Mill House Pony Club

25/08/2026

Next block of Horse and Pony Care training starts on Monday 7th September and will be a 6 week block.

22/08/2026

What an amazing few days at Pony Club Championships. Fun, friendship, memories made, and results that these children have worked so hard for! I couldn't be any more proud of our teams!
We arrived on Wednesday with the lorry packed with everything we could possibly think of - including the plastic leg! On arrival it was great to bump into to some of our younger members who had beaten us to it and got there earlier in the day to take part in the Centre Day and were having a blast!
I then went to take part in a very informative coaching CPD with Sarah Verney and Simon Grieve on course design.
The boys then met up with Alice for an unexpected Kahoots Quiz in the main arena, and started their run of prizes with a 3rd place and some great Pony Club merch.
On Thursday morning they were up and raring to go, ready for the National Finals of the Mini 'Blue Cross' Horse and Pony Care Championships. Bea arrived to join Alice and Ted and we spent a long morning revising, practicing and going over everything we could think of that could possibly come up. After a quick refuel it was time to get them neat tidy, polished and ready to go; and the heavens opened!! It was a quick last minute scrabble round to find coats to keep them dry before the long walk down to the stable yard. We sat nervously watching the scores come in, their first round wasn't strong but we knew it was a big ask, neither Bea or Alice had been before, Bea was only very very little still - they had worked incredibly hard and they couldn't have done any more, but then their scores kept getting better and better! After 10 tough rounds the final scores went up and they had finished 2nd out of 48 teams from all over the UK at the National Championships!! The icing on the Cake - Ted was awarded runner up Best Individual in his final year as a Mini. We couldn't be more proud of what they have achieved!
There was not much rest for Ted as it was time to lock in, and straight back to the revision ready for the Juniors on Friday with Toby and Lottie (all back together again after their Mini success as a team in '22 and '23). These 3 have worked harder than they have ever worked this year and have put hours and hours of hard work in. On Friday it showed - they were confident determined and focused and they put in an amazing prrformance, only dropping 13 marks over 10 rounds in a competition where the standard and difficulty seems to go up every year, to become 'Blue Cross' Junior National Horse and Pony Care Champions!! This mattered so much to them and I am beyond proud of them all!! What a few days and what a Championships!!

06/08/2026

06/08/2026

Camp 2026!! What a camp!!
With less older members staying overnight and more Mini's joining us during the day we crammed in the fun - from evening hacks, wheel barrow races, late night card games, middle of the night games of tig, swimming, pizza, early morning yards before breakfast, flatwork, course jumping, mounted games and lots and lots of Horse and Pony Care practice for those going to Champs.
With our youngest and newest members joining us during the day the fun was non stop, arriving beautifully clean within 10 minutes most of them looked like we had sent them down the mines!! They joined in with the yard work, groomed ponies, mucked out fields, learnt more about Horse and Pony Care, did lots of riding and lots of mounted games, we even managed to fit in a biathlon with beanbag throwing and running (I think its time to get the next set of Mill House Triathletes started!!) and the highlight playing in the pool to cool down. Lots of smiles lots of memories made and lots of children already planning for next year!!

20/07/2026

I have some extra lesson spaces over the next few weeks.
😁
Don't forget to get booked in to rally and camp!

16/07/2026

Lots of Pony Club dates coming up!
All day rally Friday 24th July.
And camp...
If you are a Mill House P C member and haven't had details let me know!

22/05/2026

There are NO Lessons or Pony Club next week.
The next block of Pony Club starts on 1st June.
☀️🌞☀️

20/04/2026

What a day at the Dengie Pony Club National Quiz Finals 2026 at Loughborough University!!! The Morning started off with Mini teams from every corner of the UK descending on the lovely Holywell Park venue at Loughborough University. Our members were dissapointed that unlike some teams they didn't get to come by plane, boat or train as this year the finals were only 10 minutes down the road!
Our Mini's came in well prepared and ready Ted having run his own day long training session the day before while I taught lessons, complete with his own home produced (and laminated) charade cards, feely bags (I am still trying to locate the missing items that they stole from the tack room), odd one out sheets which he spent hours producing, and notes on the Pony Club among other things - all fueled by tea and bread sticks!!! They got off to a great start with high scores in almost every round, unfortunately the Tarsia proved their undoing - apparently they knew all the answers they just couldn't read and find the cards quick enough! However they went on to finish in a fantistic 3rd place and podium finish in the Centre section against very strong competition.
In the afternoon it was the turn of our Junior/Senior team, it was a little bit of deja vu with them scoring the highest marks in the Centre Competition in every single round except in the Tarsia which proved their nemesis as well, to leave them in second place behind the reigning Champions, Hayfield. A massive and well deserved achievement of which we are very proud! What a day and what a fantastic competition!
Thankyou to everybody who works so hard to make theses competions happen!

19/04/2026

Good luck to our teams at the Pony Club Dengie National Quiz Finals today.

09/04/2026

A massive Well Done to our 4 teams who competed today at the Area 6 Blue Cross Horse and Pony Care Qualifier, organised by Jane Foster and South Trent Pony Club at Derby College Equestrian Centre.
Mill House Connemaras (Lottie, Toby, Ted) got off to a very strong start in the Juniors, setting the standard in the first session and taking the lead at half time before finally getting beaten in to 3rd place by 1/2 a point behind two very strong Barlow teams, securing the Championship qualifying place. Mill House Highlands (Harriet, Georgia, Alice), a much younger, and less experienced team all new to this level lacked some depth to their knowledge yet but put up a strong performance and worked well as a team and will have grown from their experience to come back stronger next year.
Mill House Shetlands (Aubrie, Heidi, Nellie) were our first Mini's to compete in the first session, they were all really nervous with both Aubrie and Nellie doing their first proper Horse and Pony Care competition, and the questions for this level were tough - but they grew in confidence and had lots of fun!! Our final team of the day Mill House Dartmoors (Ted, Alice, Bea) in the second session of the Mini's were well prepared and ready to go. With Ted in his 7th and final year as a Mini he was determined to make it count, and has been working reallly hard with Alice all day on a Saturday for weeks and weeks, joined by Bea in her first competition but with lots and lots to say! - they worked hard as a team to take the win and secure their qualifying place at the Championships. With Ted being awarded an individual prize for the most outstanding Mini Individual.
Well done every single one of you, we are equally proud of you all !! The win looks different for everyone - for some to have the confidence to be there is huge and is a massive win! If you have worked hard, done the best you can do on the day - it is always good enough!!