Pony Club Plan B. Even though your local Pony Club is not running competitions or rallies right now, there is still plenty to do.

Pony Club Australia has launched the #ponyclubplanB to help you BE ACTIVE – BE LEARNING – BE CONNECTED

BE ACTIVE:

Have an Active April!

Get a team together from your club, zone or riding centre and add up your daily activity. Visit the 10,000 steps website.

More details on page 4 of the April PCA newsletter. We have lots of prizes to thank you for taking part. Every participant gets a 50% discount code for the online courses at ‘The Horse Riders Mechanic’ and the full Equiculture course at Equiculture, as well as a 10% discount code to spend at Shezam Equestrian. Many other prizes for individual and team top score, highest average, most improved, most innovative and most enthusiastic.

Improve your own health and wellbeing with The Riders Pod

Support your health, nutrition and fitness goals with The Riders Pod. Plenty of at-home workouts for all fitness levels.

PCA Members save 20% on monthly subscriptions and 30% off annual subscriptions https://theriderspod.com.au

Enter an on-line horse competition

Video yourself and submit it to the event organiser. The Horseland digital dressage competition is free to enter . More details here. Closes April 13th

Many Pony Clubs are also running virtual competitions so check out your local calendar. There are lots more to come and some examples here.

Set up a record for your horse care regime on Hopoti

The Hopoti horsecare module lets you keep all of the information in one place

Get crafty

Make something cool from a huge list of DIY horse projects on YouTube here.

BE LEARNING

New Pony Club certificate manuals

Get started on your next certificate. Everything is in the new manuals. Order via the member store. Here’s how…

Your club might set up a Facebook group for your friends doing the same certificate so you can work through it together.

We will soon have some on line assessment tools for your certificates too.

Learn about Equitation Science

This is a new part of the PCA syllabus and there is a lot of free video content to help you learn and practice it with your horse.

Videos from Equitation Science International and Equitation Science Coaching are on You Tube.

The videos from Sustainable Equitation closely follow the PCA syllabus.

Dressage training TV

PCA have negotiated a special arrangement with Dressage Training TV just for members. The Pony Club Australia package is approximately $14 per month (6.90 British Pounds Stirling). The Pony Club Australia package gives PCA Members full access to four courses: The How of Riding (10 x 1hr video lessons), Improve Your Dressage Scores (6 x 1hr video lessons), Equine Back Rub (4 x 1hr video Lessons, a pdf download of the book ‘Master Dressage, The Basics’ by Peter Dove and most importantly, the Groundwork Certification Programme. The Groundwork Certification Programme has five levels of certification from beginners through to lateral work. Dressage Training TV provide feedback on videos that you send through for assessment.

Click here to find out more.

Free courses

Equiculture has free videos on Youtube and a discount on their comprehensive courses. The free videos will help you improve your riding and learn how to manage your horse paddocks. More information and a free ebook here

Erica Posely has free videos on improving the use of your aids.

Listen to a horse podcast

Horse Chats is available on iTunes. It is up to episode 659 so plenty to choose from.

BE CONNECTED

Join the PCA National Quiz on Thursdays in April

Have some fun with the Pony Club community from across Australia. We will be running the Quiz on Kahoot. Make sure to keep watch on the PCA Facebook page for entry details each week.

Watch a horse movie with your friends

There are plenty to choose from. Here is a list to get you started

More fun with your friends so set up a watch party on Facebook

Reflect

COVID19 is an unimagined global pandemic. We are living through history in the making. It will be talked about by generations to come. Why not make a journal with your thoughts, pictures and videos to share with your children and grandchildren?

Be mindful

Get the right mindset to see out this period. This article is written for equestrians.

Smiling Mind is a free app with meditation and mindfulness tracks

Talk about it

Sane.org has a helpline 1800 187263 and forums to connect with others

Lifeline 13 11 14 for 24 hour crisis support

eHeadspace is on line help for 12-25 year olds

Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800, email and webchat

#ponyclubplanB