LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY: The United States Pony Clubs, Inc., (USPC) announces the recognition of The Oaks Equestrian Center- an O’Connor Signature Facility, located in Lake City, Florida, as a USPC Riding Center. As a recognized Pony Club Riding Center membership to USPC is available to youth 25 and under who join The Oaks Equestrian Pony Club Riding Center.  

 

Members through a Pony Club Riding Center do not have to have to have their own horse and will have access to the full Pony Club program. This includes learning to ride on the flat, over jumps, and in the open. In addition, members will be able to “rate” their riding ability and horse management skills against an established standard of proficiency and be able to participate in center, regional, and national activities.

 

 Each of the ten Pony Club ratings is more difficult than the preceding one, and requires Pony Club members to learn more about horses and their care and to become increasingly accomplished riders and teachers of riding and horse care to younger members. The top rating, ‘A,’ is reached by fewer than one in 300 and denotes throughout the international horse industry a highly competent and knowledgeable horseperson.

 

There are approximately 11,000 members of USPC in over 625 clubs and centers throughout the country. Along with an emphasis on helping its members learn to ride and care for horses, Pony Club promotes teamwork, a sense of responsibility, safety, good moral judgment and self-confidence.

 

The United States Pony Clubs, Inc. (USPC) was founded in 1954 as a nonprofit national youth organization to teach riding and horsemanship through a formal educational program. Many of the nation’s top equestrians, including most of our Olympic Equestrian team members, have Pony Club roots. Members range in age from as young as 4 through age 21. Activities are English-riding based, and members ride both horses and ponies, depending on the size of the rider and the discipline in which s/he is competing.

 

All Pony Club competition is team competition, much like the Olympic games, where members learn the importance of cooperation and teamwork.  

For more information on The Oaks Equestrian Pony Club Riding Center, please contact Rhonda Gailey @ This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  211 SW Theodore O’Connor Circle, Lake City, FL. 32024