Horseback games a royal idea
Mounted games were the inspiration of Prince Philip.
When Sir Mike Ansell was director of the British Horse of the Year Show, Prince Philip asked if he could devise a competition for children who could not afford an expensive, well-bred pony.
At the 1957 Horse of the Year Show the first Mounted Games Championship for the Prince Philip Cup was staged.
The cup is aimed at pony club level with keen riders moving on to mounted games as they get the ‘‘bug’’ for the sport.
The Mounted Games Association of Great Britain was founded on January 21, 1984 and since that time the sport of mounted games has gone from strength to strength.
The New Zealand Mounted Games Association began in 2002 and now has members throughout New Zealand.
Districts are Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Turangi, Hawke’s Bay, Taranaki, Horowhenua/ Manawatu, Otago and Canterbury.
Excitement is mounting within the equestrian community and particularly within the mounted games fraternity – in 2013 New Zealand will host the World Teams Championships in conjunction with Horse of the Year.
This event will have about 15 international teams competing fiercely for the title of world champions and preparations here are well under way.
The association has to find 120-plus spare games ponies to be able to provide the international teams with the best.
Consequently the districts are trying to provide as many as possible competitions so owners can take pool ponies out to give them as much practice as they can.
New Zealand is a past holder of the World Teams Championships (Sydney 2008) and Northland’s Dee Cherrington is the current World Individuals Champion and a past holder of the World Pairs title.
The New Zealand team have also competed at WEG in 2010 picking up a silver and bronze.
The Southern Hemisphere Championships have also been won by New Zealand on both occasions the competition has run.
A good games pony can be any breed, type or build.
They do have to be under 15hh (International MGA rules) but even the tallest riders can ride 14.2hh if the pony is a solid type.
Some of the best games ponies are too strong for a younger rider but are perfect for an older rider or parent to have fun with.
Ponies must be extremely brave but also obedient and well schooled. Getting them used to everything is important but most of the equipment can be found quite easily and most ponies get the hang of it quickly.
Any pony that has a reasonable grounding in basic dressage will already have all the cues needed to play games.