Pony Club Podcast cohosts Sarah Evers Conrad and Megan Scharfenberg talk to Heather Bell, a longtime A-certified member in Eventing and volunteer, who is also helping on the Sierra Pacific Region's Local Organizing Committee to host the 2024 USPC Convention, Presented by Via Nova Training and Sponsored by Lincoln Memorial University. She shares a sneak peek all about the convention and she also tells us about her really interesting career...so tune in to learn more. This month's episode is supported by Kentucky Equine Research, who is also the sponsor of the hands-on Horse Management Room and a supporting sponsor of the Research Project Fair at the 2024 USPC Convention.

You can enter the Horse/Human Bond Art Contest here: blog.ponyclub.org/the-horse-human-bond-art-contest/

Guest, Heather Bell: Heather Bell says she feels very lucky to have found Pony Club, where she grew as a rider, going up through the Eventing track to her A. With her A, she was able to move straight into the horse industry as the Director of Riding at the University of Massachusetts Equine Studies Program at the age of 23. Although she changed careers, she found that what she learned in Pony Club—organization, teamwork, confidence, and how to tie a stock tie—all came in handy in her professional life as an endangered species biologist. When she found that she could give back to Pony Club by becoming a National Examiner, she jumped at the opportunity. She finds it very rewarding to help an organization she is passionate about, and she finds that she is energized in her own riding and horsemanship by staying connected to Pony Club. Now, Heather is a participating member of the Gold Country Pony Club in the Sierra Pacific Region, and also a Life member.

Thank you to our Pony Club corporate sponsors: Kerrits, who is the official apparel sponsor; Shapley’s, the official grooming products sponsor; The Horse; Triple Crown, the official feed sponsor; Wintec, the official saddle sponsor; and Zoetis, the official Equine Health and Wellness Partner.

• Learn more about the United States Pony Clubs at www.ponyclub.org
• Email podcast hosts at communications@ponyclub.org
• Inquire about advertising at fundraising@ponyclub.org
• Read the blog at blog.ponyclub.org.
• Sign up for our e-newsletter.
• Thank you to our Pony Club corporate sponsors: Kerrits, who is the official apparel sponsor; Shapley’s, the official grooming products sponsor; The Horse; Triple Crown, the official feed sponsor; Wintec, the official saddle sponsor; and Zoetis, the official Equine Health and Wellness Partner.
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• ...

Pony Club Podcast cohosts Sarah Evers Conrad and Megan Scharfenberg interview the District Commissioner of Bluegrass Pony Club, Holly Wiemers, and Center Administrator for Brook Hill Farm Pony Club Riding Center Jo Anne Miller. This month's episode is supported by Kentucky Equine Research.

Guest, Holly Wiemers: Holly Wiemers is the District Commissioner, or DC, of Bluegrass Pony Club, one of several clubs in the Central Bluegrass area of Kentucky. She’s held the DC role for almost seven years. Before that, she served the club as secretary. She has a daughter, 16, who joined when she was 6 and is now an H-B and a C-2 in Eventing, and a son, 13, who was 4 when he joined Pony Club and who is now a D-2. She, along with her husband, also plan and implement the Midsouth Region’s annual Tetrathlon rally each fall. She has worked for the University of Kentucky for the past 17 years, heading up marketing, communications, and public relations efforts for UK Ag Equine Programs.

Guest, Jo Anne Miller: Jo Anne Miller is the Executive Director of Brook Hill Farm, a fully accredited horse rescue and therapeutic riding center. Brook Hill Farm is a United States Pony Clubs Riding Center that works with rescue horses in all of the programs, and Jo Anne serves as Center Administrator. She is a retired professor of Equine Science at Randolph College, and her passion is looking at the wellbeing of horses through science. She has been the co-chair of the PATH Equine Welfare Committee, and she is currently the chair of the EQUUS Foundation’s Equine Welfare Advisory Group, serves on the Equine Welfare Committee for Horses in Education and Therapy International, is on the wellbeing committee for the Horses and Humans Research Foundation, and on the Virginia Horse Council.

• Learn more about the United States Pony Clubs at www.ponyclub.org
• Email podcast hosts at communications@ponyclub.org
• Inquire about advertising at fundraising@ponyclub.org
• Read the blog at blog.ponyclub.org.
• Sign up for our e-newsletter.
• Thank you to our Pony Club corporate sponsors: Kerrits, who is the official apparel sponsor; Shapley’s, the official grooming products sponsor; The Horse; Triple Crown, the official feed sponsor; Wintec, the official saddle sponsor; and Zoetis, the official Equine Health and Wellness Partner.
• Follow us on social media:
  • Facebook: www.facebook.com/USPonyClubs
  • Instagram: www.instagram.com/unitedstatesponyclubs
  • YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/UnitedStatesPonyClubs
  • TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@unitedstatesponyclubs
  • LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/ponyclub
• ...

Pony Club Podcast cohosts Sarah Evers Conrad and Megan Scharfenberg interview Nikki Gorrell, Pony Club dedicated volunteer and mounted games secretary at USPC Championships, and USPC’s Activities Department staff with Activities and Events Director Erin Roland and Gillian Stover, USPC’s Activities and Events Coordinator. This month's episode is supported by Kentucky Equine Research.

Guest, Nikki Gorrell: Nikki Gorrell is a C-1 Eventing Pony Club graduate from Elkridge-Harford Hunt Pony Club in the Maryland Region. Her dad was a B-level graduate, her aunt an A-level graduate, and her sister was an H-B graduate. Coming from a Pony Club family, Nikki knew she wanted to continue to volunteer despite taking a step back for college and her career. Starting in 2019, Nikki began volunteering on the national level for Mounted Games. Now she is a member of the Competitions Committee as a Mounted Games and Eventing representative. After moving to the Midwest Region, Nikki is getting involved on the regional level and looking forward to starting her mounted career again.

Guest, Erin Roland: Erin Roland is the Activities and Events Director for the United States Pony Clubs. She joined USPC in 2017 as an intern for both the Activities Department and then the Marketing Department before being hired full-time in February 2018 as the Activities and Events Coordinator. In March of 2023, she was named the new Activities and Events Director.

Guest, Gillian Stover: USPC Activities & Events Coordinator, Gillian Stover, is a Lexington, Kentucky native and lifelong horsewoman. Gillian is a recent graduate of the University of Kentucky and enjoys eventing on her off-track Thoroughbreds.

• Learn more about the United States Pony Clubs at www.ponyclub.org
• Email podcast hosts at communications@ponyclub.org
• Inquire about advertising at fundraising@ponyclub.org
• Read the blog at blog.ponyclub.org.
• Sign up for our e-newsletter.
• Thank you to our Pony Club corporate sponsors: Kerrits, who is the official apparel sponsor; Shapley’s, the official grooming products sponsor; The Horse; Triple Crown, the official feed sponsor; Wintec, the official saddle sponsor; and Zoetis, the official Equine Health and Wellness Partner.
• Follow us on social media:
  • Facebook: www.facebook.com/USPonyClubs
  • Instagram: www.instagram.com/unitedstatesponyclubs
  • YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/UnitedStatesPonyClubs
  • TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@unitedstatesponyclubs
  • LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/ponyclub
• ...