Listed below is some important information about Meon and BRC. If you have already been a BRC member this may not be new info, but we have tried to outline what being in Meon RC is all about, how you can help and what to expect from the club.
The club is run by a volunteer committee, that organise teams, training and events in their spare time. We meet once a month at either Warnford or Droxford village hall and meetings last a maximum of 1.5 hrs. There is always time for chatting, tea and cake! We are always need of new members, so please if you want to get involved do make contact! We are ABSOLUTELY RELIANT on our members joining and helping the committee to be able to run the club. Diane Williams is the club chairperson and she can be contacted at dianeatmrc@gmail.com if you have questions about the committee or want to come along.
Being a member of BRC gives you public liability insurance while taking part in club activities, you can find out more on The British Horse Society Website.
As a member of Meon Riding club you can get up to 10% off purchases at Fawley Farm Feeds (exclusions apply) and Hampshire Saddlery (purchases over £20) on production of your BRC profile page and photo ID. You can find your BRC profile by logging into Sport 80 Link on our Membership page,
https://meonridingclub.co.uk/membership/ You will also need this membership number for entering Meon training and events on MRL, so make a note of it. Membership is yearly from the time you join via the Sport 80 platform, and is open to Juniors and Seniors.
We put on a variety of training for our members including cross country, show jumping, pole work, flat work, and stay away camps. These are sometimes member only events, and sometimes open to non members at extra cost. These can be found on our website
https://meonridingclub.co.uk/calendar/online-entries/ Please do support the training, a lot of volunteer time goes into arranging these dates and it helps to support the club too if the clinics are well attended. BRC Area Qualifiers and National Championships Meon RC is in Area 17 and there are Qualifiers run throughout the year. At these Qualifiers Meon RC compete against the other clubs in Area 17, which covers Dorset, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight for places at the National championship. Some of these qualifier competitions are held at Moreton near Dorchester, and some nearer to our area at Sparsholt, Winchester or Crofton near Fareham. This varies from year to year. The competition year runs from 1st April to 31st March. The championships are national competitions where all the BRC areas compete against each other. Summer Championships are; Horse Trials Championships Combined Championships National Championships ( dressage and SJ) Arena Eventing Championship Winter Championships; Winter Dressage Championships Winter Show jumping Championships Dates, venues, more info can also be found on the BRC website. Meon has team managers for Dressage, Combined Training, Combined Challenge, Horse Trials, Dressage to Music, Show jumping and Arena Eventing. Dates of the qualifiers and the schedules will appear on the Area 17 website
https://www.area17-brc.org.uk/calendar/ as released so make a note of these dates. However your team managers will put out a Call for Teams on Facebook at our ‘Members of Meon’ page, and often via email from Sport 80 too. This is when you are invited to fill in an application form to compete. Team managers and the Committee work out the teams/individuals and ask for volunteer/s to help at the event. Then the competitors are asked to pay their appropriate fee to Meon’s bank account and the manager puts in the entries. We also at this point must supply the contact details of the required helper/s. Typically we need to supply 1x full day helper or 2x half day helpers per event. Meon relies on club volunteers to help at all qualifiers, and it is expected that if you are part of the club you do put yourself forward at least once a year to support our teams. We try to be as inclusive as possible when selecting teams, so do consider putting yourself forward even if you haven’t ridden at a qualifier before. Before riding at a qualifier all members must purchase a Competition Pass, you can find out more about these here.
https://britishridingclubs.sport80.com/uploads/faqs-68359b300f7b4785737716.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawNUxLpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHmFpjLPQZ1YGc-Xg1q4KolzzwTZRKGoEMsXl4YHLjGdQBnR0Y5-x1zz9nVMF_aem__DcqFkdCvHNpTcv-ARdCxQ Remember it is the rider’s responsibility to ensure they have the competition pass if they wish to ride for Meon at a qualifier. They can be purchased on Sport 80. Qualifiers generally include Non Qualifier sections for individuals that do not want to buy a pass or compete to qualify for the championship. These classes are typically direct entry, IE not through a Meon team manager. BRC Handbook The handbook is updated yearly and includes all the BRC rules, plus details on eligibility, info on events and scoring . There are important rules on flu vaccinations, use of whips, tack, hat, back protectors amongst many other things, so do refer to the handbook when volunteering to ride for Meon. The link is here below. There’s also updates through the year so keep an eye on those too.