TWO members of the Irish Pony Club, Kildare’s Emma Dillon and Amelia McCarthy of the Meath Branch, passed their A Test this year, when assessed at Faith and Peter Ponsonby’s Ballylannigan House in Co Tipperary on September 10th by Faith and Bridgette McCarthy.

It’s easy for McCarthy to remember the exact date, as on that day she celebrated her 18th birthday. Roughly two weeks earlier, she had passed the H Test, one of the requirements for taking the higher level exam. “I was eight when I joined the Pony Club and, while I took part in all activities, one of my aims was to pass all the tests,” revealed McCarthy, who won the Members’ Pony Club combined training championship at the 2022 Dublin Horse Show.