NS/NF Region
Fall 2001 Newsletter

Thanks to our sponsors: Ted's Tack Shop, Apple Saddlery, and the Red Sleigh Tack Shop.

Club selling the most tickets - averaged according to number of members was Fundy Pony Club with Colchester a close second. Top Club received money towards a Pizza Party. Individual top 3 sellers were 1st - Emily Dexter; 2nd - Jessica Buell, 3rd - Inga Hansen. Congratulations to all!

National Director's Report - Carollyn Crewe

Report from Semi-Annual Meeting 2001 held on Nov. 10/11. Some of the following information is not complete with regards to applications and requirements as of yet, but, in order to meet this newsletter deadline, I would like to tell you about it now and ask that you keep checking our website and with your DC if you wish to follow up on these opportunities.

Youth Representatives: The National Education and National Testing Committees are looking for Youth Reps. These committees consist of the Chair, a rep from each of the 13 Regions plus two youth reps: one from Eastern Canada and one from Western Canada. If you are interested in submitting your name for the youth rep for Testing or Education, you can contact me at or call me at 902 895-4059. You will need to have a resume of your activities and experience in Pony Club.

The Education Committee is looking for input on a new design for the C2 certificate. More information will be available in the near future.

Quiz - National Quiz in 2002 is in Manitoba. The 2003 National Quiz will be held in New Brunswick. If you are C level and up, you could submit your name to try out for the team representing our Region at National Quiz. Check with your DC for how to apply.

International Tetrathlon 2002 - is being held in the US. In order to submit your name for consideration you must have represented your region at a National Tetrathlon.

Fox Hunting Exchange - The USPC has invited Canada to send 4 Pony Club members to Virginia to take part in Foxhunting. More information will be coming out on this in the new year. If you have been participating in hunting with the Annapolis Valley Hunt, you may qualify to submit your name as I expect hunting experience will be a requirement.

Interpacific Exchange (IPE) 2003 - The IPE in 2003 will be held in Australia. Applications will be out next fall. In order to be considered for this team you will need to be B level or up with lots of experience in Show Jumping and Eventing (at Training and Preliminary level). Our Region has been very successful in the past in having our members chosen to represent Canada at this event. The IPE takes place ever two years and includes Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.

Todd Sandler Award - The applications for this scholarship are on the CPC website. In order to qualify you must have experience over training level fences, either in clinic or competition.

Governor General's Scholarship - The applications for this scholarship on the website so check it out if you are a university student.

Virtual Trophy Case - National Pony Club is going to develop a Virtual Trophy case on the website for all the National Trophies and it would be great to have a Regional one too. This will mean getting a nice picture of each trophy and a list of the recipients that are listed on the trophy. As well we will need to know who donated the trophy and if possible a bit about this person. So if you have one of these trophies at home you might be getting a call!

Upcoming Events

• NSEF are holding a Hunter Course Design Clinic on November 25th at Julie MacLean's, Pictou at a cost of $25 for NSEF members.
• Suzanne Perry on behalf of Pony Club is organizing a Jumper Course Design Clinic in February or March geared towards C Level and up. Contact Suzanne at suzanneperry2001@hotmail.com.
• A Tetrathlon Clinic is being planned for December 16th in Sackville, NB, and will include running, swimming and intro to Air Pistols. DC's should have forms for this.
• Eastern Shore and Opportunity both will be holding Regional Quizzes in 2002.

Please check the Region's web site for additional information on upcoming events.

Members' Corner

By Megan White, CEF Equestrian of the Year

When I was 9 my mom signed me up for Pony Club; at 18 I achieved my “A” level. Now I am 21 and I am having the time of my life in Denver, Colorado, working with Advanced Level 3-Day Eventing Competitor James Moore.

It all started when I applied to go to InterPacific Rally in 1998. I got to travel to San Francisco, California, and Denver, Colorado, with Pony Clubbers from Canada, The United States, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. It was fabulous! While I was competing in Colorado, a woman approached me about a “working student” position with the resident Eventing Trainer at the beautiful High Prairie Farms Equestrian Centre. I would help out teaching and training and grooming at International Events in exchange for room and board and a small salary; I even got a car!! This is how I got some of the opportunities to compete Internationally and represent Canada again.

Last summer I decided that I wanted to try to compete in the North American Young Riders Championships, which were being held at High Prairie Farms where I work. Well that was not as easy as it may seem. I had to find a suitable mount for the rigors of a Three-Day Event and then we had to hurry up and qualify. Unfortunately, I did not pass the initial veterinary inspection so a new plan had to be made. I decided on an October Three-Day Event but it was cancelled at the last minute. Since my trainer Jim was going to several Three Days in Pennsylvania and Maryland, I had the opportunity to compete in the MidSouth Three-Day at the Kentucky Horse Park where they hold the huge Rolex Three Day in the spring. Well compete I did, finishing 2nd out of a field of over 50 in the Open CCI division.

Growing up in a small town in Nova Scotia, I never thought I would go on to represent my province and country in huge International competitions with such success. After my debut in Kentucky, I have placed in the top 5 at five International Events including the North American Young Riders Championships this summer. Last year I was awarded the Dr. George Jacobson award for the Canadian Equestrian Athlete of the Year! All of this was made possible by the strong base I got in the Annapolis Pony Club, competing in Rallies and Championships and taking weekly lessons from Mary Henry and Susan Fraser (and of course the generous support of my wonderful parents and people such as Barbie Lewis).

My future plans include bringing my new horse Merci Beaucoup up to International Level and competing in the Pan American Games, then someday the Olympics.

By Alison Johnson

(Alison Johnson is a member of the Colchester Pony Club, daughter of Margie and sister of Lauren. Alison has been in the US working for the last year and kindly agreed to share some of her experiences with us.)

When I left home September of 2000, I was looking for a working student position at a dressage stable. I was not afraid of hard work as long as I was learning in return. Wow, did I ever! After a little travelling I landed in Williston, Vermont. I was the barn manager/working student at Imajica: a forty-horse dressage and Dutch Warmblood breeding facility.

Everyday was a little different with horses coming and going, the vet was in and out, stallions needed to be collected and shipped, and then the usual feeding, turning out, and mucking had to be done. (And I thought that being the captain of a 'D' rally team was hard to keep organized!) No matter how hectic, I always got in at least one lesson a day with Madeleine, the owner and trainer at Imajica.

Alison and Digby

After a long, cold winter of intense riding, Digby (Selle Francais/Thoroughbred) and I were ready to get out and show off what we had learned. Digby's owner was no longer interested in riding, so even though he was for sale he was kind of mine for the time that I was there. Digby and I spent weekends in the summer, along with other students at the barn, travelling the New England states winning some and losing some, and learning from every test that I rode. It was a blast!

Growing up through Pony Club is what, well first of all, got me the job. Without P.C. my riding resume would be pretty short. But P.C. also gave me the knowledge and confidence to get things done in my job at Imajica. It is an awesome feeling to know what to do when a problem arose, to be able to apply what I had studied and had lectures on in all my years of P.C.

After spending nearly a year at Imajica it was time to move on. I am once again in search of a similar position, my eyes are a little more open, my list of experiences longer, and my dreams/goals even larger than a year ago.

National Competition Reports

National Rally by Lauren Johnson

National Rally was at Bird's Hill Provincial Park in Manitoba, August 16-19, 2001. Representing our NS/NF Region was Lauren Johnson, Jackie Allen and James Hardy, and our wonderfully helpful chaperone Sara Henry.

We all got up at a very early hour and were like zombies by the time we met at the airport in the morning on Tuesday, August 14. That didn't stop us from having a very interesting time getting onto the plane. Just getting through security proved an adventure....

As we took everything out of our pockets to go through security, James was asked if he had gum, and well, of course he did, so as he went to pull out his well chewed wad of Trident with the funniest look on his face of confusion, and thinking, “this lady's been up way too long”; she then said, “NO, GUM!” - she meant in the tin wrapper causing the alarm to go off. Naturally, the rest of us found this quite amusing.

As we went through the line-up we were told to slow down and go through one at a time. Sara went through and Jackie was going to follow her and when she stepped forward the overtired security guard yelled, “ONE AT A TIME!” So Jackie stepped back bumping into James who bumped into me and we just roared laughing. That was only the beginning to our very adventurous trip.

After what turned out to be a very poor breakfast (quiche) we are relaxed reading or listening to music and a little girl comes along and Jackie had her foot in the isle and the girl trips over her foot and starts yelling and screaming and crying. We tore into Jackie saying she tripped a baby. It was really funny and she felt so bad, the poor kid. We had a stop in Toronto, nothing all that exciting just some screaming kids Sarah wanted to shake.... haha. So, of course, new flight, more food, and wouldn't you know it.... more quiche? It was brutal and very gross.

We did actually make it to Winnipeg. We came down the stairs and there was the sign "Nova Scotia". That was where we met Jane Payment and her daughter Josephine, the nicest people I've ever met. She looked at all our luggage and said "oh dear is all this going to fit in my van?" We had hockey bags and big cardboard boxes and the biggest suitcases ever. Josephine had her bike to fit in too. We did fit it all in with some stuff on our laps and we went to Jane's house and got settled in. They had a lovely home and made us feel very welcome.

Jane then took us over to the Exhibition Park; one of our Pool Horses was there, Dusty aka Sunrae Stardust. Remus was our other horse and he arrived shortly after us. We were very pleased with the horses. We started to set up our tack room, I think it took us a whole two days to complete it but it was the best tack room I've ever seen. We had a white board, a mirror, chairs, flowers, a tarp on the ground, NS tartan, you name it....we had it in our boxes/bags.

We got to try out the horses that day so we tacked up and rode them for only a few minutes because we were pretty much exhausted. We worked on the tack room more after that, cleaned up everything, got something to eat and went back to Jane's. Not only had we invaded Jane's house but she just gave us her van to go back and forth which was just very sweet and kind of her.

Wednesday, August 15, saw us up early and off to the stable, fed the horses, tacked up for our X-C practice. It was only the second day and we thought we all needed blood transfusions because the mosquitos were eating us ALIVE! It was insane how many there were. I wore Jackie's netting hat on the x-c practice because I was just watching, and a couple people offered me $50 for it. The horses were like covered in bugs; I had a towel in my hand and I would just wipe their neck and the towel was covered in blood and dead bugs and those horses had loads of bug stuff on. That was pretty gross. We drove by some farms where there looked like a fire in the hay and it was to make smoke to keep the bugs away from them.

Back to the practice, the horses were really good. We found out what to do on them - like Dusty liked to run out if you let her. We were watching Jackie go over a jump and we turned around and James had fallen off. It was so funny, even he was laughing.

The rest of the day was spent perfecting the best tack room there, and cleaning tack, polishing boots, washing the horses, spiffing them up. We had a welcome reception in a big white tent, where there were short speeches given and where we were warned again and again not to go playing in any bushes because there was poison ivy EVERYWHERE!*

Wednesday evening Jackie was feeling a bit under the weather, her throat was killing her, and just sick. Thursday, August 16, Jackie was not feeling well at all in the morning so Jane took her to the hospital. James and I were left to perfect everything for barn check #1 and at the same time they would be asking me questions on the First Aid Kit and be looking to see what we had in ours. They loved our tack room and were very impressed with our first aid kits - horse and human. For the rest of the morning James and I had to put the crests on our jackets and just be sure everything stayed clean and in place and other regular stuff like picking out and sweeping. James and I were aware while doing this that there were opening ceremonies at 12:30 pm. So we, in a relaxed fashion, got the crests pinned on and got our sashes ready and at about 12:10 they made an announcement on the speaker saying anyone going in the opening ceremonies should be in Ring 3 NOW. Well I've never seen James move so fast in my life, we chucked on our riding pants and our boots and helmets, jacket and sashes, half laughing, half panicking because even if we were already changed it was quite a jaunt to get to the ring. We grabbed a NS flag off the wall to take and left the tack room looking like a hurricane hit it after perfecting it all morning. We made it there before they began, and they started with our side of the country; we were first up. We were darn sharp looking; not another province was dressed in all their get-up helmet and gloves, and all. We were spiffy! Mary Henry would have been proud! After getting through that and rushing back to try and clean up the tack room before Sarah came and saw it, I braided and braided. I had it done though by the time I had to go write the Captains' test at 4 pm. Then I rushed back to the barn to get Dusty ready because I was going to have to do Jackie's horse Inspection and Vet Check #1. So James and I worked very hard to get the horses shined up and ready for that at 5 pm.

At 6 pm we had a tour of the Pan Am x-c course that was there in '99. It was very cool to see those jumps and scary... Jackie was given some meds to help her throat and she was all right. Sarah and I had a meeting at 8 pm. It was just a chance for coaches, chaperones and captains to say anything they wanted.

On Friday, August 17, we got up very early because we had tack and turnout inspections and the Dressage tests started at 9 am. The horses needed to be braided again and cleaned up, tails done. We got through the dressage tests; Jackie was okay to ride. We got through those and had to clean tack and the horses again, and while they were on their x-c course walk at 1 pm, I stayed behind because there was a barn check at 2 pm. I stayed to make sure everything was perfect when they came because it was 3 pm before they got to us and if I had gone on the walk the horses could have drunk all their water, and dumped three times, and the tack would have been dusty; so I stayed.

That evening we did skits and there was a dance. We did our skit on our trip down because, as you know, it was pretty exciting and we didn't know what to do. Of course we went early because we wanted to practice it, so we were practising in our tack room, Jane played the security guard and the baby and the flight attendant. When we got to the part in our rehearsal where we bumped into one another, we kind of got into it, and we actually did bump into each other and tripped and I fell backwards into the wall and we crashed down onto a saddle rack and to the floor with everyone on top of me and we laughed so hard we cried. It was hilarious and it hurt at the same time. James made huge paper mosquitos and we wore the nets we had. James had like a jacket and it zipped up over his head. These were very effective because they were part of the skit and also the mosquitos were very bad that night. The dance was a blast and we were the best dancers there, and tried to get everyone else up. I just wish there was more pole dancing, haha, sssshh.

Saturday August 18, X-C Day, my favorite. We had to get up early again because it started at 9 am. We had to pack everything we needed at the recovery station in a tack box because it was very far away, put it in the van and drive it to the finish. I felt we did very well on x-c, our cool out as well, everyone knew Jackie's throat and larynx was ok when she rode x-c, "get-in, get-out" she yelled

at the water. I heard her the whole way around as I ran from the start to the finish to be there when she was done. James came in shortly after Jackie and we got them cooled down and they had to walk the horses all the way back and I packed up the stuff and got a lift back to the barn, because it had to be all cleaned and set back up perfectly again for barn check at 2 pm.

Then we took off to see more of Winnipeg, the most beautiful city ever. We went to the Forks and had a boat ride. We had dinner at a beautiful restaurant. Then we went up this elevator and went outside and looked out over the city. There were beautiful lights on the water and people; I loved it! I want to go there again very soon.

Sunday, August 19, we had a very early morning. Third Horse Inspection and Vet-Check at 8 am; we had to braid and get shined up, then our last barn check was at 9:30, and Stadium started at 12 noon. We did really well in stadium, just a couple rails down, but very well, everyone loved our polos, we had blue and white ones on diagonal legs.

My favorite part of all came next I GOT TO RIDE!! I did the Captains' stadium course; it was so fun!* Next the sad part, we tore down our wonderfully beautiful tack room and feed room, the horses went home and we had awards and Closing Ceremonies. Jackie won the sportsmanship award, our team ended up with 5th place for riding and 4th for stable management and 4th for captain, so we did pretty well.

That night we had a beautiful supper at Jane's that I'll never forget, had some laughs, presented her with a thank you gift, and packed our stuff. We left very early the next morning to come back home. Some stuff got mixed up, as to be expected, and still yet I'm missing stuff but it's getting closer to home now. (Via National Quiz Team and a family from Cambridge.)

We had a great time together, had tons of fun together and I hope to do it next year again. Our sincere thanks to the organizers. Special thanks to the NS/NF Regional Pony Club for making this experience possible and to Sara for chaperoning.

National Quiz

l-r: Robynne, Nicole, Susi, and Mary front: What else – a pony!

The NS/NF C Quiz Team this year was made up of Mary Roop (Captain), Avon; Robynne Murray, Opportunity; Susi Brown and Nicole MacHattie, West Valley. Mary's mother, Joey Roop, was chaperone. Thanks very much, Joey!

National Quiz was held in Victoria, BC, this year on Thanksgiving weekend. The team did very well placing 2nd in the games portion and 8th overall. Mary placed 8th overall individually. Way to go, Mary! By all accounts they had a lot of fun in addition to the challenges of the games and tests. Hopefully in our next newsletter we will have a first hand account.

National Tetrathlon

The combined NS/NF and PEI Women's team did us proud and placed first in the Women's Division at the National Tetrathlon Championships held in Loon Lake Camp in the beautiful BC Lower Mainland August 6-11. Team members were Inga Hansen, Erin Sloan, and Jennifer Wilson all of the Tantramar Pony Club; they were joined by a member from PEI. Gay Hansen was the coach and chaperone. Congratulations, team!!!!!

There was even some time for relaxation on Fun Day seen in the photo.

Team Placing

Placing for NS Women's Team	Shoot	Ride	Swim	Run	Total
1	3485	4984	3560	2762	14791

Individual Placing

Placing	Member	Shooting	Stadium	X-Country	Riding	Swim	Run	Total
3 – Jr. Women	Inga Hansen	985	750	738	1488	1056	453	3982
5 – Jr. Women	Erin Sloan	870	750	750	1500	542	826	3738
3 – Sr. Women	Jennifer Wilson	935	750	394	1144	1042	807	3928

Youth Rep
(Susi Brown attended the National Youth Conference on behalf of the Region held in conjunction with National Quiz.)

It was decided at the National Youth Conference that within each Region each Branch should have a youth representative to communicate with the Regional Youth Rep. Would each branch please nominate a youth rep and forward their names, phone numbers, and email addresses to me in care of brownj@nscc.ns.ca. Branch reps would be responsible for submitting their club's ideas and opinions to the Regional Rep who would then represent the Region at the National level.

WEST VALLEY PONY CLUB
By Pam Gaul, DC

West Valley Pony Club had a very successful year in 2001. All of our 13 members successfully tested one level and two members achieved two levels. Congrats to all.

The club will continue to hold its lessons at the stable of Alex Beaton, our coach. This is a great outdoor facility with a large jumping and dressage ring. We have three C2 members now who will be teaching Stable Management and riding lessons to our D's and D1's.

Pony Club camp was held the week of July 16 with all members attending. We had a great week of stable management, riding and lots of fun. Deidre George organized a scavenger hunt on horseback that was quite a workout for our members' brains and their mounts' patience. We held our test day on the last day of camp. And we can't forget to mention that delicious wind-up turkey dinner!

We sent two teams to C Rally this year and they did well. Our two D Challenge members, Olivia Westcott and Kari Brown did us proud and won the challenge along with their two scramble team members from Eastern Shore. Congratulations to them all.

We held our Pot Luck supper and registration on Oct. 21 and registered fifteen members. Three of these are new members.

West Valley will be hosting a fun quiz on November 17 at the NSCC Campus in Middleton. This will be an all-scramble team quiz with the hope of getting members to mix and meet new friends.

West Valley plans to have an active year with lots of great riding and lots of fun.

West Valley membership list: Susi Brown (C2) aboard her Arab Estrella de Valle Alyssa Cue (C2) on The Full Monty Nicole MacHattie (C2) riding an Arab/Standardbred Sir Crabbit Trisha Starr (C1) riding a Thoroughbred Richmond Hill Jenna Gaul (C1) on her Thoroughbred Chelsea's Choice Sarah Weidhaas (C) on board Rainie Emily Weidhaas (C) on her Morgan cross Rosie Marina Ritchie (C) riding her Morgan Ramada's Cookie Mikki Medicraft (D1) on a Palomino Emma Olivia Westcott (D1) aboard her Appaloosa Fancy Kari Brown (D1) riding her Quarterhorse Maximillion Stephanie Burnie (D2) on Mystical Music Kyna McGuire (D2) aboard her Quarterhorse Bay Express Jessica Robinson (D2) riding Christopher Robin Tanya MacLaughlin (E) on her Thoroughbred Dee

Did You Know?

Horses will often stand "tail to tail" and shelter each other from annoying flies by swishing their tails for each other!
Source: http://www.horsefun.com/facts/factfldr/tails.html

How far can a horse run into the woods? … Halfway, then it's running out of the woods! What side of the horse has the most hair? …The outside

The oldest recorded horse was a barge horse in England known as "Old Billy". He lived till the grand old age of 62!!
(K. Robinson, Euroa, AUS.)

The smallest breeds are the Falabellas of Argentina. The tallest breed is the Shire, from England.
(L. Hunter, Cairns, AUS.)

The horse that starred as Mr Ed in the TV series, was a registered American Saddlebred.
(Sharron), USA

Source: http://www.horsefun.com/wow.html

Results

The results from our C Rally, D Rally, Dressage is Fun Show, Dressage and Show Jumping Championships, and D Challenge are all available on the website www.canadianponyclub.org under our Region page and won't be repeated here.