My name is Hannah Maskell and I am 9 years old. I've had my new Forest pony, Maisy, for two years and we love to do endurance.

We went to the national launch of Pony Club Endurance in Milton Keynes city centre. The PC series is sponsored by Carr & Day & Martin. The launch was right next to the Snow Dome! We had a lovely day riding though lots of parks, even under a roller coaster and past the concrete cows which most of the horses and ponies spooked at! One poor lady nearly ended up in the river ... hehe!

I rode with my friend Kathryn and Jane, as my Mum was ride organiser this time. We managed a speed of 9.86km per hour, which is a little slower than we’d hoped for. We need to do our class at 10km per hour. Maisy's heart rate of 40, which is spot on which meant even with a slow pace we qualified for the championships.

Our next bit of endurance is a training rally these Easter holidays, where we will learn how to cool our ponies off properly after an endurance ride. This is important as it helps to get the heart rate back to the resting speed for the vetting. The lower your heart rate and faster your pace the better.

I’m aiming to ride next either at the Vale of Belvoir or at Windsor, both of which will be 34km rides to practice for the PC Finals which will be 33kms. We plan to camp at both which I great fun with everyone there with their ponies. Just like a short Pony Club camp!

I really hope that more people will start doing endurance riding as it is such good fun and I've proved you don’t need a specialist pony nor expensive tack do it.

Hannah got interviewed for local TV!

H+P wants to know where the scrummy looking 80th anniversary PC cakes came from!

Photos thanks to Kit Houghton/The Pony Club

Hi from Hannah and Maisy!

Maisy and me had a busy Easter Holidays. I took my Mini Riding and Road Sense Badge. I learnt what to take on a hack and what to wear. We practiced where to ride on a road and learnt how to signal. I had to dress up in loads of florescent clothes too.

I also did my How to be Lunged badge. Maisy was really well behaved on the lunge, whilst I had to learn how to do rising trot without stirrups. That's really hard work!

I also did two training rallies for endurance. One was great fun - we had to practice taking water bottles from someone on the ground at trot and slosh our ponies with it. Maisy kept shaking her head and I got soaked! We had to practice this so when we are in a competition we don’t lose time slowing down or stopping to wash down and cool off the ponies.

Last Saturday, 24 members from Whaddon Chase (my PC Branch) took their First Aid course with St Johns. I had a great time learning how to see if someone is breathing and how to bandage an arm.

Heather got bandaged up!

We learnt how to resuscitate someone who has stopped breathing.

We are going to Thetford this weekend and do an endurance ride. But I can't wait for the weekend after as I'm going to the Royal Windsor Horse Show to take part in the PC ride!

Hi from Hannah and Maisy!

A few weekends ago, Maisy and I (and my family) went to Thetford in Norfolk for an endurance ride. We camped over night, which was great fun although we’d left our sleep mats at home.

Gemma did 40km with Kizzee and it was mine and Maisy’s first go at the intermediate distance of 34km. A friend of Mummy’s took me round. We went very, very, fast at 14.14km per hour but is was such good fun!

Gemma passed her ride and is now qualified for the PC National Champs at open level. I also got my first qualifier for the intermediate, but I will still only ride at Novice at the champs because the finals distance is 40km, which Mummy says is too far for me yet.

Then, we had the most exciting weekend ever! We went to stay at Ascot Racecourse, to be part of the Pony Club Charity Ride which ended at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in front of the Queen!!!!!!!!!!!

We practiced the parade loads on Saturday. Maisy was just so naughty, she bucked me off four times! There were loads of other horses so we think she just got too excited. Saturday night we went to the Tattoo and watched the Household Cavalry display. I loved it was so fast and scary.

Sunday, we drove to Smith's Lawn and there some very posh polo ponies playing at Guard's Polo Club. Then the soldiers and their horses came to ride with us through Windsor Great Park. Just as we set off Masiy bucked again but I stayed on!

We had a lovely ride in the woods and down the long ride towards the Castle until we reached the showground. Maisy had been so naughty they put me on a lead rein to go into the arena in case I fell off in front of the Queen, but I wasn’t the only one having problems.

It was scary and noisy in the arena with loads of people clapping and shouting. We had to go into lots of lines and split up from our partners. Mine was Abbie from Vale of Aylesbury PC. She was really kind when Maisy was being naughty.

We raised over £9,000 for for charity and some riders presented the money to the Duke of Edinburgh. It's going to be a weekend I’m never going to forget!

We are off to Wells Next The Sea for a few days at the beach with the ponies next!

(Ed: Check out the August issue of H+P (on sale July 5) for loads of PC ride pix)

Hannah and Maisy's Royal Windsor highlights!

Hi from Hannah and Maisy!

Maisy stopped at home so I shared Jamie's pony.

At the end of May, 30 people from my PC travelled to Wells-Next-The-Sea to camp and ride on the beach! It took a long time to get there but it was worth it. Kizzee and Crystal were glad to stretch their legs. I left Maisy behind this year and shared Jamie's pony instead.

Some of my PC on the beach.

A few hours after arriving we went for our first beach ride. We rode through the fields to meet Mum in the car park, but she didn’t look very happy when we met her. Her car had broken down and she was waiting for the AA! We went onto the beach with some of our friends whilst Mum waited. Our ponies love the sea and the river. Kizzee went chest deep into the sea, tripped and Gemma fell right off and was soaked right through! By the time we had finished the AA had fixed Mum's car.

Gemma and Kizzee.

We had two more days of galloping along the beach, jumping little ditches and waves (which I loved). The sun was even out!

Bryony and Jamie chill out!

We had Fish and Chips with other families one night. On the last night the whole camp had a BBQ. We played lots of games and went to bed very late!

Mum ran the Tack Cleaning Badge so we all had to clean our tack and show her every day. She was mean and made some of us do bits again if we cheated - but we all passed in the end.

This was my third time going on the beach holiday and I hope Mum will take us again next year.

Hi from Hannah and Maisy!

Maisy and I had a great but very, very busy summer holidays.

It started with a PC gymkhana day with our Horse Behaviour Achievement Badge. We learnt how to tell how our ponies look like when they are cross, happy, cold or excited. We also played loads of games which was ace.

I had a new pony to take to camp, which I have on loan. She is a New Forest Pony called Galaxy, 13.1hh and 10 years old.

She was fab at camp and won the most improved rider/pony combination trophy!

Galaxy and I then went to the New Forest to stay with my friend Libby. We rode out all over the Forest and we joined in a New Forest PC rally. Libby's Grandad took me sailing, which I'd never done before so was especially exciting.

There was another gymkhana in the last week of the holidays and we had a police lady come and teach us how to keep our ponies and tack safe. I learnt loads.

I've now got loads of work to do with Galaxy and Maisy over the next few weeks because we have the Pony Club National Endurance Championships and The Lions Tail PC Team Challenge coming up. I will have to ride every day now, trotting up to an hour and a half to make sure both ponies are fit enough for their classes. Maisy will be doing 33km and Galaxy 20km.

Hi from Hannah and Maisy!

It took an hour and a half to get to the PC Endurance Championships. We slept over in our tent at the competition.

On the evening before the ride started, me and my friends; Kathryn, Katie and Bryony all went on to the cross country course and played around the jumps. We then had a barbeque and we had cooked marshmallows!!! YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After all the marshmallows me and my friends all went onto the cross country again and we went for miles.

On our way back Kathryn thought that something was following us. When she said this Katie and I started to get pretty scared that something was following us! We didn't get back from our adventure until ten past ten! Everyone was waiting to go to bed.

The next morning I got up at half past seven in the morning. I had to have breakfast quite early so I was in time to get ready to vet at eight thirty, which meant I had one hour to get ready.

When I was ready to vet my escorts were already there. They both passed as did Gemma (my sister) and I. Finally, I set of for my three and a half hour ride.

Ready for the off!

The ride was fantastic and very fast. The weather was just right as it was sunny but not too hot. We went round an old airfield and we met Mum twice who sloshed our ponies down with water and gave me drinks and fruit cake to keep me going. It's very hard work to trot for all those kms!

When I finally got back from my ride I was in a rush to lower my pony's heart rate to be lower than sixty beats a second. We have to wash the ponies down and walk them round and round to lower their heart rates as quickly as possible. Your pony's recovery heart rate is taken into account when points are awarded to work out the winners. I went to the vets and passed with a heart rate of 42 - which is really good!

A while later Gemma came in on Kizzie and all the rush began again. When she came back from the vets she was very upset as Kizzie had failed the vetting. She was lame!

At the presentations I was 5th individually in the Novice Junior (under 13s) and my team was 1st. Gemma's team was 2nd in the Senior Open even though she was eliminated. There were 13 teams altogether from all over the country. Some had had a five and a half hour drive from Yorkshire to come! We are now planning our rides for next year's championships.

Hannah and Gemma with their awards.

Hannah and her rosettes

Hi from Hannah and Maisy!

I've had a few busy few weeks of doing none riding things. I've done two triathlons, started to learn polocross, done some badges and we have had my PC Branch's end of year supper.

My triathlons (shooting running and swimming) were in Wing and Oundle. In the first one I came 7th as an individual and my team 8th. I was 2nd in the shoot with a score of 940/1000 which was my best ever score! In the 2nd tri my team was 3rd.

I had my first on foot polocross lesson this week. We learnt how to hold the racquet and pick up the ball. We have two more on foot lessons then we get to try with our ponies!

We went to St Tiggywinkles Animal Hospital for our Wildlife badge. We even got to meet hedgehogs - one had lost its spines cos someone had put glue all over him! There were lots of foxes and badgers there too.

At St Tiggywinkles!

In half term week I did my Saddlery badge which was done at my local tack shop, RBE, who were great fun. They had their big plastic horse to show us how to fit a bit, bridle and saddle properly on a horse. We learnt how to check for bad stitching and broken trees in saddles. We had a race to put a bridle back together - which my team won even though it took us ages cos we didn’t put the keepers on properly ......

We also did our Public Speaking badge at lunchtime on our gymkhana day. It was scary having to talk in front of people, even if I knew them all!

We played handy pony in the afternoon which I loved and so did Galaxy, my new pony. We had loads of things including a post box, washing line, stepping stones and false grass to face! The two best bits were mounting from the wrong side and apple bobbing ... I got soaked!

Apple bobbing was good fun.

Galaxy checks out the stepping stone game.

Last Sunday I took my D plus Pony Club Test, which I passed and I was dead chuffed!
My Pony Club Branch had its prize giving end of year supper. All the trophies are handed out and there are loads of them. I got the Pony Club Gold stripe for managing to pass 21 badges. Not many members get this and I'm one of the youngest! I also got stripes for being on the Endurance Team, Prix Caprilli Team and Quiz Team. I was surprised too cos I got a stripe for riding over 250km in endurance. I didn’t know I'd gone that far!

There is no more endurance riding this year, but I'm ready to start early after Christmas to fitten my new pony Galaxy for our first competition in the New Forest in March.

Hi from endurance rider Hannah and her new pony, Galaxy

Mum's Land Rover has been off the road all winter, so I haven’t been out doing anything. But I've really got to know my new pony by hacking out in the woods and our fields. I was going to take her hunting at a special children’s meet but it was cancelled because of the snow.

I have been getting Galaxy fit by building up the length of our rides, using more hills and increasing our speed. For my endurance competitions this year, I have to ride at 11km per hour keeping Galaxy's heart rate as low as possible - so she has to be really fit. This year we will be riding routes between 26 and 34km in length, with the final being a massive 40km!!!!!

My first competition was early February, at Grafham Water. It was a bit of a disaster though! First, my entry had been lost, then the lady giving me a lift had a problem with her trailer and last of all Galaxy was vetted out as the vet said she was foot sore, which means I couldn’t even start. I was so disappointed as I was to ride with Kathryn (my sister) on her new pony, Blaze. I did have fun cooking sausages for lunch though!

Our farrier is coming to look at Galaxy’s feet to see if we need to put shoes on her, or whether it's just the wet weather which has been making her feet sore. Our next ride is mid March so we need to sort her out.

I have my bandaging and feeding PC badges coming up, as well as two triathlons soon, so I am going to be really busy.

Hi there

Since I last wrote, I have been up to loads of things and had a really exciting time. I've done some more PC achievement badges - one of which we were the first Branch to do it - three triathlons, the Area 12 Horse and Pony Care Competition, two Endurance rides and been to a Lord Mayor's reception to receive an award for the Team Sports Achievers of the Year Award for Milton Keynes! Phew!

This year I am working hard to earn my Blue Cross Welfare Badge. I have to do ten certain PC badges to get this award. In February half term I did my bandaging badge and in March my feeding badge. We had a big plastic horse to practice our bandaging on which was good fun. In the Easter holidays we went to RBE to learn how to fit our hats and body protectors well, to know when things need mending and what size stirrups are right for us all, for the Safety Equipment Badge.

Practising bandaging.

The most recent badge I have done is the Butterflies and Moths and we had a lovely day out seeing butterflies coming out of their chrysalis, flying and eating - one even landed on me! We also got to touch a snake, spider, lizard and a really cute hedgehog. There was a wild walk to do too, an Easter Egg Hunt and we also had to pretend to be a mole in black maze of tunnels underground with just a small head torch to help us through. That was great fun.

At the butterfly farm.

As I said, I have done three triathlons and my team has been placed each time out. In the last one I came first in the shoot which is the first time ever! I was really chuffed!

My branch of the Pony Club belongs to Area 12 and we had to go to London for Area 12's Horse and Pony Care Competition. It was near Wormwood Scrubs Prison and Mum said she might leave us there! There were 15 teams in our section. We had to do some practical things like plaiting, showing how to put a rug on and take it off, and basic human first aid, along with lots of written answers. As the rosettes were given out we thought we hadn’t come anywhere but to our amazement we had come 2nd !!!!!!!!!!! We didn't go to the finals though as only 1st place get to go.

Our team at the Area Horse and Pony Care Competition.

We've also been to The Sports Achievers’ of the Year Presentation Evening recently. The Whaddon Chase PC Endurance Team won the team award at the National Championships last September. We got to meet the Mayor of Milton Keynes and Kwame the Ghanaian Skiier they call 'the Snow Leopard' which was really exciting.