Kylie Fiedler with her Pony Club horse Scandalous, who she competed to Grade 3 horse trials and Grade 1 dressage before training to Medium-level EA dressage. Image supplied.
This year, Kylie Fiedler set a new standard as one of the first adult Pony Club members to achieve a B Certificate, and she’s hoping many more follow in her footsteps.
Like many young riders, Kylie Fiedler started her journey with Pony Club at her local club. “I began riding at around seven years old and attended Horsham Pony Club under the instruction of Ken and Jan Croser,” she shares. “At 10 years old, I began having lessons with Marie Gahan and rode a pony called Black Shadow before going on to a galloway by the name of Scandalous.”
From ages seven to 21, she participated in all that Pony Club had to offer, including completing her K Certificate and successfully competing at Grade 3 Horse Trials, Grade 1 Dressage at State level, and Medium-level EA.
Kylie Fiedler started out at Horsham Pony Club. She contested her first State Championships with Shadow (right) in Grade 3 dressage. Images supplied.
After tasting success in the dressage arena, then-19-year-old Kylie set her sights on riding at Grand Prix-level dressage and began the search for a horse that could take her there. “I purchased an 18-month-old filly from the Northern Warmblood Stud,” she says. “This was to be my next dressage horse. I named her Northern Contessa, and with Marie Gahan as my instructor, she taught me through the levels up to FEI-level dressage.”
Kylie and Contessa’s journey together saw them compete in Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales, and Queensland, where they were multi-year, multi-state, and multi-level dressage state champions throughout the 1990s. As well as state champions, they also won the Victorian Final for the FEI World Challenge in 1996 and placed second in the Inter 1 Level at the National Dressage Championships that same year.
The pair were later selected as members of the Victorian Dressage Squad and placed on the Olympics Athlete Program in the lead-up to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Later, they would take part in the very first Dressage with the Stars alongside Karin Davis and Mighty Heights.
For Kylie, one of the highlights of their career together was Contessa’s very first competition at the Victorian Dressage Club Championships at Werribee on a blustery day that threatened to undo all their preparation. “I had to compete in Novice as they did not have Preliminary on offer,” Kylie explains. “But amongst all the wind, generators, and marquees blowing, we won the Novice Championship, beating people such as Mary Hanna who was riding Solo back then.”
Kylie with Northern Contessa in 1992 as a green-broken young horse at Pony Club. Image supplied.
After their successes in the arena, Contessa was sent to live with Kylie’s coach Jose Mendez while Kylie spent some time in the outback. Four years later, she returned to Kylie. Contessa would go on to have two foals, Talingka Park Malachi and Talingka Park Matthias – colts foaled in 2006 and 2010 respectively – that would stay with Kylie and her family and take them to new heights on the Pony Club circuit.
RETURN TO THE CIRCUIT
Like many previous Pony Club members, Kylie aged out when she turned 21 and had to leave her role as an active club member and Horsham Pony Club Secretary. It wasn’t until her daughters Paris and Asha were old enough to join that she became involved in Pony Club again – this time as a Pony Club mum.
“After returning from the outback and having my own young children, we joined Nhill Pony Club while we lived there, and then on returning to Horsham in 2013 my oldest daughter Paris transferred her membership to Horsham Pony Club, and my younger daughter Asha joined on her sixth birthday back in 2014.”
As a Pony Club mum, Kylie was involved as Club Treasurer and Chief Instructor before then becoming Horsham’s District Commissioner (DC), a position that she still holds today. While Kylie enjoyed her participation as a Pony Club mum, she missed the days of taking part herself. Talks with the club’s Zone Representative and fellow club DCs saw Kylie decide to introduce adult riders at Horsham three years ago to encourage adult participation and committee membership – a change that was welcomed across the board.
“When Horsham Pony Club first implemented adult membership, we had several mothers join as well as outside adult riders,” she says. “Now, there are quite a few adult members in various clubs within the Midland Zone currently.”
Being able to take part as an adult rider has meant a lot to Kylie and her family, and has opened up new opportunities without the pressure of ageing out of Pony Club, giving them more time to complete their certifications and enjoy club activities. “It has allowed me to be able to achieve my higher-level certificate alongside my girls and to continue to strive towards an A Certificate alongside them, too,” Kylie shares. “My eldest is currently working full-time while undertaking a master’s in teaching and my youngest is currently in Year 12 and will head off to university next year, so having the age limit increased will allow for them to still be able to be members of Pony Club well after they are 25 years old, and to hopefully still be able to strive to complete their A Certificates.”
Kylie with her youngest daughter, Asha, during the B Certificate assessment weekend. Kylie is riding Talingka Park Matthias, Contessa’s last son who Kylie has trained to FEI-level dressage. Image supplied.
LEVELLING UP
While helping Paris achieve her B Certificate, Kylie realised that she herself had the skills to successfully complete her own certification – something that she’d once believed was out of reach. “When I was 17 years old and in Pony Club, I felt it was too daunting to complete a B Certificate at the time. Certificates were always a part of Pony Club when I grew up, but not a necessity unless you wanted a life career in the horse industry. I became interested in completing it when I was putting my oldest daughter through her own B Certificate because I knew I had the skills and knowledge as an older rider to be able to complete it.
“After Asha gained her K Certificate under the old Pony Club Syllabus, she was keen to pursue her B Certificate also. I had already become an adult riding member of Horsham Pony Club, and we made a pact that the two of us would do our B Certificates together.”
B Certificates – Pony Club Australia’s second highest proficiency certificate – are internationally recognised certifications that demonstrate a rider’s proficiency in riding, horse care, and citizenship.
Pony Club Australia Board Chair Marylou Hodges says attaining a B Certificate is an incredible achievement and shows true skill. “The B Certificate is not just about riding at a higher level,” she explains. “It requires candidates to develop a much deeper understanding of the horse, including behaviour, learning theory, biomechanics, welfare, training principles and practical horse management. Riders working towards B Certificate are expected to show accuracy, feel and control under saddle, but they also need to understand why they are doing things, how the horse is responding, and how to make good decisions for the horse in front of them.”
Coming to Pony Club as an adult rider with years of hands-on experience gave Kylie a solid foundation to succeed in achieving her certification. “In seeing what was required of this level, I knew that I had the knowledge and skills from my years of having horses, and that I too could do this. I believe my horsemanship experience that I have learned from the very beginning of my riding journey – firstly with Ken and Jan Croser, then with Marie Gahan and Jose Mendez, and now my coach and mentor Debbie Warne – has definitely shaped setting me up for success for achieving my B Certificate.”
Kylie’s certification journey was a long process of collating the years of knowledge she’d gained and learning new skills. When reading the certification manual, she found that much of the Equitation Science technique terminology she’d been using for years had been changed, requiring her to learn a new set of names for familiar practices.
“Before the actual examination day, I had made my own personal notes for each of the Equitation Science names, in my own words, so that I could memorise them better,” she explains. “It seemed that my daughter was all over it after studying psychology at school for the previous years, so had a better understanding of the new names!”
Over three years, she meticulously crafted her assessed journal that detailed everything from lessons with international instructors, jumping clinics and competitions, riding performance and any issues, her horse Matthias’s feeding routine, and Matthias’s temperatures, heart rates, and breathing.
All her hard work and dedication paid off, and in June this year Kylie became one of the first adult riding Pony Club members to achieve a B Certificate.
“It is a fantastic milestone and a credit to the time, effort and dedication she has put into her own learning,” Marylou says. “Kylie has set a terrific example for riders of all ages. She has shown that it is never too late to set yourself a Pony Club goal, take on the challenge and keep learning.”
For Kylie, it was an acknowledgement of her skills, capabilities, and years of horsemanship. “It’s knowing that I have accomplished something for my knowledge and ability, and to hopefully be an inspiration to any other adult riding members in the belief that you are never too old to learn something new or to achieve anything you want in life.”
Attaining her B Certificate will also help Kylie help others get their own certifications. “I now feel confident in helping other members to achieve their higher-level certificates,” she shares. “I have grown in confidence to be able to put across the requirements of the higher-level assessments to anyone considering doing it, within our zone and outside our zone.”
Marylou explains that this is vital to the continuation of shared successes within clubs. “When adult members, coaches and assessors continue building their own knowledge, that benefits everyone around them. Kylie’s work towards her B Certificate will not only support her own development, it will also help her guide and encourage other Pony Club members.”
Kylie (centre) with two of her B Certificate assessors – Shelley McRae (left) and Meaghan Sutherland (right). Image supplied.
STANDARD SET
Kylie is confident that although she’s set the precedent, she won’t be the last adult club member to achieve such a feat. “It’s very important because it paves the way for other adults to achieve their certificates. Most members stop at C Certificate level because that is the level required to be able to compete at State Championships. But Pony Club offers so much more. It would be great to see a lot more Pony Club members striving to achieve their higher-level certificates. They take you from being a rider, to a trainer, to the A Certificate and being able to produce a horse.”
With more and more clubs opening their doors to adult riders, the opportunities for adult club members to become involved in Pony Club again – or even for the first time – is rising across the board.
“The Pony Club certificate pathway is often something people think of in relation to junior members,” Marylou says, “but Kylie’s achievement shows there is real value in continuing that learning as an adult. Horses have a way of keeping us humble, and there is always more to learn.”
Looking to the future, Kylie is hopeful more adult riders will join their local clubs and expand on their horsemanship skills – whether building upon those honed by years of experience or learning for the first time.
“It would be good to see more adult members,” she says, “particularly those that perhaps did not have the opportunity to attend a Pony Club as a younger rider or those that have taken up riding in their adulthood. Pony Club is a wonderful association that teaches horsemanship skills to everyone. It has a lot of opportunities for members, and I always encourage riders to achieve everything they can achieve within it.” EQ
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