What is Tetrathlon?

Tetrathlon is a Pony Club Competition combining cross country riding with running, shooting and swimming events. Although it was originally introduced as a competition solely for boys, there are now separate competitions for boys and girls.

Like all other Pony Club competitions with Inter-Branch level of Competition resulting in teams and individuals qualifying from each Area and competing at a Championship, Tetrathlon has developed a Rule Book. This Rule Book may be somewhat daunting to those who have never participated in a Tetrathlon or who have never tried to run a Tetrathlon in their Branch.

Object

The Tetrathlon provides The Pony Club with a challenging competition for Members and Associates requiring sound practical horsemanship and general athletic ability. Its object is to encourage all-round members to further their interest in riding and the horse generally by enabling them to combine their riding with other activities.

AGE GROUPS
Seniors / Open	15 to 21
Juniors	12 to 14
Minimus	11 and below

Tetrathlon for fun

The aim of these competitions should be FUN. Fun for all - competitors, parents AND organisers. If at the end of the day everyone is clamouring to do it again another time, then you have achieved something. When people get the idea that this is fun, then you can begin to get down to the real thing. Obviously the more fun competitions there are, the more practice everyone gets.

If you have a mixed ability group and perhaps insufficient numbers to separate them into different classes, try a handicap system. Take a leaf out of the golfers book. Experienced Seniors could start with a negative score that they have to work off and inexperienced tiddlers could start with a positive score to help them along the way; very reassuring if they didn’t manage to hit the target the first time.

As you get more expert at running competitions, then you can begin to approximate to the proper rules, which, now that you understand what the competition is about, will not seem so daunting after all.

For information on the shooting, swimming, riding and running phases, please see the phases page.

Guide to Tetrathlon

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