from The Kings County Advertiser (dated 04apr11)

Rachele Foote’s life revolves around horses.

The Cambridge rider’s 10-year involvement with Pony Club is now taking her to New Zealand, where all the experience and knowledge will be put to the test. Foote has been selected to represent Canada at the Inter Pacific Exchange.

“I started riding when I was seven, taking lessons with my aunt, Julia Foote – who is still my coach, and I joined Pony Club when I was nine. I got my first pony when I was 11, Candy, and she’s still the horse I ride.”

When Foote commits, it’s for the long haul. She’s had her eye on the Inter Pacific event for a number of years, timing they year she’d apply but taking all the steps in between to ensure she was ready and would be a strong contender for a spot on the national team.

Pony Club focuses on all things horse, from stable management and turnout to horse health, eventing, jumping and riding skill.

“Testing is all about the details,” Foote says, describing the written and practical exams Pony Club members take to move through the levels.

“There is a standard for every level, and it all relates back to giving your horse the best care possible.

“Everything is supposed to be done perfectly.”

Foote has reached the B2 level; she just wrote her A test and will do the A practical this summer.

“Those levels mean something internationally,” she says. “Pony Club people know that means I know how to teach, or ride a certain way, or take care of a horse.”

There is also great personal satisfaction and opportunity in Pony Club involvement, Foote says. She rides almost every day and spends a lot of time in the barns with horses; she’s also been a part of a national quiz team and competed at national riding events.

To make the Inter Pacific national team, she had to send a written application and video of herself riding. She started planning a couple years ago, and saving money from her part-time job for the trip if she was so lucky as to be chosen.

The Inter Pacific event brings Pony Club five-member teams from Japan, New Zealand, China, the USA, Australia and Canada together for dressage, stadium jumping, eventing – “and always the stable management” – competitions. Foote leaves May 1 and returns May 15 after two jam-packed weeks of horse-related activities.

“I don’t have a clue what kind of horse I’ll get to compete with – you’ll have a horse capable of what you need to do, and it’s up to you to make it happen.

“What sets riding apart from other sports,” she says, “is you’re dealing with a living, breathing animal that has it’s own thoughts and ideas of what it wants to do.”

 
Getting to New Zealand

Rachele Foote is the daughter of Susan and Patrick Foote of Cambridge. Foote’s family is organizing a fundraising roast beef dinner at the Wilson Community Room, Kings Mutual Century Centre, in Berwick April 10 as a way to help cover the $5,000 cost of her travel and participation in the Inter Pacific Exchange.