MICHELE PREFERS PONIES
by Lorna Campbell
Many girls and boys long for a pony, but faced with mucking out stables and grooming they get fed up when the novelty wears off or when they find out it is hard work.
Michele Harris is a 15-year-old who has been very successful in showjumping recently and her interest in horses is not a fad. She first took lessons when she was four but because she was very small she was not allowed off the lead rein and became bored. She rediscovered her interest when she was about eight or nine and not long after that she got a pleasant surprise. Her parents bought her a pony of her own, which she calls Kandy. Recently she got another pony called Brandy, which probably makes a lot of youngsters very envious.
I spoke to her at her home in the Eglinton Arms Hotel, Ardrossan, in a room containing cups and rosettes she has won.
I thought that looking after two ponies would be a lot of work and Michele said : " Yes. At the Eglinton Club Camp you have to have your stables spotless , tack spotless, the yard has to be spotless - and you spend about two hours in sweeping the yard - one piece of hay blowing about is considered untidy. There are inspections and each yard gets a mark - those are all added up and everybody is put into places at the end of the week . "
The Eglinton Club is the Ayrshire branch of the British Horse Society which has branches all over the world. It is not necessary for members to own a pony or horse. Michele's friend, Marion Dodds, who was present, is just as interested in horses and is also a member of the club.
Michele would like to enter shows and take up showjumping when she leaves school, but she said : " It takes a lot of money and nine out of ten people are not a success, and I would need something to fall back on and so I would like to be a vet. " She is an animal lover and said : " I love all animals, in fact I prefer them to humans. "
Horse riding is often associated with a blood sport - fox-hunting, and I asked Michele her opinion of this. " I am not anti-hunt. I have been on a hunt and I would like to go again but I prefer a drag hunt. " She did not see any blood as she did not see the kill.
She has never been badly injured although she has been thrown often and suffered from having her toes trodden on. She is the only member of her family with an interest in horses but her parents usually try to be present when she is entered in a show. " They usually don't see me win anything though, " added Michele. " Because of the hotel they often have to leave early. "
Among her recent successes are the showjumping and cross country event run last week by a riding club at Drymen, jumping events at Kilwinning in a show run by Irvine Riding Club, and in August she was among a team of four members of Eglinton Pony Club who won the team event in the Hunter trials; she won a prize for stable management and riding from the Pony Club.
At Ingliston she was 7th and commented : " It doesn't sound much but it was a lot to me because it was a Scottish Horse Show and there were about 80 horses entered. "
She gained 1st and 3rd prizes at Coylton this year. She has come first in a Glasgow show and she did very well at Newmilns, Girvan and Kilmardinny.
Michele said that she had been helped a lot by the Eglinton Pony Club and added : " If you are interested in this sort of thing they give you a lot of information and enter you in things if you wish. "
Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald, 24th September 1971
Susan
