Recently I met with some old friends and our conversation led us to Pony Club
Like many professional horse people started competing in Pony Club, so did I!
And just as many professionals fondly remember the time they spent with their friends and horses, I too have many happy memories.
But more than that, I now look back on life lessons to be learned at an institution like Pony Club.
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Pony Club Life Lesson 4: Sometimes it is Good to Attract Attention
4. Sometimes it is Good to Attract Attention
Sometimes it can be good to attract attention
Our pony club uniform was an orange shirt with a sky-blue tie. So not only was it a very, very bright colour, the orange and the blue clashed!
I am an introvert but I was at Pony Club, it wasn’t as bad because everyone was wearing the same colour. But when I was wearing my uniform, I didn’t want to stop at a shop and get a drink on the way home because I felt everyone would look at me and some would even ask questions about the badly clashing coloured uniform I was wearing.
One of the instructors tried to have the uniform changed to a white shirt and blue tie, so at every meeting she put it on the agenda. At every meeting, she was outvoted. Until I came along and voted with her and almost succeeded in having the uniform changed.
The next time we were at a competition the President of the Club made a very valid point. As we were getting ready for the day, he pulled me aside and asked me to spot where our other members were.
Amongst the crowd of almost one thousand riders, they were easily spotted because of the orange shirts. He then said ‘Do you see why I don’t want to change uniforms.’ Valid point.
Later that year, we entered the Pony Club ‘Team of Four’ at the Brisbane Royal Show. Our club had never entered such a prestigious competition but the four of us all made sure we had brand new orange shirts for the event.
Even before we mounted, we had attracted attention. The bright orange shirts were easily spotted including a photographer from the Australia-wide ‘Hoofs and Horns’ magazine.
We won the competition and received a full-colour photo in Hoofs and Horns that month. This may not have happened if we didn’t have such an eye-catching combination of colours as our uniform.
Up next Chat 844 – Pony Club Life Lesson 5 -Keep learning wherever you can……