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The History of the Huntsville Pony Club
The Huntsville Pony Club (HPC), a member of the United States Pony Clubs (USPC), was founded in 1967 by members of the Mooreland Hunt. The club flourished during the 1960's through the early 1980's, with the club hosting the regional Games Rally and several members earning their B rating. Annual hunt trials were held at Harris Hill Farm as a fund raiser. Then in 1990, the club became inactive due to lack of adult support and remained so until 1991. At that time, Mr. Harry Moore Rhett, Jr., Master of the Mooreland Hunt, and several active hunt members had the club re-chartered. Interest in the HPC once again flourished and the club has been active ever since, winning blue ribbons at eventing, show jumping, quiz, and polocrosse at regional and national levels. Our most recent accomplishment has been the awarding of an A rating to Melanie Smith, the first member of our club to have achieved this. The HPC is now a member of the Midsouth Region of USPC. However, this was not always so. The club was originally a member of the South Region, consisting of Alabama and Georgia. In 1992, members of the HPC board requested that we be moved to the Midsouth Region since the rallies for the South Region were always held 6 to 8 hours away. The request was granted by USPC. The Midsouth Region is the largest region in the USPC. Having had several years of blue ribbons in horse management at the Show Jumping Rally, HPC donated a perpetual trophy to the Midsouth Regional Show Jumping Rally in 2003. Given in honor of the Mooreland Hunt founder, the Harry Moore Rhett, Jr. Horse Management Award for Show Jumping is given to the stable manager of the show jumping team having the best horse management score. In 2006, HPC donated a second perpetual trophy in honor of long-time HPC supporter Jim Murfree. This trophy is given to the coach of the first place Midsouth Regional Show Jumping Rally team.
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