Path to the Pony Club A: A Team Effort

By Claire Harmon, former VP of Instruction and her “team” of Pony Club A graduates and members.

This article was originally published in Pony Club News (now Discover USPC magazine) in the Summer 2015 issue.

Your tack is clean, your horse is groomed, and your boots are shined. You have studied the training scale, learned how to ride the distances and mastered the rebalance. Off to a show? Well, not this weekend. You are headed to your A certification. Achieving your A may seem like a daunting task; however, you will see in these three A-certified members below, it is a personal journey.

Alex du Celliee Muller, Dan Shaw, and Nick Hansen tell us what it was like for them to take their A. Dan is a freshman at Cornell University and achieved his Eventing A [called Traditional instead of Eventing in 2015]. Nick is following his passion, showing two horses this season, and has Young Riders in his sight. He is a “Double A” in both Dressage and Eventing. Alex has a barn and lesson program in Arkansas and has her A in Dressage.

My own story: I can still remember driving home from Morvan Park in Virginia, sitting between my mom and dad, and dad patting my leg and calling out, “Claire ‘A’ Belletti, you did it.” Each time I think of a new A, I silently smile and say “Dan ‘A’ Shaw, Nick ‘A’ Hansen, Alex ‘A’ du Celliee Muller, you did it!”

Dan Shaw

Upon hearing that I was going to take the A, almost everyone would remind me of the tremendous time and energy I should expect to spend preparing for it: not to turn me away from the idea, but to make sure I knew what I was committing to. And those voices were completely correct in their assertions that accomplishing the A would not be easy. However, I believe that better advice would have been to focus on my relationships with those eager to help me achieve my goals, for it was only with the support of many that my success became a possibility. In fact, I should have received that advice the day I joined Pony Club, as my entire Pony Club career is filled with people who went beyond the minimum in a way that was neither expected, nor required, to provide me with the ability to accomplish my goals.

What struck me after the A was just how many factors in the journey there had been beyond my control. There were certainly times that luck played to my favor, but it’s the times that it didn’t—when my chances of even making it to the testing seemed small—that the other people came through to help me onward. A National Examiner’s offer for me to spend the summer at her barn (a four-hour drive away) to concentrate on the certification was only made logistically and economically feasible when a family who had never met me opened up their home to give me a place to stay. Over that summer, I received the aid of countless other people, many of who were probably unaware of the magnitude of their help: like the family that let me pull the horse trailer onto their lawn and off the highway after getting two flat tires and having only one spare. While it was up to me to meet the standards at the certification, there were many steps in the journey there that only came together out of the kindness of others.

One of the main lessons the A taught me was to never undervalue the impact someone’s invested support can have on your life. Inherent in this idea is the necessity for acknowledging those who take a special interest in your success. My advice for anyone looking to test up is that before setting your alarm an hour earlier to get that extra ride in before school or work, recognize and thank those who have helped you get to where you are. Determination can get you far, but you will get much further with the help of others.

In closing, I will share a saying that started as a joke at my house about how often borrowed horses are brought to upper-level certifications, but quickly developed into a principle—the essence of which has implications far beyond the horse world. It’s an idea that I have proven true more times than I ever imagined I would: always remember that no matter who you’re talking to, the horse you take to your next certification may very likely be standing in their field at that very moment.

[Dan Shaw is a Life Member of USPC.]

Alex du Celliee Muller

As a full-time trainer and instructor, being a Pony Club alumni [graduate] has dramatically affected my career. Beyond the Pony Club-gleaned maturity, confidence, and ability to articulate that have helped me through job interviews, study abroad experiences, and two years of classroom teaching, I really feel that achieving the Dressage A certification itself has helped shape my future.

I got my Dressage A certification in 2012 while a member of Liberty Oaks Pony Club in the Sierra Pacific Region. Having my A certification has contributed to the recognition I receive, and the process of earning it has given me skills and knowledge that I use in my career. Being able to say I’m an A is a marker of achievement, and I proudly put it on my resume, broadcast it on my website, and brandish it as evidence as to why I am confident in my knowledge. I use A-level knowledge daily (I refer to A knowledge to mean both the H-A and A skills, as I use them both extensively). I help advise the development and day-to-day business of the boarding barn where I train, directly calling on all my “H-A” knowledge (and I do mean all of it!), and as an instructor, my clients expect me to be able to advise them on everything from equipment fit to first-aid care to nutrition and supplements.

Having pursued my upper-level certifications in the Dressage Track, the A included a portion called “training.” At the Dressage A testing, I was required to be very knowledgeable about the training pyramid and bringing horses along, as well as the training of young horses. In studying this section, I really took the opportunity to read extensively and internalize the knowledge. I cannot emphasize enough how much this section alone has helped shape my training philosophies and equipped me to confidently start young horses and bring along inexperienced horses. I refer to the training pyramid daily, both within my lessons and within my own rides.

Getting the A has been infinitely helpful to my career, and I will never regret having put in the time and work to achieve it.

[Now, Alex is the owner and trainer of River City Training Stable, a USPC National Examiner, and a USDF Bronze and Silver medalist.]

Nick Hansen

My path leading up to the A was a path based upon learning, be it learning how to talk, to teach, to take care of my horse, or, of course, to ride. Learning, for me, started when I was 5. My mother has always had an interest in horses, and when my sister and I were old enough, we were thrown on horseback and told to have a good time! And a good time, I certainly did have! I started riding a pony named Pumpkin, who was owned by Diane Suloff, my first coach and also the District Commissioner (DC) of my Pony Club, Keystone Pony Club. Shortly after the start of lessons with Diane, I signed up for Pony Club and started gearing up for my D-1 test.

After earning the D-1, my passion for horses only grew! Even though I was only 7, all I really wanted to do was learn about everything horse-related. Whenever my mom brought me to Diane’s for lessons, I would always run around the barn until I found Diane and follow her as she finished barn chores before I had to start tacking up. I was intrigued by everything she did, be it cleaning stalls, taking horses in and out of paddocks, watching her feed, and of course I loved being ring crew whenever she needed jumps moved. Every second at the barn was spent watching, listening, and learning about what it takes to run a successful training facility.

As the years went by, I moved up through the levels in Pony Club, soaking up all I could! I loved going to all the rallies with my ponies and showing off what Keystone Pony Club had taught all of us. To this day, I owe my basic riding skills and knowledge of horse management to Diane. She went out of her way to make learning fun, but at the same time challenged me to go out of my comfort zone to learn more about something or to accomplish something in a new way. When it came to horse management, there is one person who truly helped me learn, my mom. My mom was there with study cards in hand all the way to the A. She would help me go over what was being tested and made sure I was ready for each evaluation.

I think what drove me the most to achieve the A was all the information I would have learned after doing so. Since I was young, I not only loved learning, but loved helping others to learn as well. I love being able to answer questions or be the “go-to” person during both discussion and riding. I enjoy educating people in the art of horsemanship through what Pony Club has taught me. Achieving my Double A status has opened many doors for me in my riding career. It has really helped me in starting a business and make a name for myself in both the eventing and dressage community. Since earning my “Double A” in 2013, I have been able to create a business in lessons, clinics, and training, and about three months ago, I purchased my first resale horse! Without everything Pony Club and the people in it have taught me, I most certainly would not be where I am today, not just in my riding or horse management skills, but also in everyday life. Being in Pony Club has taught me that with the right work ethic and the drive to be successful, you can achieve anything you set your mind to. I plan to pass on what Pony Club has taught me to my future students with the hope that they will, one day, have the professionalism, drive, and success that Pony Club has instilled into my everyday life so that they too can be the best they can be!

[Nicholas Hansen is an international dressage rider, a car racer, and the 2016 North American Junior and Young Rider Championships Team Individual and Freestyle Gold medalist. He is still competing through his farm, Roaring Creek Farm.]