April 2015
CWPC Games & Polocrosee Fun Day
April 11
Great Meadow, The Plains, VA
Show Jump Clinics
April 8, 15, 22, 29
Blue Top Farm Nokesville,VA
DRHPC Horse Trials
April 18
Manakin Sabot, VA
Multi-Region Polocrosse Rally April 19
Great Meadow, The Plains,VA
LHPC Horse Trials
April 25 & 26
Morven Park Equestrian Center, Leesburg, VA
BRHPC Certifications
April 26
Hunt Club Farm
C-2 Dressage Cetrification
April 26
Sprieser Sporthorse at Clearwater Farm
| May 2015
Show Jump Rally
May 9 & 10
Deep Run Hunt, Manakin-Sabot, VA
Old Dominion Region Dressage & Polocrosse Rally
May 17
Virginia Horse Center, Lexington, VA
Dressage Rally
May 30 & 31
Morven Park Equestrian Center, Leesburg, VA | | | Greetings from the RS
March came in like a lion and left like a lion! Will this weather even end? I do think spring is around the corner! March was a busy month for our region, especially our RIC, Kris Gerald and our RIC Committee. They organized our Mock HB, a very special Standards and Certifications Clinic presented by Kevin Bowie, and HB Prep on Confirmation and Lameness with Dr. Paula Horne. Erin, our VRS Activities had a busy month preparing a number of rally invites and preparing procedures for using the new Wild Apricot software on our VRPC website for registering for rallies. She also worked with our Horseless Rally Organizers to pull off a great Horseless Rally! I thank Kris and Erin for all their hard work, keeping us moving forward and providing wonderful opportunities for our members. Without them, nothing would happen at the regional level for our membership!
Thank you, again, to Cathy Frederickson for hosting and conducting our annual Mock H-B test to prepare our candidates for what to expect during their "real" H-B testing.
On Saturday night, March 7, we hosted our Standards and Certifications Clinic in Warrenton. Kevin Bowie, of the Capital Region, presented an excellent seminar, presenting what each standard means and looks like. The presentation, discussion, and dinner made for an excellent evening. Thank you to Kevin Bowie for supporting our efforts and providing this important education to our leaders, members, instructors, and parents.
The Difficult Run and Serene Acres Pony Clubs hosted a very successful Horseless Rally, on Saturday, March 21, at Serene Acres Riding Center in beautiful Bluemont, Virginia. A big thank you to both of these clubs for working together to make this a great event for our new members and parents. Thank you to the many volunteers and especially the C-advisors that helped our youngest members learn what "rallying" is all about! Thank you, Pam Kadlubek and Pamela Smith, for organizing this event for the region!
Our final H-B prep was held on March 21 at the Hoof and Paw Veterinary Clinic, conducted by Dr. Paula Horne. Dr. Horne helped the candidate prepare for the Conformation and Lameness portion of the H-B test. Thank you, Paula, for your continued support of our members!
Well enough about March, here comes April! We have a number of fun events and activities coming soon. Read on....
| | | USPC 2015 Championships East - Start Planning Now!
by Lisa Woods, Champs Coordinator It feels like rally season is just beginning, but we've already held three qualifying rallies, with only four more to go! Up next is our qualifying Polocrosse Rally on April 19 at Great Meadow. Details for this rally are on the website calendar. Our current list of qualifiers is posted on the VRPC website  2015-Championships-Qualifiers. Be sure to check the list if you think you’ve qualified and let me know if there is an error. USPC 2015 Champs East will be held July 22-26 at the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington, Virginia. If you are ready to sign up for Champs, please go to our Champs page to read about the process. The USPC Championships EAST Gold Book is available as well as the Qualifying Criteria. Please note that wherever “age” is referenced, it means your pony club age—your age on January 1, 2015.
I have reserved a block of 40 rooms at the Wingate by Wyndham hotel near the Virginia Horse Center. Please remember that these rooms are for competitors and their families and official VRPC coaches. If you would like to reserve a room contact me for the secret code.
Stay tuned for more information as the date gets closer!
| | | Horseless Rally
by Pamela Smith
What a great horseless rally this year! We had 34 competitors and some 'new to pony club' experiencing their first Pony Club event. We are very pleased with the number who attended, and we were overwhelmed with all the parents who volunteered in so many roles. This year's Best 'Pony' Award went to Serene Acres Rainbow Dance.
One of the best parts of the day for me was being done on time, and receiving a very thoughtful thank you card from one of the teams.
Thank you to all who helped, volunteered and attended making this a great day!
| | | SJ Clinics Offered by Gegi Winslett
by Kris Gerald
We regret that we are not able to pull together a Show Jump Clinic for the region this spring. We've tried a number of venues, dates, and clinicians and each presented some obstacle that we couldn't manage. We feel strongly that the Show Jump Clinic is an important opportunity to evaluate riders before entering the Show Jump Rally to ensure members compete in appropriate divisions.
As a good alternative to our Show Jump Clinic, we have worked with Gegi Winslett to piggyback on her planned clinics over the next few weeks.
Gegi Winslett is a long time instructor and advocate of Pony Club. She has graciously added to her schedule additional opportunities for our members to participate in clinics with her at her "Bright Lights" Series at Blue Top Farm in Nokesville, VA. Gegi will hold clinics the following Wednesday evenings:
April 8, April 15, April 22, April 29th from 5:30 pm to 9:00 pm and May 6, 2015 from 5:30 to 9:00 pm.
She has also added Sunday April 12th (our original clinic date) to her schedule at Blue Top Farm for a select number of students.
If you have a member that would like to ride in Gegi's clinic(s), please respond to bluetopfarm@gmail.com AND g.winslett@earthlink.net. Please provide the following information:
Name of Rider
Name of Horse
Name of Pony Club
Height You Wish to Jump
Any time constraints between 5:30 pm and 8 pm
The cost of the lesson is $65. The lesson fee is paid to Gegi Winslett: $45 for a private lesson. A ring fee of $20 per lesson is paid to Blue Top Farm. Blue Top Farm also requires all riders sign a liability waiver, which is available at the arena.
If a current VRPC member in good standing participates in a Gegi Clinic, the VRPC will supplement the cost with a one-time $30 rebate. To receive your rebate, please Email Kris at Kruberg@aol.com with the member name and date of the clinic.
| | | Champs 2015 Can you Help?
by Lisa Woods, Champs Coordinator Coordinating our region for championships is a big job, and I’d love some help. Here’s a list of great volunteer opportunities!
--plan our Champs Prep Picnic on June 28 (food, location, team building games);
--“babysit” the coaches during champs (make sure they are fed, watered, and coffee’d as appropriate during the day);
--plan our traditional pizza dinner right before Opening Ceremonies (can be challenging to plan as all the disciplines dismiss the kids at different times and often we abandon the idea altogether);
--organize the VRPC competitors group picture after (or before?) Opening Ceremonies.
As you can see there are many more opportunities to help—just contact me!
Thanks in advance! Lisa Woods
lisawoods65@gmail.com
| | | HM CornerRally Prep Time
by Brian Smith
Spring/Summer Rally season is almost here, so now is a good time to start dusting off those rally kits.
Like I always say, the MEMBERS should be doing the rally kit checks. They are the ones that end up with the points and knowing what is what is very important.
The new rule for this year is Required Equipment check is no longer a “scavenger hunt”. If an item is not present in the tack room at the time of the equipment check, credit will not be given if it is found later. Make sure kit contents are labeled properly and that everything is present and in good condition.
New rule last year--feed containers no longer need to be secured. As a result, there is now only one barrier (the feed room door) between the feed and your mount. Feed room doors must be secured. The penalty for a feed room being not secured when no member is inside will be significant.
Feed must be in a breathable (non-air tight) container. Individual portions can be pre-packaged in a paper (not plastic) bag and labeled with mount's name or number and “AM” or “PM”, “Lunch”, whatever. Feed that comes in a plastic bag is OK (e.g. Chop, Dengie, etc.). Feed should be listed in pounds, with conversion provided to flakes for hay.
Time to rally!
| | | Membership Update
by Aldona Petraitis The transition continues from the old VRPC website to our new website and member portal. Our new site provides many new functions that help manage members, events, rallies and this newsletter. It's a one-stop shop for all things VRPC!!
To help you discover the new website, here are a few helpful hints.
1. The new website is located at http://www.vrponyclub.org/. All current members MUST use the website to register for clinics, rallies, and renew membership in the fall.
2. Log in to the website -- Your email address is your Username. Use the email address that is associated with your membership. Enter your email. Enter your password or click "forgot password" to request a new password. Once logged in, carefully check your profile. Send updates to me. Note: I will not make any changes to certifications until I receive your Club DC’s approval. Also, USPC info must match local club information.
3. Families with multiple children who are members of VRPC -- each child MUST have a unique email address in order to log into the VRPC website and register for rallies and other events. A unique email address is the only way that VRPC can send important information regarding membership renewals, clinic information, rally invitations, monthly newsletter, HM updates, etc…So please do not delay updating your members' profiles, we do not want you to miss out!
4. USPC membership -- If you have trouble logging into USPC or if your local membership has not been processed by USPC, please check to see if your Liability and Waiver form has been signed. Go to https://secure.ponyclub.org/secure/login/
Your child’s profile page will be displayed. If “renew membership” shows, click on that and then it should take you directly to the Liability and Waiver form.
If there are other USPC membership issues, please contact your club’s DC/CA to make sure your membership has been sent in. USPC has been a little delayed in updating their systems so please recheck the site periodically.
Do not hesitate to contact me with any questions that you may have at petrait@verizon.net or apetrait040@gmail.com.
Thank you, Aldona
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