Before being awarded the ‘C’ Test Certificate, Candidates must have trained for and attained The Pony Club Riding and Road Safety Achievement Badge or The BHS Riding and Road Safety Test or The Pony Club Road Rider Test. Before attempting either part of the B Test candidates must have trained for and attained The BHS Riding and Road Safety Test or the Pony Club Road Rider Test.

Details of the running, organisation and administration of The Pony Club Road Safety Test are given below.   For details of the B.H.S. Test please contact the BHS Safety Office. It is the BHS Test that will be needed by those wishing to progress up the BHS ladder.

EXAMINATION PANEL For The Pony Club Test:

Riding Examiner A Pony Club C Test or above examiner who is also an experienced driver.

Road Safety Examiner the police or road safety Officer or a Pony Club / BHS examiner who has been to a one-day course in basic road safety, and is also an experienced driver.

N.B. There is no such thing as a bomb proof horse or pony.  

Test candidates are required to take the test in three parts consecutively:

·            Theory Test

Designed to test a rider’s knowledge of the Highway Code and of the generally accepted rules of riding on the highway as set our in the current edition of the Riding and Road Safety Manual. Questions may be given orally or in the form of a test paper and should invite factual answers, not opinions. Recommended sample questions are given at the back of the Riding and Road Safety Manual.

·            Tack and Turnout Inspection

This inspection is entirely a safety measure carried out to make sure that the horse’s tack and rider’s clothing are in a safe and satisfactory condition for riding. It is neither a test nor a ‘show’ inspection. Hats must be to the current BSI Standard(s) and properly secured.

·            Simulated Road Route

Designed to test in safe but simulated road conditions, a rider’s precautions against, and reactions to, a series of noises and sights which could be reasonably be met with locally on the roads and which might make a horse shy.

Road junctions must be included so that candidates may demonstrate their road craft and ability to use arm signals. Hazards must be placed far enough apart to allow candidates to show trot between each or any of them. Trot must be shown by candidates at this stage of the test.

ROAD TEST ON THE PUBLIC HIGHWAY

Designed to test in practice the rider’s knowledge of road craft and application of the requirements of the Highway Code and the current edition of the Riding and Road Safety Manual.

As in the Simulated Road Route, trot must be shown by candidates on the Public Highway. The stretch of Public Highway should afford candidates the opportunity to demonstrate their grasp of road craft together with their riding ability.

MARKING

To be successful the candidate must pass in all three parts of the test. A candidate who fails in either part one or part two, may not take part three. The test is of the rider not the horse. To be successful, the candidate must satisfy the examiners in the three parts of the test consecutively. Eight of the ten theory questions must be correctly answered. Candidates must satisfy the examiners in parts two and three of the test at a level of 80% if an arithmetical method of marking is used. Alternatively a safe tick or unsafe cross may be used from a possible ten. Any manoeuvre which is judged as dangerous to other road users, e.g. failure to look behind before a signal is given will result in instant failure.

REQUIRED READING

The Highway Code – Current Edition available from HMSO and Stationers.

The British Horse Society Riding and Roadcraft Manual – Current Edition available from The Pony Club.

Junior Road Rider – available from The Pony Club.

Certificates and Badges are available from The Pony Club for successful Candidates.

CAUTION: The Pony Club recommend that young riders who have passed the Road Rider Safety Test shall ride on the road unaccompanied only when the person responsible for their safety is entirely satisfied that, in their opinion, it is safe for the young person(s) so to do.      

©    2008 The Pony Club

All rights reserved.  No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of The Pony Club.