As it approaches its 85th year, The Pony Club is looking forward to implementing a number of strategic changes, to improve its volunteer communication and support, enhance its membership offering and re-affirm its positioning as the youth arm of the British Equestrian Federation (BEF).
In her Chairman’s address at the Annual Conference in March, Cherry Michell announced that there was to be a strategic review to determine how best The Pony Club can meet the needs of its Membership and volunteers. The Trustees of The Pony Club appointed *TrioPlus Ltd to carry out the review, starting in May and concluding in early November 2013, scoping opinion across The Pony Club that included input from head office staff, volunteers at board level and volunteers within the **Branches and Areas, on governance and wider issues.
The final report highlights that The Pony Club continues to deliver a quality, sustainable and relevant product at local level, and that with large amounts of development and resource soon to be driven into the IT systems, as one of the key recommendations, it will see significant improvement in communications and processes for those who make up what is still an enviable network of volunteers, as well as benefitting the overall membership product.
The review recognises that both The Pony Club staff at Stoneleigh Park and the volunteer network have an appetite and passion for change, providing a solid basis and a turning point for progression. It is recognised, by all involved in the Review, that the suggested programme of improvements will take effort, time and financial input, all of which in turn will provide a firm footing from which The Pony Club will continue to develop and thrive.
“We are extremely grateful to all who have taken the time to lend their opinion to help to form this review”, comments Judy Edwards, Chief Executive of The Pony Club. “We now recognise some key themes across the organisation and will be proactively looking to make improvements, some short term and some much longer term, that will ultimately allow us to communicate more effectively with our volunteers, re-engaging with them to show our support and in turn helping them to attract members, as well as re-asserting The Pony Club’s position within the BEF as a training organisation in excellence for young people”.
The review was presented to, and accepted by, the Equestrian Council on Wednesday 13th November meaning that several of the shorter term recommendations can now get underway, paving the way for the Board of Trustees to re-focus the strategic direction of the organisation going forwards into the 85th Anniversary year, under the leadership of the newly elected Chairman, Mary Tuckett, and Vice Chairman, Dawn Taylor.
Cherry Michell commented further “”I am delighted that the Equestrian Council has accepted the review, and as outgoing Chairman it is great to know that we have a clear pathway on how to proceed, giving our new Chairman the best possible starting point, and leading The Pony Club into a very bright future”.

A copy of the Review is available to download here