Tom Johnson Clinic 2026

By Stella Foggarty

Day 1

I arrived at the Huntingfield Pony Club grounds at 8:30 on Saturday morning.

I was very lucky to have my pony, Delilah, brought to the grounds for me. A huge thank you to Isla and her mum and dad, Karen and Nathan, for bringing her for me.

We checked her hay and water before heading to the clubrooms for our introduction to the weekend.

My first session was with Dr Kerryn, who talked to us about our horses’ breathing and heart rates. We also had the opportunity to take our own horses’ temperatures. My horse Delilah was such a good patient that she had more than one person check her temperature!!!

Our next lesson of the day was flatwork with Gaylene. We practised mounting and dismounting from both the correct and incorrect sides, which was really tricky. We also practised tightening our girths and lengthening our stirrup leathers while mounted. We crossed our stirrups over the front of our saddles and walked and trotted without stirrups.

The next session we had was with Jo, where we learnt about building a show jumping course and how to build jumps correctly. We learnt about striding and the difference between related lines and distances between fences.

We had an amazing lunch prepared by some of the wonderful parents who helped out over the weekend. It was delicious.

After lunch, we talked with Gaylene about floating and yard safety. It was really good to learn about different float set-ups and how to keep our horses safe when travelling.

Our last lesson for the day was show jumping course riding with Jo. It was really great to ride a course that we had built ourselves earlier that day.

After our jumping lesson, we packed our horses away for the night and headed over to the clubrooms for another amazing meal prepared for us.

We also had some fun racing hobby horses and hanging out with some newly made friends from other pony clubs.

Day 2

We arrived, settled our horses in and attended the morning briefing. Afterwards, my group did Quiz with Anika.

Anika set up tables with different items. One table had types of horse feed, one table had bits and the third table had farrier tools. We tested our knowledge and wrote down what we thought each item was.

Afterwards, we went through the correct answers. It was really great fun and I learnt a lot.

Our second lesson for the day was cross-country with Liz. We had a really great time practising a few jumps in a row and riding a very small course, with the help of parents keeping us safe. We also learnt how important it is to make sure everyone in the group is safe and looking out for each other.

We had another amazing lunch prepared by the parents. While we were at lunch, we listened to Liz and Bree talk about what to expect on C Testing day. It was good to hear about what to expect, as there is a lot more involved with C Test and it is important to be prepared.

Our last lesson of the day was with Bree. Bree talked with us about footfalls and we also did groundwork with our ponies. It was great to learn how footfalls feel while riding and how to tell when we are cantering on the correct lead or the incorrect canter lead.

I had a wonderful time during the Tom Johnson Clinic and feel very grateful to have been a nominated rider.

I would like to say thank you to the Huntingfield Committee members for nominating me, and also a massive thank you to everyone involved with the camp over the weekend.

Stella Fogarty