About

The Saddleworth & District Branch of the Pony Club was formed in 1960. It was one of 5 branches that joined the 6 original Area 4 Branches between 1957 and 1960. Since then an additional 5 branches started meaning Area 4 now has 16 Branches in total, together with 26 Centres. Since 1960 it has been supporting the young riders in and around Saddleworth with affordable tuition, camps, Points Shows (some of the perpetual trophies date back to its inception), as well as enabling members to compete at Area and National competitions in Dressage, Show Jumping, Eventing, Mounted Games and Horse & Pony Care Competitions.

Our first committee members were Mrs Eidith Boon, Mr Holden and Mrs White (from Mottram), who had a real struggle forming the Branch due to us not being affiliated to any Hunt. Luckily for us they succeeded and started rallies at Wreas Nest in Shaw, later moving to Hague’s Roundhill Farm, Dobcross. Here we ran Show Jumping rallies in one of their fields, Dressage rallies in a walled field called mile pasture due to it being a mile around its boundary. 

The next move was to Armit Road at Friezland where we were able to erect a clearspan unit kindly donated by a member’s parent. This housed our tuck shop with some tables and chairs. A real treat for members were the scotch pancakes made by Mrs White which were consumed with relish by our members after the rallies before they hacked home.

A number of years later, the branch had a cross country course at Church Road, Uppermill, which ran over many fields belonging to 3 or 4 landowners, one of whom, John Gartside, built the course himself to a high standard but also making it suitable for novices alike. Both rallies and x-country events were held here. John Gartside’s son, Jamie (now a vet) practised here and was on the GB Tetrathalon Team. Another of the landowners was Brian Powell who has been and still is our President. One of the thrills of the 3 Day rallies at this time was to hack to the course and have a Chippy lunch. Camps at this time were held at Osbaldeston and, from all accounts, members attending had a whale of a time. There was also a Cross Country course at Mrs White’s Farm at Mottram. Anne Townsend and Major Griffiths (the Chief Instructor at the time) used to set up the course on Tuesday afternoons before the rallies.

Years later the branch moved to Platting Road, which is our current base, thanks to John Collins. The move was necessary as the water board, who owned Armit Road, wanted to dredge the canal and use the field to dump the spoil. Also the increase in number of members meant the field was no longer fit for purpose. We are very grateful that the water board paid the rent for Platting Rd for a few years following the move. Unfortunately, though we now need to pay that ourselves, together with the costs of cutting, rolling, baling and moving bales off the field.

We continue to thrive as a branch, not least because of the dedicated and long standing volunteers. There has been many of them serving many years. One of our past DC’s (still a current coach) is Penny Ridley who was DC from 2009 to 2019 but actually started with her daughters in 1988 joining the committee around 1990, Pat Dewhurst (our current Dressage Manager) was also Chief Instructor back in 2003 and her daughter was a member of the branch for many years, Our Current Chief Instructor, Stacey Holden, first started coaching for us in 1995.

Each Branch covers a geographical area and is organised using the Purposes and the Rules of The Pony Club. Every Branch is led by a District Commissioner helped by a Committee of people assigned to specific roles to support the running of the Branch. Please note every member of the Branch Committee is a volunteer, dedicating spare time to support every Member.

Here you will find the contact details for Committee Members, people with an advisory role and the team managers for each sport. These are able to help with enquiries, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Please do not telephone committee members and team managers after 9pm unless in an emergency. It is often a good idea to drop them a text first to see when would be a good time to call.