•Do I want to go to this rally?
•Can I fit this rally into my schedule?
•Am I qualified to go to this rally?
•Can I afford to attend this rally?
•Do I have the time to prepare for this rally?
•Do I have a horse to available for me to ride at this rally?
•Do I have transportation for me and my horse to get to
and from the rally?
•Do I have a place to stay once at the rally?
Get organized!
•Take care of your finances
•Get you and your horse fit
•Decide: Will I be a mounted
competitor or horse manager?
•Consult more experienced club
members about the mile long to do
list
•Everything that will be used during
the rally MUST BE LABELED!
•It is also a good idea to read over
the Show Jumping and Dressage
rule books
AKA: SM
 The unmounted competing
member of the team (one per
team is required)
 The Horse Manager’s job is to be the extra helping hand of the team
 Responsible for making sure that the team is organized and presentable
(before, during, and after the rally)
You can’t put a price on the fun and great times one will get to experience
at a Pony Club rally…but you can put a price on pretty much everything
else…
Mounted Competitor: $90-$110 or more per rally
(entry fees, stabling fees, hotel/camping fees for
competitor, gas and possible trailering fees)
The total fees for a Pony Clubbers’ first rally will
usually cost more (tack, horse, show clothes, Foxwood
polo, paddock boots and/or tall show boots ect.)
Note: parents, don’t panic, remember, many
things needed for a rally that you cannot
afford/acquire can always be borrowed if need
be! Also, remember, when in doubt go to EBay!!
 Horse Manager: $45-$55 or more per rally (same as a mounted competitor,
minus the stabling fees and horse transportation)
 All Competitors: for every Pony Club rally will need their club polo, Pony Club
pin, and a pair of sturdy paddock boots for minimum attire
There is a lot of preparation required in the getting ready for
any rally – one day or four days (for basics, see hand out)
The list may seem to be endless, but be strong, take a deep
breath, and put your nose to the grind stone, we’ll all get
through this together and have a great time along the
way!
If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask, DON’T BE SHY!
•Double and triple check your own personal list of stuff (the team will
get penalty points if anything needed is missing, so be responsible
and do your part!)
•It is a good idea if your are a team captain or even the
horse manager, to take the time to contact the other team
members and remind them about what they might’ve been
assigned to bring team kit wise a few days before the rally
(see kits list for details).
•Double check that you have transportation for you and your horse to
get there and back (you must provide appropriate travel bandaging
for your horse, which can be borrowed if need be)
•Finally, the journey to Mega Rally will be fairly long, so make sure
that if you are trailering horses, to take frequent rest stops so that
you can check up on the horses to make sure that there are no
problems and that they have plenty of hay and are comfortable.
Note: Upon the
start of the first day
of any Pony Club
rally, there are strict
regulations and
restrictions
regarding the
interaction of
competitors and
parents…
Upon arrival, there will be a lot of kayos consisting of both the two and four
legged kind
Your first and top priority will be and always is the care and comfort of the
horses
List of things to do:
 - stall set up (ask members for proper procedures)
 - unload and unwrap the legs of horses
 - stuff for feed and tack stalls will be placed in appropriate areas but are not
allowed to be properly set up until the next day with the rally officially starts
oTo do list cont…
o - Once all that is done, the horses will be fed and watered for the
night and final touches such as sweeping/raking the barn isle are to
be made
o - By this time, it is usually pretty late at night, so with the horses
stalled and comfortable for the night and everything accounted for
to be set up the next day. We all go ahead and retire to wherever we
shall be staying for the next few days (usually a hotel, campsite, or
sometimes at a fellow Pony Clubbers residence)
Before any riding takes place,
horses must be insured that they
are sound enough to compete, this
is done through the process of a
jog-out
Procedure
-horse and rider will line up in the
designated area and walk in the waiting
arena until they are called
-Once called up, the rider will trot their
horse in hand while jogging beside them.
-If a horse is lame, the rhythm in which
the horses legs move while they trot will
be uneven
Proper Attire:
-Rider: Club polo, ASTM/SEI helmet, gloves, riding crop, riding
pants/kakis, and clean sturdy paddock boots
-Horse: Only has to wear a bridle (cleaned and well oiled w/ clean bit)
and should be groomed to the standards of the competitors’ rating
During this time, the HM
judge may also inspect
feed and tack stall
Once every rally, a
HM judge will come to
every team and ask a
competitor to show
them items from a kit
(of judges choice) and
explain it’s usage
oThe purpose of
formals is to assure
safety and neat attire
appropriate for
formal competition
riding at you rating
oFormals take place
one hour before a
competitor’s
designated ride time
oA formal inspector
will check horse and
rider for safety and
cleanliness of horse,
tack, and rider’s attire
according to the
standards of their
rating
oThere are penalties
given for offences
such as unclean
tack, loose stitching,
missing Pony Club
pin, dirty horse,
improper attire, ect.
oLateness to your
assigned formal
time (even by one
minute-the HM
judges securitize
their watches) will
result in 5 horse
management
penalty points, plus
1 for every minute
after
Black ASTM/SEI helmet
White stock tie with
plain stock pin
Solid black, navy blue,
or grey hunt coats (no
pinstripes)
White, buff, canary,
or tan breeches
(jodhpurs for
young children)
Black or brown
gloves-white for
dressage only
(optional)
Long sleeve white shirt w/
neckband collar
Black tall boots or
black paddock boots
with half chaps
Turn back
inspection takes
place one hour after
your ride time
During the time between ride and
inspection, you and your team mates work
together to make sure that:
-Horse is clean (cooled off and free of all
sweat marks and hooves picked out) -tack
is clean (free of jockeys and bit clean of
rust and saliva debris)
-Saddle blanket clean of all loose hairs
-Boots dusted off and polished
The actual inspection:
-You will be judged on how
clean your tack, saddle pad,
and boots are.
-How well your horse is
cooled off and groomed
(judges can tell the difference
between the textures of sweat
and water, so you can’t fool
them)
The purpose of turn back
inspection is to make sure
that both horse and tack
are properly taken care of
after your ride
At Mega Rally, awards are given out for:
-Horse Management (Top team score is given the golden pitchfork)
-Overall Team Score
-High Point Individual Score
-Sportsmanship Award
For overall
team scores
and horse
management
scores, ribbons
are handed out
for every place
and there is
one for each
member of
every team
When packing everything back up again, it
is important that no one forgets anything
(the high chance of loosing stuff is why it is
important that everything is labeled).
Also, that the property on which the
competition was held is to be left in as
good, if not better condition than when you
arrived.
In conclusion,
with all this
info in mind,
ask yourself
the same
questions seen
on the second
slide. If you
can answer yes
to all of those
questions, I
hope to see
you at Mega
Rally this year!