The Pony Club NSW State One Day Event and Combined Training Championships took place last Friday and Saturday, hosted by the Harden Pony Club and Zone 2 on the Murrumburrah showgrounds. The event attracted visitors from all around the state with young horse riders enjoying the days out in the sun riding their horses and enjoying the delicious meals provided by the committee
Two Harden riders, Alyssa Brown and Tommie Parker blitzed through the track this weekend, showing the other locals why Harden horses are the ones to remember.
Antonia Brown, the Secretary of Harden Pony Club, President of Zone 2 and mother of Alyssa Brown, was proud to host a state-wide championship, “We had huge numbers. We had one-hundred and forty-four horses on
the grounds over the weekend. The Harden Pony Club in conjunction with Harden Horse Trials are really good sup- porters of the showgrounds since we have one of the best cross country courses in Regional New South Wales.”
“We’ve held this event four times in the last ten years. This is because we have such good facilities and work to- gether really well with Harden Horse Trials. We’ve got a very strong group of a small but dedicated core of people who do the work.”
Both young Tommie and Alyssa did fantastically well over the weekend and their results pleased Antonia. “Tommy Parker, who’s in the sixth grade, it was his first State Championship. He worked very hard to ride out and do really well. He was 20th in his division which was the D grade juniors. Alyssa, who’s now 21, has been riding club state championships since she was nine, she was sixth in her D grade division.”
“I’m incredibly proud of her because she has been rid- ing since she was young. Full credit to Alyssa for her achievements because she not only competed but has
done all the work on the education and development of her skills so that she can ride at this level.”
The Harden Pony Club made sure all visitors left with a belly full of grub provided by the on-site canteen. The meals offered by the canteen included a full course dinner so that everyone left with both their entertainment and food fix satisfied.
The Pony Club has been fairly busy these past few months with their annual camp that took place on the 14th of March which saw plenty of experienced instructors. The instructions taught the kids about the sport of hunting and had Ed Fernon talk about his olympic achievements.
It was a fantastic day out in the sun on Saturday and even in the face of poor weather on Friday, the show went on and capped off another successful day for Harden.
Jack Murray
