Mersey Valley Pony
Club
Newsletter
October 2008
District Commissioner
Rose Kent
6427 3807
Assistant DC
Leanne Lillico
6492 3078 0419278178
leannelillico@bigpond.com
President
Jenny Maney
6428 6659
Secretary
Deborah Brockett
Treasurer
Dionne Smith
64923107
Newsletter Editor
Leanne Lillico
Lesley Hall
6492 3078 0419278178
leannelillico@bigpond.com
6424 7721
lesleyhall@internode.on.net
POINTS OF INTEREST
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NEXT MEETING WEDNESDAY 22ND OF OCTOBER, 7.30 AT CLUB
ROOMS.
There will now be a rally on 6th December, Margot Patterson will be attending
Kentish ODE will be going ahead, there will be different parking arrangements so
please follow instructions on parking
The Tasmanian Showjumping championships will be held at this years Stanley
Show. For more information contact Peter Loone.
At this stage grades 1 and 2 will be included in this years Club Championships.
The Tom Johnson School will be held at Circular Head Pony Club in January
2009, the two riders that will be attending from our club will be announced in a
future newsletter.
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MERSEY VALLEY HORSE SHOW
This is a major fundraiser for our club so please do your best to lend a
hand!
SHOW JOB LIST
ENTRIES:Dionne Smith&Jenny Maney
PA ANNOUNCER: Rose Kent
STEWARDS: LEAD REIN: Carolyne Miller
BEGINNER: Donna Rayner
SMALL PONY Sharni Radford
LARGE PONY: Sally Oakley
GALLOWAY: Grainne Hendry
HACK: Sharon Neville.
SJ Judge – Sarah Haywood
SJ PENCILLER: Leanne Lillico/Sue Andrezciak
MARSHALLER: Hoppy.
If you are unable to comply could you please find a replacement and let Rose know.
Everyone NOT assigned a job for the day IS expected to help in the canteen. An
additional working bee will be on WED 15th at 4.00pm, if we can get all the jobs done on
the WED, then there won’t be the need for a working bee on the Friday and children can
spend that time getting their ponies ready. If anyone is unable to attend the working bee,
they must let Rose know and she will arrange for them to do another job. If you intended
to come to the Friday working bee, and it is cancelled due to completion on WED let Rose
know and you will be assigned another job. The no working bee no ride rule applies as we
are running this event.
ANYONE WHO WOULD LIKE ENTRY FORMS OR MORE INFORMATION
PLEASE CONTACT ROSE.
RALLIES
We are doing our best to get the season underway, we have managed one mounted rally and
one unmounted, unfortunately we have no control over the weather. If a rally is cancelled
Rose will do her best to let people know via SMS, however if you haven’t heard and are in
doubt the please contact Rose.
ALSO COULD ALL RIDERS THAT WILL BE ATTENDING A RALLY PLEASE NOTIFY
ROSE NO LATER THAN THE THURSDAY BEFORE THE RALLY TO ALLOW TIME
TO ORGANISE EXTRA INSTRUCTORS IF NEEDED.
REMEMBER
Gear check is at 9.30am
Rally fees must be paid at gear check.
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WORD SEARCH
BAY, BIT, BOOT,
BRIDLE, CANTER,
COLT, EYE, FANCY,
FILLY, FLOAT, FOAL,
GAIT, GALLOP,
GELDING, GIRTH,
HACK, HAY, HOOF,
HORSELOVERS,
MARE, OATS,
SADDLE, PASTERN,
PINTO, PONIES, REINS,
ROAN, RODEO,
SHETLAND, SHOD,
S
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SHOW, STALL,
STALLION, TROT, VET.
The leftover letters spell ........................................................
JOKES
One day a man that had horses went to check on his favourite one. He was in for a shock, and as
he opened the stall door, he saw the horse was rabid and foaming at the mouth. It lunged at him,
and, very quickly, gave him a nasty wound on the arm. His wife left to call 911, and when she got
back she found him writing furiously. She told him that there was no need to make out his will,
because they had a cure for rabies. He looked at her blankly and said, "Will? What will? I'm making
a list of people I'm gonna bite."
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
An out-of-towner accidentally drives his car into a deep ditch on the side of a country road. Luckily a
farmer happened by with his big old horse named Betsy. The man asked for help. The farmer said
Betsy could pull his car out. So he backed Betsy up and hitched Betsy to the man's car bumper.
Then he yelled, "Pull, Nellie, pull." Betsy didn't move. Then he yelled, "Come on, pull Ranger." Still,
Betsy didn't move. Then he yelled really loud, "Now pull, Fred, pull hard." Betsy just stood. Then the
farmer nonchalantly said, "Okay, Betsy, pull." Betsy pulled the car out of the ditch. The man was
very appreciative but curious. He asked the farmer why he called his horse by the wrong name
three times. The farmer said, "Oh, Betsy is blind, and if she thought she was the only one pulling
she wouldn't even try.
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BLONDE JOKE
A man was in his front yard mowing the grass when his attractive
Blonde female neighbour came out of the house and went straight
to the mail box. She opened it then slammed it shut and stormed
back into the house.
A little later she came out of her house again went to the mail
box and again, opened it, slammed it shut again. Angrily, back
Into the house she went. As the man was getting ready to edge
the lawn, she came out again, marched to the mail box,
opened it and the slammed it closed harder than ever.
Puzzled by her actions the man asked her, “Is something
Wrong?’ To which she replied, “There certainly is!’
My stupid computer keeps saying,
“you’ve got mail!’
ONE DAY EVENT ENTRIES
The Eventing season is about to begin. Please remember that you need to get your
entries to Leanne via email, text or phone, no later than the Sunday one week
prior to the event (if it is in our zone). The Northern zone quite often close their
entries two weeks prior to the event, in order to avoid the disappointment of your
entry not being accepted please remember to get your entries in early. Also please
be aware that the Northern Zone sometimes requires payment at the time of entry.
All entries need to go through Leanne unless otherwise stated, if you are required
by the host Club to do your entry yourself remember to let Leanne know that you
will be attending.
Entries
Leanne Lillico
Email – leannelillico@bigpond.com
SMS – 0419278178
Phone - 64923078
THANK YOU to Kristy Loone, who has agreed to continue to arrange instructors for our
rallies for the time being.
We appreciate your time & effort Kristy.
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OCTOBER 2008
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
1
2
3 Burnie Show
4 Burnie Show
5 Deloraine Shield
NWTSJA Spring SJ TBC
festival
6
7
8
9
10
11 RALLY MVPC 12 Fun day Launceston Show Leven
13
14
15 Working Bee
MVPC
16
17 Working Bee MVPC
18 MVPC horse
Show
20
21 NW Zone
meeting
22 MVPC
committee
meeting
23
24
25 RALLY MVPC 26 ODE –
Hobart Show
Kentish grades
3 to 5
27
28
29
30
31
19 ODE –Inglis
grades 1 to 5
NOVEMBER 2008
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
1
2
3 Warnock
Shield – Leven
4
5
6
7
8 Westbury
Show
9 Zone Show
jumping
Champs - Leven
10
11
12
13
14
15 RALLY
MVPC
16 Fernpark
Shield
Biralee ODE Glenrowan
17
18
19
20
21
22 Deloraine
Show
23
24
25
26 MVPC
committee
meeting
27
28 Devonport
Show
29 Devonport
Show
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DECEMBER 2008
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
1
2
3
4
5
6 RALLY
MVPC
Circular Head
Show
8
9
10
11
12
13 Working bee 14 Club
MVPC
Champs
MVPC
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25 Santa
is 26
27
28
in town
29
30
7 Circular Head
Shield
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January- 4/01 Deloraine ODE, 11/01 MVPC ODE, 17/01 and 18/01 State Dressage and Show
jump Champs, 25/01 Circular Head ODE.February – 15/02 Lilydale ODE
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OFFICE BEARERS FOR NW ZONE 2008-09
Chairperson :
Vice Chairman:
Visiting Commissioner
& 1st State Delegate:
Secretary :
Treasurer:
Assist Secretary:
State Delegate 2 :
State Delegate 3:
Chief Instructors
Test Co-Ordinator:
Andy de Kaste
Jean Treloar
Sue deKaste
Jenny Maney
Lesley Hall
Rose Kent
Jean Treloar
Rose Kent
Jean Treloar
Rose Kent
Jenny Maney
Jean Treloar
Mersey Valley would like to acknowledge all the work and time Mrs. Jean
Treloar has contributed to the NW zone over many years as Chairperson, and
thank her very much for all she has done.
MOTIVATIONAL TALK
WHEN:
December 17th about 7pm
VENUE: To be announced
WHO:
Colleen Kelly EFA-NJAS Official Judge (retired), President
Vaulting Victoria, Biomechanics Lecturer (improves horse riders’ balance, seat
& posture). She has an Irish sense of humour which keeps audiences
entertained and makes it fun while you learn. She would be very interesting to
hear. Colleen has a great website www.colleenkelly.net
COST:
To be announced
WATCH OUT FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, or contact Carolyne Miller.
MVPC will be using this as a club fundraiser, so gather up a group and plan to
come along to support our club
BEGINNERS / GETTING STARTED ODE
45 & 65cm
Dressage Tests EFA Preparatory 3 & Preliminary 1.1
This will be run by the hunt club, and held near Carrick Entry $25 by 30th oct.
Sunday 2nd November 2008
Enquiries to – Lisa Lucas
0418 511 719
Or contact Leanne or Lesley
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Margot Paterson is a long time supporter and life member of Mersey Valley Pony Club.
She now lives in Sydney but will be visiting our club at our rally in early December.
Margot wrote the book “Peter Pan” which tells the story of a special and talented horse
her family owned when they were riding members of MVPC.
Margot wrote the following story for our newsletter.
AN EMBARRASSING EPISODE
After our sons, Alex and Chris, had flown the coop and commenced their journeys of hard
work towards their chosen careers, Nic was still poking around at Matric or State Pony Club
Horse Trials, and the MVPC stalwarts, ever faithful, still liked to visit our place on weekends
when things were quiet on the farm, to work towards proficiency tests C, B and H and A.
Our house was tiny, but they came anyway, in grunting cars, coaxed up our unsealed,
steep access roads by anxious parents watching the thermostats on their dashboards, hoping
they would make it to the top of Mount Pleasant and into the farmyard without blowing their
radiator caps. The smarter ones stopped at the steeper hills, stated that their offspring could
ride up to the top and reload, or remain mounted for the last three miles of the journey.
However the mission was accomplished, the horse’s boxes would be left in the farm yard or in
the big barn paddock, sleeping bags, pillows and any special dietary requirements placed
inside the house, and the horse gear and feed went straight to the stables. It all seemed to work
out pretty well, drama free. There were three small paddocks near the barns, two loose boxes
and four stalls in the stable complex, with sheep and cattle yards nearby. There were no rules
and regulations, other than the normal good manners of leaving things clean and tidy.
On Saturdays, I usually rode Peter Pan, and on Sundays, would give his full sister,
Flight, an outing in company, which she enjoyed. On both days, I’d be instructing – yak-yakyak, on and on about the crucial importance of balance, especially on very steep inclines, but,
always an absolute MUST, anywhere, on any surface and at any time. Most of these riders had
been coming, now and again for years, and had improved out of sight. Some had even attained
total balance and achieved a similar response from their now supple mounts, who went calmly
and willingly forward on the rider’s line, in/at the requested gait and speed, with plenty of
impulsion, even at the halt. People and horses, and probably all warm blooded animals, are
usually either right or left handed/or sided. To ensure lifetime soundness and an effortless
ability to respond to hard gymnastic work like advanced dressage, huge Xcountry obstacles,
steeplechasing and show jumping in ordered sequence, horses and riders must attain this
perfect balance and flexibility to enable both to remain accident free and completely sound
throughout their working lives together.
It is significant that Makybe Diva was trained over hill terrain, near the sea on the
Mornington Peninsular, was well ridden and sparingly galloped on the property racetrack, and
was a popular winner of top echelon races. Three untroubled Melbourne Cup wins later, she
was “let down” with consummate care and retired to stud, still beautifully balanced and fully
sound. More recently, Apache Cat, country trained and ridden in training by his equestrian
owner, Greg Eurell, came to town and won seven straight races: in Melbourne – left rein, and
Sydney – right rein, five of them Group Ones. He became a multi million dollar winning
horse, with Cory Brown in the saddle on race days.
Well. Here we were, on the Sunday, the probably yawning youngsters wishing I’d shut
up, but patiently ‘hanging on my every word”, regardless. It was cool and beautiful on the
steep trails in the Radiata pine forests, riding up, down and across, by the west Gawler River.
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Everyone had worked well, their horses now totally relaxed, and we had turned for home on a
level trail, at last, walking along, clip clop, clip clop, without a worry in the world. As we
rounded a sweeping bend, dappled sunlight shone through the trees, highlighting a long row of
blackberry bushes hanging down over a sheer embankment above our heads. The luscious
fruit was within our reach, so we decided to have a nice feast before calling it a day. There
was ample fruit and plenty of room for all of us.
It’s hard to pluck blackberries without getting juice on one’s fingers, but it can be done.
Flight was obliging. She lowered her head and stepped forward to enable me to reach some
absolute beauties. The young riders were still fully occupied, so I gently asked her to move
under another plucking area. Super sensitive, she misunderstood my request and made one
huge, piaffe like leap upward from a standstill, clears the blackberry bushes and landed
amongst standing and fallen trees, big rocks, scrub and brambles, a good 7’ above the
roadway. My cheeks flamed red in mortification. Here I’d been, pontificating for hours on
end, as if I knew it all, and I was stuck in an impossible situation, with no idea how to proceed
without injuring Flight. The poor kids were shocked and dismayed, and I could see no way
out, above the road. The density of the fallen timber, rocks, brambles and undergrowth looked
unsurpassable, and we were facing into it and not towards the road. I then turned around in the
saddle, and looking sheepishly at my pupils, we all burst out laughing, giving me the
confidence to feel positive.
I slid to the ground, almost up to my neck in brambles, and pushed through them to
Flight’s head. She whickered and we sniffed noses while I undid the right rein from the bit,
added two lengths of binder twine to the now double length of rein, found a small stone near
her hind leg, tied it in a hanky to the end of the binder twine, and threw it down to the waiting
riders, asking them to kick it back towards the bank, but only if the horse was still facing the
bush and could not jump onto anyone. Mission accomplished, I then asked Flight to turn
around. To my amazement, she leapt straight up and turned in mid air, landing gently beside
me, without a scratch. We sniffed noses again and I told her that I would slide down under the
blackberries and she would have to follow as she thought best. She did not move. Once out on
the track, I picked up the lead and invited her to join us. She edged cautiously towards the
bank, paused to get her bearings, then jumped with aplomb and landed with grace, a semi
circle of admiring pony clubbers, well out of her way, on either side of her.
What a face saving lass was Partridges Flight, the one time buckjumper, tamed by Chris
and ridden by him to gain his B test, and clear rounds, at last, in Pony Club Horses Trials,
before he said “ I’m hanging up the bridle, Mother dear. Matric is looming, so I’ll be too busy
with the books to work horses”.
Alex, when at home, then took over and relished the challenge of curing her touchiness
during the warmer weather, but quickly realised that the trouble was hormonal and perhaps
incurable unless she had a foal, so he prepared and rode her at the 1975 State PC Horse Trials
in Hobart. Stabling and Dressage were at the Showground at Elwick and Xcountry and Show
Jumping were at Brighton. They went well together until they met a water jump in the Show
Jumping phase, and Flight, having never before encountered anything so scary, jacked up for
the first time in her eventing career. A short time later, the Partridge family reclaimed her and
took her home to her southern pastures to become Noelene’s pride and joy.
Margot Paterson
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