Manners maketh the Pony Club. Or not.

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I get asked to donate prizes and vouchers to various horsey organisations and I'm generally pretty happy to oblige. Recently, a certain branch of the Pony Club (who shall remain nameless, but they are not local to me) and Equine Market Watch asked me for prizes.

So, always wanting to encourage the younger entry, and having a lot of time for EMW, I wrote off to both saying yes, of course I would help. Had a lovely message from EMW. Nothing from the Pony Club.

The message from EMW was so kind, I in fact sent them two books rather than the one I'd originally promised, for which I had a lovely thank you letter, and they've been nothing but kind and helpful ever since.

I sent the book off to the Pony Club, and I have heard nothing back. Not a word. I'm prepared to believe they didn't get my email, but the book hasn't been returned to me, so I presume it's there. This may sound rather sour, but if you're supposed to be encouraging the younger entry, teaching them manners by example might not be a bad idea. I've met some mannerless hounds in my dealings with schools, and riding schools, but when the people actually running things are as bad, it makes me despair.

Comments

winnie said…
There were some Pony Club kids at the last show I took the pony to. Despite the show rules, two of them spent hours galloping their ponies between the rings and the car park, seemingly oblivious to everyone else on the showground. When told to stop they appeared to be completely deaf.
One of them used my pony's backside as a buffer to stop her pony - fortunately I was leading him at the time, not riding, as he went straight up in the air. It took half an hour of non-stop eating for him to calm down enough to go in the ring.
So Bah! to the Pony Club, but at least I can now see from where they get their lack of manners.
11 July 2008 at 20:55
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