Slices of Life
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Star Stable Saddles Up and Rides Into Tryon International Equestrian Center
By: Guest author Matilda Opalpie from the online horse adventure game Star Stable Greetings (or as we say, “Hej”) from Stockholm, Sweden! My name is Matilda Opalpie. If you are a Star Stable player, you might know me for my iconic black hat and for awkwardly stumbling on words while trying to present all the latest news (and other fun stuff!) about the online game Star Stable! If somebody would have told me when I was a little horse-loving girl that I would be working for an amazing horse game one day, I would have thought they were pulling my leg. But here I am, ta daaa! And right now,…
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2017 Flash Teamwork Award Winner- Prancing Ponies Games Team
The Prancing Ponies Games Team was the winner of the 2017 Flash Teamwork Award for their incredible act of sportsmanship and teamwork at the 2017 USPC Festival. Thanks to Emily Cambridge, an H-A grad and now Club Secretary of Northern Exposure Pony Club in the Western New York Region for submitting their story. This year at Champs, I experienced something very special. I was the coach for my son’s junior games team, Prancing Ponies. On day two of the competition, his team saw that another team was struggling. The senior team, Impulsion, had two ponies that weren’t cooperating. One member of their team left the arena in a stretcher, and…
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Chloe DeYoung: Teamwork Superstar
Emma Entwistle, DC of South Wind Pony Club in the Midwest Region sent in our final finalist for the 2017 Flash Teamwork Award. She nominated member, Chloe DeYoung (C-2 HM, C-1 Trad) for the award because of the contributions Chloe has made to their club and region. South Wind Pony Club is barely one year old! To date, we have 28 members ranging from 6 years old to 22 years old. Our club has grown at an exponential speed this year and I am thoroughly grateful for the constant team building, leadership, dedication and passion Chloe DeYoung has repeatedly demonstrated! As such a young club, many of our members are…
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Ashland Tudor, the next Flash
The Flash Teamwork Award is given out annually to a person, equine, club, center, or region who displays as much teamwork as Cathy Aranosian’s club members did when writing about Flash, the horse, for the Breyer model. Abigail Guillemette, C-1HM, Flat, D-3 Traditional member of Monadnock Pony Club in the White Mountain Region shared with us her story of a horse named Ashland Tudor who, like Flash, has had a great impact on many Pony Club members I remember the first time I took Teddy cross country schooling. He refused most every jump, and to avoid going through water, he hopped onto a six inch retaining wall and then leapt…
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Flash Award Contender- The Vet Box
C-2 Traditional member, Hannah Fisher of Pickering Hunt Pony Club in the Eastern Pennsylvania Region sent in this fantastic story about her view of teamwork. This story was a finalist for the Flash Teamwork Award presented each year to a region, club, center, outstanding person, team, or horse to recognize the teamwork Pony Club values so highly. Read along as Hannah shares her story: The Vet Box It was the day I was most excited for at the 2017 USPC National Championships in Lexington, Kentucky. It was my first year riding at Champs and it was cross-country day for Beginner Novice Eventing. I was excited for cross country since it…
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Tales of a Pony Club Saddlemaker-In-Training Part 3
Adrienne Hendricks, H-A graduate, Boise Pony Club, in the Intermountain Region has agreed to blog her journey as an Apprentice Saddle Maker. Follow along as Adrienne shares her highs and lows of becoming a Master Saddler Here is an older saddle that needed to be re-flocked. This turned out to be a great way to show how to re flock a wool panel and also how the panels are attached to the tree. It helped that I needed to use white tread so you can see the stitching easier. The term “reflock” can cause lots of confusion as adjustments often get lumped into the term “reflock”. An adjustment or spot…
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Tales of a Pony Club Saddlemaker-In-Training Part 2
Adrienne Hendricks, H-A graduate, Boise Pony Club, in the Intermountain Region has agreed to blog her journey as an Apprentice Saddle Maker. Follow along as Adrienne shares her highs and lows of becoming a Master Saddler I had a saddle come in to have the foam panels recovered. I wanted to give you an overview of the process of this, so lets start with the before picture of the saddle: Here you can see the old covered panel. This is a foam panel as opposed to a wool flocked panel. It is felt on top which is the white you see below. Then layers of latex foam that create the…
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Flash Award Winner- Tuck Everlasting
Aly Werth, C-1 Traditional, C-2 Flat member of Hybid Farm Pony Club Riding Center in the Central New England Region sent in her Flash Award submissions about a couple of fantastic horses from her riding center. Her story about Tuck Everlasting “Tucker” was the winner of the Flash Award. Read along as Aly shares Tucker’s story: I can distinctly remember learning my toxic plants before my H-B certification in 2011. I remember running through ways to identify them and the problems they caused over and over again in my head. I also remember thinking that they didn’t seem very consequential, especially next to all the other things you are tested…
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Tales from Blackhawk Pony Club
Blackhawk Pony Club DC, Marlie Nauta, sent in a Flash Award submission for 2016 citing the wonderful teamwork her club displays in all aspects of their operation. Read her submission below: What an awesome club we have! Our Blackhawk Pony Club teams up our members, parents, and officers so we always provide the best for our members. They also reach out to help clubs within our region. 2016 was marked by some quick moves by our collective group of happy helpers! Our May testing was full of great success for riders and members, enhanced by our moms and dads pulling together to provide awesome nutrition and refreshments! Many volunteers were…
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Tales of a Pony Club Saddlemaker-in-Training
Adrienne Hendricks, H-A graduate, Boise Pony club, in the Intermountain Region has agreed to blog her journey as an Apprentice Saddle Maker. Follow along as Adrienne shares her highs and lows of becoming a Master Saddler Hello! I am an Apprentice Saddle Maker and Pony Club (PC) has invited me to share my journey in preparing for my exams in early 2018. I have loved horses my whole life and achieved my H-A before heading off to college. I especially loved the Horse Management side of PC and thrived in Stable Management. Mom used to joke that my tack room was immaculate however my bedroom was a disaster. So true!…
