{"id":69395,"date":"2020-06-18T16:45:25","date_gmt":"2020-06-18T06:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/?p=69395"},"modified":"2020-06-17T16:57:17","modified_gmt":"2020-06-17T06:57:17","slug":"self-confidence-and-lifelong-friendships-at-pony-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/self-confidence-and-lifelong-friendships-at-pony-club\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-confidence and lifelong friendships at Pony Club"},"content":{"rendered":"

SINCE Ballarat Pony Club had their March rally, the youth membership hasn\u2019t been able to properly get together with their horses at Victoria Park as they normally can.<\/p>\n

However, utilising the power of social media, district commissioner Cathy Deeker said club members have not only remained connected with each other throughout the pandemic, but have got to know riders much further afield.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a closed group for just members encouraging our riders to upload footage of what they\u2019ve been up to at home, like riding for pleasure or doing practice dressage tests,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of our instructors is good friends with an instructor in the United Kingdom, so we made a joint Facebook group where they can share differences between Australia and the UK \u2013 like kangaroos and deer in the paddocks \u2013 similarities, and comment on each other\u2019s ponies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been really popular, and we\u2019re about to have a fancy-dress competition online for that group, so the kids don\u2019t feel like everything in their life has stopped. Riding horses is a fairly all-consuming passion for a lot of kids, so if that\u2019s taken away, they struggle.\u201d<\/p>\n

The club\u2019s cohort is a supportive one, with about 40 young people involved from age five to 19.<\/p>\n

Although the kids get to enjoy dressage, show jumping, cross country, games and musical themed dress-up rides, the meetings are about far more than just lessons and time on a horse.<\/p>\n

\u201cPony Club is a youth movement with a focus on horses, so the social stuff for our riders is more important than the riding. It\u2019s about making lifelong friendships and having fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur riders try and build each other up, and our oldest rider mentors the youngest riders. They feel really excited when someone they look up to knows their name,\u201d Ms Deeker said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s lots of laughter, banter, and our instructors are really good at building young people\u2019s self-confidence, not just riding, so we\u2019re really lucky in Ballarat. Our club is one of the biggest in Victoria.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ballarat Pony Club held different, COVID safe rallies in May and June, with smaller groups, no breaks and social distancing., but it wasn\u2019t the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids really miss it,\u201d Ms Deeker said.<\/p>\n

Visit ballaratponyclub.com.au<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SINCE Ballarat Pony Club had their March rally, the youth membership hasn\u2019t been able to properly get together with their horses at Victoria Park as they normally can. However, utilising the power of social media, district commissioner Cathy Deeker said club members have not only remained connected with each other throughout the pandemic, but have […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":69389,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-69395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSelf-confidence and lifelong friendships at Pony Club - Golden Plains Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/self-confidence-and-lifelong-friendships-at-pony-club\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Self-confidence and lifelong friendships at Pony Club - Golden Plains Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SINCE Ballarat Pony Club had their March rally, the youth membership hasn\u2019t been able to properly get together with their horses at Victoria Park as they normally can. 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