The Berkeley Homes Pony Club Championships 2018 is the pinnacle of all things Pony Club. To help you get up to speed with what happens when, here’s our definitive guide to the big event.
Where are the Pony Club Championships 2018?
Cholmondeley Castle, Cheshire
When are the Pony Club Championships 2018?
17-21 August 2018
Which disciplines are included?
Dressage: there are team and individual competitions for novice, intermediate and open levels. Technicality ranges from prelim to medium.
Showjumping: there are novice (90cm), intermediate (1m) and open (1.10m) levels for team and individual competitors. All heights are for fences in the first round of competition.
Eventing: once again, there are team and individual competitions for novice (90cm), intermediate (1m) and open (1.10m) riders.
Dressage to music: in order to enter dressage to music competitions, you must be a current British Dressage (BD) music member or full BD member. This also has novice, intermediate and open sections with team and individual competitions.
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Mounted games: this sees junior, intermediate and senior competitors pit themselves against each other in teams.
Horse and pony care: this competition features teams of three Pony Club members who demonstrate their knowledge and practical horsemanship skills taken from the Pony Club efficiency test cards over a number of rounds. There are mini, junior and senior sections.
Musical ride: the musical ride is similar to that of quadrille, where a number of competitors ride on a team performing a freestyle dressage test to music all in the arena at the same time in fancy dress. There is no area qualifier for this competition.
Centre equitation: this is a competition for Pony Club Centres and consists of dressage and showjumping. There are two sections; 12 years and under and 13 years and over.
Polocrosse: there are novice minis, open minis, novice juniors, intermediate juniors, open juniors, novice seniors and open seniors competitions.
How do you qualify?
In order to qualify for the dressage, showjumping, eventing, mounted games, dressage to music and horse and pony care championships, you must qualify at the area competitions, which are held mostly through the summer months.
There are two other main Pony Club Championships. The tetrathlon championships takes place at Offchurch Bury in Warwickshire, 10-12 August and the polo championships takes place over the same dates at Cowdray.
Stabling is available for all competitors on site at Cholmondeley with food and drink outlets, plus plenty of shops.
For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday
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Former web features editor, point-to-point editor and digital racing editor
Gemma is an experienced journalist, who was a member of H&H staff from 2014 to September 2025. She is passionate about all equestrian sports, including racing and point-to-pointing. She has enjoyed riding out for top trainers Nicky Henderson and Charlie Appleby and took part in a charity Flat race at Epsom in August 2018. Gemma’s has reported from numerous five-star events around Britain and Europe, as well as European championships.
