Ella Nelson, year 11 has passed her NZ Pony Club Association Horsemastership Award. This is the highest award that can be achieved at Pony Club and is recognised worldwide. The exam is only sat by about 5 people annually throughout New Zealand. Ella is the youngest person ever to achieve this award as the minimum age is 16, and Ella passed two days after her 16th birthday. The exam itself is a mix of practical and theory covering all aspects of housemasters from identification of grasses and poisonous plants to treating illnesses, constructing stables, exercising multiple horses at once and an awful lot more.
The photo shows Ella (second from the left) with the examiners and the two other people who passed the exam.
Meanwhile Sarah Nelson leaves for the UK and Eire to compete at the world tetrathlon champs on Wednesday next week. She has been training very hard for this trying to improve her swim and run times and her accuracy with a pistol.
