Member Spotlight: Alexandra Frailey

This Pony Club Member Spotlight, brought to you by Kentucky Performance Products, features Alexandra Frailey, an all-around English rider from Spokane Pony Club in the Inland Empire Region.

Age: 25

Spokane Pony Club/Inland Empire Region

Years in Pony Club: 17

Current certification (and/or certification currently working on): H-B Horse Management, B Dressage, C-2 Eventing

What disciplines and/or activities are you involved in?
Eventing, Dressage, Mounted Games, and Horse Management

Tell us about your current mount(s) and what you do with them:
My current mount is Midnight Magik, aka Maggie, a 15-year-old Anglo Arabian mare that I currently compete Third Level Dressage with through the United States Dressage Federation (USDF). She has gotten me all the way from First to Third Level, including First and Second Level freestyles and multiple championship competitions after I retired her from Eventing due to injury.

Tell us about your goals (with Pony Club, with riding, and in life):
I want to finish my H-A and A certifications, achieve my Dressage medals, and go through the Dressage judging certification programs. My ultimate goal is to judge and teach, both inside and outside of Pony Club, and spread goals and ideals of proper horsemanship and education within the sport of Dressage.

What is your favorite thing about Pony Club?
I love that Pony Club teaches us right from the start about proper horsemanship care and putting our partners first. It is a fantastic education system, and the certification system is a fantastic way for upcoming professionals and amateurs alike to gain exposure and opportunities that wouldn’t otherwise be open to them. I love getting to pay it forward and pass along all of the things that I learned as a kid to younger members. I also love getting to encourage people coming up through the levels, both alongside and behind me, and working together to make our sport just a little bit brighter, no matter the discipline, economy, or experiences that we all have to deal with.

What is one thing you would tell younger members about joining Pony Club?
Stick with it! It gets hard in the middle, and everyone wants to quit, but if you are passionate about horses and want to ride for a long time, keep working through the system through your C-level certifications! It is so worth the opportunities you get at the national level, even if you are competing in other organizations.

What is your favorite way to prepare for a Horse Management certification?
I go through my Standards of Proficiencies piece by piece and read everything I can on each subject, both inside my Pony Club manual and outside sources. I also love talking to my veterinarians, trainers, and farriers and gaining knowledge from them. Know what the manual says, but you can gain so much more information from the people around you as well!

If you could try out any other discipline or activity, what would it be and why?
I have pretty much retired from jumping after years and years of Eventing, but I wouldn’t mind going back to Mounted Games with the right horse. I did both English and western Mounted Games on a completely blind pony for many years, and I loved it! If I were to try something new entirely, I’ve always thought Vaulting would be incredible to learn. I did dance in high school, and it would be fun to go back to those roots and incorporate the mounted skills as well.

Describe your favorite Pony Club memory:
I have so many great Pony Club memories! One of the standouts was my very last Mounted Games rally on my blind mare, Charisma. I went to the same Mounted Games rally for years and years as a kid, but I stopped going in high school because I always had a conflict that weekend with my high school equestrian team. The year after I graduated, I took Charisma and went with a friend who had just gotten her childhood pony back after many years of leasing her out. We made up a two-person advanced team and spent the weekend both competing in the rally and helping the younger junior riders on their leadline ponies. One of the ponies was very naughty and liked lying down with her kid on her, so I ended up schooling that pony that evening after the competition was over. Many of the younger members and parents came to watch, and I ended up getting to teach a large group of people that evening. The next day, everyone came and watched Charisma and my session as well and were stunned that a blind horse could do so well. To me, it was a huge turning point in getting to pay it forward and to pass on all of the knowledge and encouragement that I’d gained through the years. I didn’t know it at the time, but that would also be my last competition on Charisma (she passed the following year). That weekend and those Pony Club members will always stick in my mind and my heart.

How did you get started with horses? Are you a member of any other equine organizations? 
I got started in horses because of my mother. She was a hunter/jumper for many years, and when I was a toddler, she worked in a barn that had a Pony Club Riding Center. I had my first ride at two weeks old, my first lesson at three years old, and joined Pony Club shortly after that. Through the years, I have also been a member of the USDF, United States Hunter Jumper Association (USHJA), United States Eventing Association (USEA), as well as a lifelong United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) Competing member.

Have you done any specific special activities in Pony Club, such as international exchanges, recognition programs, virtual competitions, etc.)? Tell us more.
I have participated in many Pony Club rallies through the years, as well as certifications as both a candidate and Examiner. I was also on a Regional Youth Board for a short time.

What makes you #PonyClubProud?
Pony Club values correct horsemanship above all else, and I know that wherever I go in the horse world, the values and fundamentals impressed on me by Pony Club will take me far.

Thank you to our latest USPC Member Spotlight, Alexandra Frailey. Want to be featured in a future Member Spotlight? Fill out the form here.

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