THE Irish Pony Club (IPC), an affiliate body of Horse Sport Ireland, is a voluntary youth organisation which provides an important educational base for young riders from the ages from eight to 23 years of age. The IPC encourage young riders to learn and ride in all activities involving equines, offers tuition in a range of disciplines and the opportunity to compete in a number of these disciplines. The Pony Club was first founded in Britain in 1929, and gained independent charitable status in January 1977. The IPC was founded in 1933, and by 1983 had 3,067 members. Since then the membership numbers have fluctuated, from a low in 1986 of only 2,878 members. More recently, Irish Pony Club membership has been declining by over 30% from a high in 2008 of 4,540 to 3,154 in 2015

This decline in IPC membership has been accompanied by a decline in entries for IPC competitions. The Eventing Championships has had significant decline in entries especially in the “open” section where entries have reduced from 50 competitors in 2007 down to 14 in 2015. The Hunter Trials Championship numbers have decreased from 595 entries in 2012 to 339 entries in 2015. The National Dressage Day is a pure dressage competition for all members in the Irish Pony Club; the total amount of entries in 2012 were 150, there was a significant drop in numbers in 2014 whereby there were only 96 entries, however entries did rebound in 2015 to 154 entries.

The objective of this research was to examine IPC membership, identify the perceived benefits of IPC membership, and to determine participants’ motivations and overall satisfaction rates. The survey was directed towards former and current members over the age of 18; the questionnaire consisted of 45 questions that were subdivided into three sections relating to population demographics, evaluation of membership and perceived benefits of IPC membership and the participant’s recommendations. There were a total of 233 respondents.

Results

Almost 70% of participants joined the IPC when they were under the age of 11. The next highest demographic of participants joined in their early teen years, (25.4%) with only a small proportion (5.4%) joining the IPC in their late teenage years.

The largest group of participants to cancel their membership were aged 18 – 20, (44%). A significant proportion, however, remained in the IPC into their 20s, (24%). A total of 23% had discontinued their membership at age 15 - 17 years old.

MEMBERSHIP DECLINE

Members were asked to select their reasons for the termination of their membership; participants had the option to choose more than one answer. The majority of respondents (58.5%) cited being “Too Old” for the IPC as the reason why they had discontinued their membership. A small proportion of respondents declared that they had no interest in horses anymore. Only 8.5% felt they had gained all qualifications within the IPC and did not feel the need to continue their membership any further. A total of 13.8% felt they were not getting any benefit out of the membership. Other reasons included:

Overall, 60% (n = 78) of participants were satisfied with IPC training facilities, whereas almost 40% were only moderatly satisfied or dissatisfied. Interestingly, respondents who were dissatisfied with their club’s training facilities were more likely to have considered membership cost to be important or very important than individuals who described themselves as satisfied with the club training facilities.

Since the IPC appears to lose core members from the ages of 18 onwards, in particular, it was appropriate to determine the profile of qualifications attained by IPC members. Survey respondents were asked to identify their highest qualification in the IPC tests. Overall, 55% of respondents had taken at least one examination during the period in which they were IPC members. The largest proportion of respondents who had achieved some qualification (26.6%) had completed their C+ examination. The minimum age at which members can take this examination is 14 years.

The second largest proportion (20.3%) of people had completed their B test; members have to be 16 years old to sit this test. Both the B+ test and the A test had the same percentage of people that had completed those tests (8.6%). It is evident that as the tests progress the level of completion also declines. Respondents felt that the location of the training for advanced tests did not always consider members from the west or south of Ireland.

INVALUABLE

Participants were asked to explain in what ways IPC membership had benefited them. The results were nearly universally positive. Almost 95% of participants felt that they had gained invaluable experience and thorough equestrian education in both the riding and horse care aspect of the IPC. Participants felt that their riding skills and knowledge had benefited hugely through training, the opportunity to avail of instruction from many different instructors and the opportunity to ride in competitions. Another perceived benefit which many participants identified from their time in the IPC was the opportunity to develop contacts and lifelong friends within the equine industry. Respondents also felt that membership had set them up for life and taught them valuable life skills and, for some, provided experience travelling abroad. Another benefit identified was the opportunity to gain qualifications; many had gained their instructor’s qualification through the IPC.

Participants were asked to offer recommendations which, in their opinion, might encourage more people to become members of the IPC. A minority of respondents (18.7%) felt that there was no change needed, whereas others identified changes such as holding more training days and reducing the cost of membership as important changes. The top four recommendations are presented in Table 1; another recommendation that participants identified in the survey was the need to broaden the competitions horizon, particulary for younger horses. It was also suggested that the IPC should review the current teaching practices and hold open days for newcomers.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Since the majority of members leave the IPC because they perceive themselves to be too old, it may be advisable to increase the age limit. Participants identified the need for more emphasis on the older members including more training days and competitions. Moreover as almost 30% are finding the training days not progressive enough, the content and presentation of training days may need to be critically evaluated. While the majority of participants were satisfied with the instructors who taught at the IPC, it was however suggested that the IPC offer more training days with high profile riders, who could serve as role models and would motivate participants.

The IPC needs to pay more attention to those core members that are being lost. Ensuring that members are progressing to their appropriate level could increase participation numbers and encourage members to retain their membership for longer.

Respondents also identified the need to reduce the costs of membership, training days and competitions. Families that have more than two children in the IPC could be offered family discounts and tribute should be paid to long standing members, this would have a positive effect on retaining older members.

Communication was identified as an issue, a significant number of participants did not receive updates on events and competitions; almost 17% did not compete in the IPC as they were not informed. Regular updates and notification should increase participation numbers.

The IPC makes a valuable contribution to the Irish Horse Industry and to the development and fostering of equitation skills in Irish youth. Its achievements are noteworthy but a changing demographic and economic landscape does require a re-evaluation of standard practices. It is hoped that this study may help in such an evaluation.

The author would like to acknowledge the assistance of the Irish Pony Club and Soraya Morscher of the University of Limerick in the completion of this study.