johannesburg on small connecter flights). We got our rental car there, and were off on our own to Kruger National Park. It is a huge game park, about 400 km in length. Basically, you drive around on the numerous dirt roads followed on your map, and keep your eyes open for the amazing animals. Each evening, we stayed in a different camp, which contained small hut like cottages. The gates of the camps closed at 5:30 each evening, so you had to plan your day so that you did not miss the gates, otherwise you had to fend for yourself in the wild. You could not leave your vehicle while in the park, unless you were at a camp or designated look out point.

Over 4 days we managed to see baboons, zebra, impala (deer like), wildebeests, warthogs, giraffes, elephants, lions, leopards, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, monkeys, buffalos, hyenas and many varieties of birds. There was lots of excitement, from when the car wouldn't start out in the middle of nowhere, to the monkey who attacked Jill, and the lizard that Jill discovered in the toilet (shortly after she used it!) At one of the camps, we even enjoyed a 7 course meal which cost about $12.50 Canadian. Finally we began our lengthy journey home. From Nelspruit, back to Johannesburg, on to a 11+ hour flight to Amsterdam.

We had a stop over there for 12 hours, then off to Detroit, then to Toronto,and finally back to Halifax on June 7th. An amazing trip, one that we will not forget!

DID YOU KNOW?

• That Kim Eagles from BC won a gold medal in Air Pistol and Kara Grant from PEI won a bronze medal in Modern Pentathlon at the Pan Am Games in Winnipeg in August? Both women are former Pony Club Tetratheletes.
• That our region is hosting the Year 2000Canadian Pony Club National Tetrathlon Championships
• That Julie Ansems , an HA, passed her RA this year to become an A level member.
• That Megan White, an RA, passed her HA this year to become an A level member.
• That Elizabeth Crewe is our newest B2 level member.
• That we have four new B level members: Amber Hancock, Jackie Allen, Josh Buchanan and Sara Anderson.
• That Julie Ansems received a Canadian Pony Club Governor General's Scholarship for $1000. Well done Julie!
• That Rachel Hughes won the Anne Ainsworth Memorial Challenge Trophy at the Windsor Spring Show for high point Pony Club member on Pony Day.
• That Jennie Rand won the cooler for the Pony Club Jumper Class at the Windsor Spring Show.
• That Jackie Allen won the Don Grant Challenge Trophy for high point C rider at the Regional Rally. This trophy has been given out every year for over 30 years!!! The first name on the trophy was Marshall Gray from Penobscot, Maine. She and her sister, Lendon used to come to NS to compete in the Rally and the Atlantic Winter Fair. Some of you will recognize Lendon's name as she frequently writes articles on Dressage for Practical Horseman.

• Congratulations everyone!!!!!

• That Canada is the location of the International Pony Club Conference in Toronto in the Year 2000. There is something for everyone. Check out their website www.ponyclub.ca
• That Pony Club has a National Supply house where you can buy books from the reading list and other supplies. The list is on the website or you can get one from your DC.
• That every member should have a copy of the Testing Procedures. They come from the Pony Club supply house and they have the information you need to prepare for the different test levels. Are you a C2 , B or B2 member? You should have a copy of the A/B testing procedures. Remember applications for A testing have to be in by Oct 15 and B/B2 testing applications have to be in to the Regional Testing Chair by April 1. Written tests are usually done in late May. So start studying now! Make sure you are familiar with the books that are on the reading list. To apply for B/B2 testing your application must be accompanied by the testing fee - $40 for the written and $100 for the Test. Keep in mind that it is your responsibility to make sure that you meet the criteria for your test and for your application, so make sure you read your testing procedures so you are well prepared.
• That in order to qualify for testing and for teams you must be an active member in good standing. Look at your activities in 1999. Were you an active member? Did. you support the activities organized by Pony Club. Did you attend as much as possible the clinics, lessons, lectures, team events, camps, meeting etc that were organized? Did you help out where you could, help with younger members, help with fundraising etc.?Are you a member in good standing? This means that you don't owe money to your club, the Region, or National Pony Club. This reminds me of a famous quote which I will change slightly: Ask not what your club has done for you - ask what you have done for your club!
• That Apple Saddlery has supported our Regional and National Events by supplying Hats for the winners. Thank you Apple Saddlery

We are trying to collect names and addresses of all former members in a directory. If you are a former member please contact Dierdre George

When you are in the market for some horsey supplies keep our sponsors in mind. These tack shops support Pony Club by providing gift certificates for our Regional Draw: Bits n' Bridles - Windsor, - And did you know that they give a discount to Pony Club Members!!!! Ted's Tack Shop - Halifax, The Red Sleigh Tack Shop - Valley. Remember to shop locally where possible. These tack shops give back by supporting our industry here in the Maritimes.

For Sale or Lease: 13.2 h.h. Welsh Mountain Pony. Chestnut gelding, nicely schooled on the flat, loves to jump, has evented and taken rider to C level. Kind, quiet, safe and honest. Sadly outgrown.

For Sale: 17" Crosby Mark VI. Great condition, recently restuffed. $400.00 firm. Contact Pam.

Be sure to check out the NSEF website at www3.ns.sympatico.ca/mordred/nsefm.html. Shona Harold, the webdesigner has put on a message board and the results from some of the horsey events have been published.

Have you checked out our website at www.ebtech.net/ponyclub/nsnf? There are updated results there too and Anne Irwin, our web mistress(?) Has put on some rally pictures too.

I hope you noticed the stamp on your newsletter. Gay Hansen purchased some horse stamps to support the series. Maybe they will be collectors items some day.

YOUTH REP. WANTED

Are you 16 or older? Have you been an active Pony Club member this year? Are you a member in good standing? The Regional Board of the NS/NF Region has openings for active members to be youth reps on the Board. A youth rep gives a voice to the active members by being their representative. As a youth rep you would attend Board meetings, giving advice and have a say in what goes on. If you are interested in being considered for this position write a letter outlining your experience in Pony Club and explaining why you would be interested in being a youth rep. Send your letter to Anne Irwin, our Regional Chair

Bits and Bites Here is some light hearted humour for horse lovers.

Quiz Questions
Here are some fun quiz questions to try. I haven't provided the answers. You can look them up on the internet, books, ask people etc. Still can come up with the answer? Then you can call, email or write to me Carollyn Crewe

I Need Your Help

Many years ago when I was a Pony Clubber our team was asked to do a skit at a National Rally. We made up a poem using the well known format of the Christmas favourite The Night Before Christmas. I have forgotten most of it but I thought , with our next issue due in December, maybe there are people out there who can come up with some great ideas. So have a go and send me your poem - Or any other horsey poetry you would like to share . Carollyn Crewe.

Here is what I remember:

Twas the Night Before Cross Country

Twas the night before cross country
and all through the stable
not a creature was stirring,
there were none that were able.
The bridles were all hung in the tack room with care
In hopes that the Stable Management judges soon would be there

Watch for our December newsletter. There will be information on the D Challenge and The National Quiz. I would also like some pictures and write ups on your clubs activities this summer. Have any pictures from camp? You can send them to me with your address on the back. You can email me about your summer activities.