PONY CLUB RIDERS HAVE SPELL AT OHOPE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 38, 7 January 1949, Page 5

PONY CLUB RIDERS HAVE SPELL AT OHOPE

Considerable interest amongst residents and other campers has been created by the Pony Club camp at the Ohope Sports ground. Yesterday morning a number of the riders took their mounts down to the sea for a swim, and the ponies seemed to enjoy the cooling surf as much as the youngsters who rode them.

Looking over the camp yesterday, a pressman found most of the riders very young, but most had an air of'confidence and comradeship with their, horses that says much for their instructors and more for the value of the Pony Club idea.

Led by Mr L. P. Swarbrick, of Kiwitihi, who has with him a team of instructors and officials from the Waikato clubs represented in the cavalcade, the young riders are being given a valuable opportunity to acquire the, “horse sense” whereby the good rider knows and understands his horse as a friend as well as a servant. They are being taught to care for their mounts and to become thoroughly at home in the saddle. .

Though many are just learning to ride, all stejod the journey well so far, and nearly all the horses are in fair fettle.

The three-day spell at Ohope will give a chance for any minor galling and road weariness to wear off .before the longest, leg of the yffiole trip—the 37-mile trek to Pukehina—is tackled on Sunday.-'* There will probably be an impromptu gymkhana tomorrow at the showgrounds. On arrival on Wednesday, the cavalcade was met by members of the Hunt Club, the A. and P. Society and the Deputy Mayor, Mr C. S. Armstrong, who officially welcomed the riders to Whakatane. In Ihe absence of the president, Mr lan Gow, Mr L. Brown spoke on behalf of the A. and P. Society, and Mr G. Fogerty, hunt ward master, said a few words of welcome on behalf of the Hunt Club.