VWH Pony Club Member Wins Urky Newton Bursary

Peter Mason, 16, from Bibury, Gloucestershire and a member of the VWH Branch of The Pony Club has scooped one of the top awards in the country for young event riders.

The Pony Club, the biggest equestrian youth organisation in the world, has awarded Peter the Urky Newton Bursary for showing, in the opinion of the judges, the most competent horsemanship on the cross country course at The Pony Club National Championships which were held at Sansaw Park, Shropshire.

The Bursary was started in 1997 to the memory of Mrs. Newton and was instigated by her nephew Mr. Arthur Packard. 'Urky' had been a District Commissioner, Branch Secretary and was the Area Representative for Area 6 (East Midlands) for many years. She was also a member of the Horse Trials, Show Jumping and Dressage Committees. Her real passion was cross country riding in all its facets, but especially hunting to hounds, which she felt, was the very best education for riding cross-country. She would have approved of the Bursary, because the selection for it is based on cross country riding, about which she was so knowledgeable and passionate.

The Bursary is for a week’s training with Jane Holderness-Roddam, L.V.O..

Peter, whose mother Chris led the Fosse Manor Team for 10 seasons, competed in both the Eventing and Show Jumping competitions at The National Championships and is himself very keen on Team Chasing.

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