Horse Illustrated Magazine

The United States Pony Clubs, Inc. is pleased to host the 12th triennial Festival July 18-24, 2017, at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky. Pony Club will welcome over 3,000 members, their families, friends, volunteers, and Pony Club leadership from across the country to Kentucky to enjoy competition, learning, and fun.

USPC Festival Championships is the culmination of training and hard work for over 1,050 members who competed at qualifying competitions throughout the year. Held annually, National Championships in Eventing, Dressage, Show Jumping, Mounted Games, Western Dressage, Tetrathlon, Polocrosse, and Quiz are showcased during the first part of the Festival week.

The educational phase of Festival offers a unique learning experience, offering outstanding clinics, both mounted and unmounted, presented for members, parents, and volunteers. The clinics are conducted by Pony Club Graduates, Olympians, and equine experts in various disciplines. Visit www.ponyclub.org to see a complete list of these talented individuals. A popular non-riding portion of Festival offers a myriad of clinics and workshops teaching all things equine. Anyone can participate in these unmounted educational opportunities and registration is available on-site.

The cornerstone of the Pony Club foundation are education, safety, sportsmanship, stewardship and fun. Members learn teamwork, a sense of responsibility, safety, self-confidence, and leadership, through the riding and care of horses. The skills, habits, and values instilled through horsemanship are tested as member’s progress through the Pony Club Standards of Proficiencies and Certification levels.

USPC Festival is one of the most popular and best-attended Pony Club events where friendships and skills learned last a lifetime.

About Pony Club
The United States Pony Clubs, Inc. (Pony Club) was founded in 1954 as a nonprofit national youth organization to teach riding and horsemanship through a formal educational program. There are approximately 9,000 Pony Club members in over 600 clubs and riding centers throughout the country. Many of the nation’s top equestrians, including several of our Olympic team members, business professionals, government leaders and career military officers, have roots in Pony Club. Traditional members range in age from as young as 4 through age 25. Pony Club also offers educational opportunities a growing number of adults through Horsemasters membership.