Club to celebrate 60th anniversary
Iconic Horsham social and sporting institution Horsham Pony Club will celebrate its 60th anniversary with a birthday gathering on June 2.
The club will welcome the general public as well as members and former members to the gathering at its Riverside Recreation Reserve headquarters.
The birthday celebrations will reflect on how the club started and evolved and maintained strength and longevity through the interaction between riders, their horses and each other.
Pony clubs operate across Australia and promote the skills of rider and horse relationships and the various disciplines involved.
Club life-member Noel Janetzki and long-time club supporter Wendy Donald have been involved in organising the
birthday and are looking forward to the occasion.
“You get to learn a lot about horses, but there is also a great social side,” Mrs Donald said.
“Children get very committed – they have to feed and care for their horses as well as ride them.
“Pony club teaches them responsibility and teaches them the right way.
“A multitude of memorabilia will be on display and slide shows of former pony club members.
“We have a huge collection of photographs and people are bringing even more memorabilia and photos on the day.”
Mr Janetzki, heavily involved in the club through the 1980s, said open-day celebrations would be from 10am to 3pm and be part of a normal pony club day.
He said an official part of the celebration would be from 1pm to 2pm and include a variety of guest speakers who would talk about their memories from the club.
“We have three original members who are still alive – Marj Cavanagh, now of Mornington, Jim Heard and Jean Devlin of Horsham. Jim will be one of the speakers,” he said.
Horsham Pony Club has been a quiet-achieving Horsham district institution since it formed in 1959.
The club had humble beginnings as Horsham Youth Centre Horse and Pony Club when it formed on June 12 with Allan Creek president.
Its membership quickly grew and its first rallies were at Horsham Racecourse and Horsham Showground before moving to Riverside.
One of the club’s most innovative accomplishments was building a cross-country course at Jim Heard’s South Wonwondah property in the 1970s.