Gulf Coast Pony Club, a charter club of the United States Pony Club, is dedicated to the English riding discipline. Pony Club is a misnomer; it is not a club for ponies. It is a non-profit organization that teaches horsemanship and the care of the horse to young people through the age of 25. Pony Club is a worldwide educational organization that originated in Great Britain in 1928. The United States Pony Clubs (referred to as Pony Club or USPC) was founded as a non-profit national youth horsemanship organization in February 1954. (The USPC was and is independent from Pony Club in Britain.)

Pony Club encourages individual growth through a standardized rating system, team work, and friendly competition. A member joins as an unrated member (UR) and as they attain the skills outlined in the testing standards they complete ratings starting at the D1 level and rating up as they acquire the necessary skills. Members complete both an oral and riding phase of the rating process.  The Pony Club member who reaches the “A” rating – the ninth and highest, reached by only a small percentage of all members – is a highly competent and knowledgeable young horsewoman or horseman. Due to the emphasis on teaching and giving back to others, older Pony Club members very naturally become volunteers in their local clubs and communities. They provide much of the educational base for younger members in their own clubs and also volunteer regionally and nationally to share the knowledge they have learned. This makes for a self perpetuating organization that hopefully will be active throughout the 21st century.

Gulf Coast Pony Club is part of the Rio Grande Region with clubs from San Angelo all the way to Corpus Christi and several in between. The region offers a variety of events, both mounted and unmounted throughout the year, including clinics, camps, ratings, rallies, barn fairs, and a banquet. For more information about joining pony club please contact us.