Jason Dixon, the UK's premier umpire and one of the country's leading coaches, joined Mike Hobday and stalwart Baden Broughton, who regularly joins us from his home in New Zealand and gave 39 seniors a taste of their knowledge, with particular reference to Riding/schooling skills and horse and Pony Care. The Camp Tournament saw the best quality Polo played for several years. Branches represented were as at Easter plus Bennachie, Orkney, Duke of Buccleugh, Linlithgow and Strilingshire and Moray and Nairn.

winners of most improved players in each group at summer camp - L-R

James Reid (Bennachie) Jesse Dukes (Deeside)   Emily Allen (Moray and Nairn) Grania Lambert (Fife)

Junior Summer camp is now a firm favourite, for both children and parents alike and brought 41 members from both Area 1 and 19 together for the third year running. This year saw the weather all but defeat us and it was only due to the enthusiasm of the children that play was "stolen" between the rain storms! Branches represented included: Strathearn, Fife, Moray and Nairn, Lanark and Renfrew, Lanark and Upperward, East Lothian, West Perth, and Perth Hunt. Coaching was from Mike Hobday, Mags Coward and Tig Christie - and we were particularly pleased to welcome Alistair Archibald to the team, as he has more playing experience to pass on than any other of our Scottish based coaches, having been voted best young UK player in his hey day!

The Milton Cup was played for in between showers of torrential rain, which saw ponies and players huddling patiently amongst the trees. The Tunnock Trophy had to be abandoned due to the waterlogging of the grounds making play potentially unsafe for seniors with much faster Polo ponies.

All the later Tournaments planned for Scone also fell foul of the wet conditions, so all fingers are crossed for a better year in 2010!

In addition to the main events centred round Scone, days were held in other parts of the country, namely East Aberdeenshire, Moray and Nairn and Kincardine and in the South, Nithsdale and both Lanark and Renfrew and Lanark and Upperward branches.

(Stick and Balling at Dykehead, Aboyne)

A small band of enthusiastic players travelled to Rugby Polo Club at the start of August for three days of coaching and play and came back raving about their experience. This will be repeated in 2010, so if any of you readers are interested, please get in touch for more information.

One Strathearn member, Angus Rowan Hamilton, made the long journey to the Jorrocks (under 11 years with Pony Club Ponies under 13.2hh) qualifiers. With his pony, Becky, he helped his team, the Heythrop Hunt Branch, to progress from Winning division 3 at their first Tournament, to coming 4th in Division 1 at the Championships.

The pair were particularly thrilled when "Becky" was awarded the Polo Times "best playing Pony" at the Championships!

Many congratulations go to them both!

Hopefully 2010 will see a number of players join Angus in making the trip South to enjoy the national Polo tournaments. Without a doubt the skills attained during our camps would be complemented by playing against other teams of similar age and experience.

Pony Club Polo/SUPA Tri-nations tournament: For the more experienced players, Jim Dukes arranged and co-ordinated a selection trial followed by a visit by the successful team to the Beverley Polo Club where an exciting tournament was played between Scottish, Welsh and English Teams. Organised in association with SUPA (schools and University Polo Association) this provided the players with much valuable experience. Despite losing narrowly against teams with much more competitive experience, the trip allowed the Scottish players to put their training into practice and enjoy the chance to play very competitive Polo. It is very much hoped that this can become a feature of the calendar.

Pony Club Polo Scotland would be supportive of players taking part in Schools Polo activities, just as other disciplines enjoy these competitions and it is hoped that 2010 will see an upsurge in such opportunities.

Finally, Best of luck goes to Jesse Dukes, a Deeside member, who, with the help of an HPA Bursary, is off in December to new Zealand for a 4 month Polo experience during his gap year. The HPA bursary is awarded to young players who are considered competent and worthy of support. Previous recipients include Andrew Drummond Moray of the strathearn Branch.