Another Maryland Regional person is being honored as the Maryland 4-H Horse Program Volunteer of the Year. It is our very own RIC!!! Darryll Ann Buschling.  She will be honored at the Horseman's dinner in March. Details on the party are below. There should be a write up in the Equiery possibly the March issue.

 

I wanted to let everyone know of a project that our club participated in as part of the Christmas Holiday. 

 

Every year CPPC has an annual Christmas party and typically all the kids exchange presents to celebrate the Holiday.  This Year one of our Parents and Sponsors Marg Anderson suggested that instead of exchanging presents, we could adopt a family.  She volunteered to organize the event and called just one week before the party to all the CPPC members to explain our plan.  Our club was so enthusiastic. Each family donated either money or bought a present or clothing for our adopted family, which included a single mom, and three children ages 7, 2 and 1.  It's our understanding that they currently live in a hotel. 

 

At the end we had enough money for a $200.00 gift certificate to Wal-Mart (we chose this store because the Wal-Mart super centers in our area have just about everything) and an out fit and toy for each child.

 

I truly believe that the team work that helped us pull together so quickly to complete this project was a direct result of the skills and combatively that the kids learn as a result of pony club. 

 

We are so proud of our kids and our club! 

 

The Maryland Region has every reason to be proud of it’s games teams this year, not only for stellar performances at Nationals this summer, but also for fine play at two of the post Nationals Cup competitions.

PRESIDENT’S CUP

 The 2004 Nationals Senior First Place team, The Wild Things, repeated their winning performance at this year’s President’s Cup, held in October during the Fair Hill International CCI***.  Teams competing were the MD Region Wild Things (Marlborough/Antietam), the MD/Capital Region Bahama Mamas (De La Brooke/Antietam/Seneca Valley), the Capital Region Red Bull team and the Eastern PA Region Bond team.

The Wild Things, composed of J. Hickok on Alley Cat, S. Hickok on Copper Penny, A. Peterson on Takiri, K Sunderland on Hip Hip Hooray and B Calhoun on  Bustin’ Dust, took a 7 point lead in the first session of play and managed to hold on to win even after the two Hickok girls were involved in a collision just at the end of the first session that had the rider catapulted over her pony’s head and the pony down with her.  Very unfortunately, Alley Cat’s injury was too severe to allow her to be used in the afternoon, but she is expected to recover fully for next year’s competition schedule.  Her rider, although battered, recovered enough to play in the second session.

The Bahama Mamas, composed of S. Stalter on Domino Spot, S. Welniak on Phat Chance, J. Schenck on Maxwell, A. Scarborough on Jenny Bug and S. Cone on Snickers,  chased the Wild Things through the first session and made a strong run in the second, but were ultimately not able to pass them in the points.  Final points were – Wild Things with 94, Bahama Mamas with 82, Red Bull with 78 and the Bond team with 68 points.  After the play was over, the MD region teams and parents regrouped at a local restaurant and had a great dinner, with much fun and merriment.

The awards ceremony took place the following day, and the teams had the pleasure of accepting their ribbons from Olympian and former Redland Hunt Pony Clubber David O’Conner.  Teams also received awards which included saddle pads, helmets and picture frames.

FOUNDER’S CUP

One rider from the MD Region, M. Vassallo (Antietam PC), competed in the inaugural Founder’s Cup competition, which is the post season competition for the top six Advanced Pairs teams from the year’s Nationals.  The Founder’s Cup was sponsored by the Mounted Games Across America, Inc. organization, and the cup itself was donated by Nancy Lindamood, a founder of Mounted Games in the United States and well known to Pony Clubbers as the lady who paints the plates the first place teams receive at Nationals.  This competition took place in early November at the P.G. Equestrian Center.

Teams competing included the Capital Region Freak N’ Hot team, the MidSouth/South Georgia Girls, the Capital Region Marbles, the Capital Region Outkasts and the MD/VA Region Wasabi team.  Play took place over two days, and the beginning of the last session saw the Freak N’ Hot team far out in front, repeating their performance at Nationals.  The Marbles and Wasabi swapped places over the course of the competition, but Wasabi came out on top, beating out the Marbles by 4 points to take second.  The Wasabi team is composed of M. Vassallo, from Antietam Pony Club on Sebastian, and J. McCready, from the Rocky Run Pony Club on Nitro.  Ribbons, sashes and saddle pads were awarded to all competitors and ponies.  This was a great event and something for Advanced riders to look forward to as an end of year competition just for them.