Twelve Pony Club members attain A Test in 2009
The Pony Club’s top award — the A test — enjoyed a fantastic pass rate this year, with a total of 12 passes from the 28 members and associate members taking the test.
Last year nine members, out of 27, attained their pale blue badge disc.
The A Test is passed by only a small number of Pony Club members each year and is on a level with the BHS stage IV riding and horse care exam.
Candidates have to ride a number of unknown horses on the flat, over show jumping and cross-country fences during the exam, as well as demonstrating a practical knowledge of lungeing to improve a horse’s way of going and training young horses.
Charlotte Pearson-Wood, from the Romney Marsh hunt branch performed exceptionally during her A Test day, to be the only candidate to pass the A Test with honours in 2009. She gets a purple disc.
A Test pass candidates for 2009 are:
Camilla Furno, Cotswold Vale Farmers Hunt
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Oliver Signy, Easton Harriers
Suzanna Hext, Four Burrow Hunt
Lauren Innes, Garth South
Jolyse Clancey, Middleton Hunt
Ben Way, North Warwickshire
Sarah Stretton, North Warwickshire
Hannah Luck, Old Berkeley Hunt (South)
Charlotte Pearson-Wood, Romney Marsh (with honours)
Kate Walters, South Nottinghamshire
India Thomson, Waveney Harriers
Tanya Buckingham, Zetland Hunt
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A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.