Stephanie Schenkel really knows her stuff when it comes to caring for horses.
The 15-year-old Shuswap Pony Club members’s hard work, experience and academic interest in all things equestrian paid off in the regional quiz competition in March in Penticton, where she qualified to compete in the Canadian Pony Club’s 29th National Quiz in Charlottetown, PEI, Oct. 7 to 10.
At the regional quiz, Stephanie says she was required to complete a written quiz on such things as stable management abilities, knowledge on feeding and nutrition, hoof and shoeing, confirmation and more.
“We were tested on that, and I am at the C2 level and I scored high enough at that quiz that I qualified for national quiz,” explained Schenkel, who has been riding for 10 years and a member of the local pony club for five.
The national quiz event is intended to test a pony club memers’s knowledge of horsemanship and various club and equestrian-related activities. It includes individual written and visual tests, the latter requiring members to identify various unusual objects, as well as an oral test that may be done either individually or by a team.
Schenkel, who cares for two horses of her own, learned last Monday that she’d qualified for national Quiz. She said she’s excited to have the opportunity to take part, as well as the chance to see a part of the country she’s never visited.
Shuswap Pony Club district commissioner Julie Bose stressed how the quiz involves a lot of bookwork, and that she is impressed with the enthusiasm pony club members show towards it. As for Stephanie, Bose said she put in a lot of effort and deserves to go to the national event, which will benefit Stephanie and the club.
“My daughter, it was years ago, she made the national quiz team and it was in PEI as well,” said Bose. “They take them all around the island, they see a lot, and they’re meeting all these pony club kids from all over Canada which is kind of fun for them because they all have something in common.
I find when those boys or girls come back, they bring a lot to our club. It gives them an idea of like how big the world is. I think kids need these kind of chances to kind of broaden them a little bit.”
Stephanie will be responsible for a third of the cost of attending the PEI event, with the regional and national club bodies picking up the remainder.
Bose says next year’s national quiz will be held closer to home in Kelowna, and the local club is already booking, organizing and preparing for the event.
For more information about the Shuswap Pony Club, visit http://www.shuswapponyclub.com.