Pony Club is one of the biggest youth movements in the world and it is alive and well in Australia with the country being divided into States and Territories and the Pony Club Association divides the States into Zones.

There are 210 member Clubs in Victoria with 7,237 riding members and 266 members without horses and when you add to these numbers the 10,184 adult members this association is one to be reckoned with.

Victoria's 210 member clubs are divided into 10 zones and this year the Dressage and Showjumping State Championships were hosted by the Southern Metro Zone which covers a huge area from the mountains to the sea!

Zone President, John Barlee - pictured below left - is very much the face of the Southern Metro Zone as he has been involved in many positions within the board of this zone. John has seen many riders come through the Zone who now have children and some even grandchildren in the zone.
Another of the faces so strongly associated with the Southern Metro Zone is Mrs Robyn Coutts - pictured below - who combined being a Pony Club mum with Club duties at Langwarrin Pony Club as well as Zone duties for Southern Metro and she is now loving being a Pony Club Grandma to daughter Sam's daughter - and the tradition continues!

The 2007 State Championships were held on the Moorooduc Polocrosse Club grounds on the beautiful Mornington Peninsula, a bayside area of Melbourne and the trucks and trailers rolled in all through Saturday as riders and their family and supporters arrived to enjoy the BBQ on the grounds on Saturday evening before the competitions began on Sunday morning. There was a cast of thousands for dinner with 188 competitors and with each rider having at least one (but mostly more) family member with them.

The organisation of an event of this size is a huge undertaking and the crew in charge for 2007 have a wealth of experience between them making for a smoothly run event. Ron Gates (the laconic yankee)- pictured below left - "breaker breaker are you there rubber ducky?" - from Mornington Peninsula Pony Club has not had a rider in the Pony Club for some 13 odd years but he is still there working for the movement and today he was making sure communication was on top of everything.

Pictured below - this mum's jacket told a common pony club story - mum, team manager and Roz is more than probably chief transport officer for her rider as well as the many other tasks associated with kids and horses!

Many of the teams competing this weekend have traveled some 5 hours plus to be here.
The well designed Southern Metro Zone, State Championships t-shirts and peaked caps were in such high demand that by Saturday night they were all sold out and orders were being taken.
Pictured right - This is a competitor who had a very busy couple of years and no doubt will be adding on her 2007 achievements!
The weather on this second Sunday in February was not kind with high temperatures and swirling north winds which made seeing difficult much less riding a dressage test or jumping a course. With much of Australia being in the grips of one of the worst and longest droughts on record, and Victoria having no exemption, the grounds barely resembled the once well greened and irrigated polocrosse grounds - today it resembled a dust bowl as water is simply to precious to irrigate what is basically an empty field.

Battling her way through the dust as she did her Grade 2 dressage test, Melissa Johnstone and Woodglen Pinoir from Wannon Zone are pictured right.

The Wannon Zone sees riders come from many hours drive from the Mornington Peninsula and the zone sees riders from the heart of Victoria's farming country known as the Western Districts. Most of the riders are living on working farms and horses are very much a part of their daily lives.

Many riders, especially at the showjumping rings enjoyed relaxing bonding time with their horses as they watched the other competitors riding their course!

Pictured below left - West Gippsland Zones Sophie Tyler makes sure her pal, Galgada Park Destiny doesn't wander off while she chats with friends.

Pictured below right - Northern Zones Angus Lang (and Dougal) and Ashleigh Gamble (and Wilbour) trusted their steeds enough to lie down for a grounds eye view of the jumping.

It was great to see Mansfield Pony Club represented as this area has been under seige from the horrendous fires which began towards the end of 2006 and continue through into 2007. Mansfield, which lies at the base of the Victorian Ski field Mt Buller has been in the middle of political battles. The Government has taken away the livelihood of the famous Australian Mountain Cattlemen who have grazed beef cattle in the mountains since the beginning of Australia when they took away their grazing rights and allowed the area to become overgrown and dangerous, as was proved when the fires took hold.

Pictured left - Pony Club has always been the place to enjoy "dressing your pony" and obviously pink and purple are the favourite colours here!
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