PONYMANIA IN ITALY!

From the 25th to the 27th of April, the Cervia equestrian centre will be playing host to the “Giochi della Gioventù” (Equestrian Youth Games) which is one of the most important annual events for ponies in Italy after the Ponyadi games.
Athletes from pony clubs across the whole of Italy will be taking part in a range of disciplines from show-jumping to the Pony Games Elite in a competition reserved exclusively to youth categories. In this previously mentioned discipline, the trial is valid for selection to the European Championships.
The competition will begin on Friday morning with the Dressage discipline while Friday’s trials will then end with the Pony Games Elite, which along with the Pony Games Club, will continue on Saturday and Sunday. There are over 250 young athletes taking part, all from the ages of 6 to 17 years of age.
They will be competing under the banner of fun and fair-play which is the main characteristic of the competition. For the youngsters this is the best way to take their first steps into equestrianism and to eventually lead to an increased interest and perhaps in one or two cases a successful career in the show jumping, dressage or eventing discipline.
The event, just like Ponyadi, is a regular fixture in the youth calendar in Italy. Most of the athletes that are now competing on the national and international stage have launched their careers on ponies and competed at the “Giochi della Gioventù” competition.
Finally, the season is set to continue in May with 3 events in which you can’t miss out on. It begins on the weekend of the 10-11 May with the “Progetto Giovani” followed by the “Quattro Stelle” national competition from the 23-25 May with prize money of 30 thousand euros up for grabs. The events are then rounded off by the Regional Outdoor Championships on the 30th of May.
Entrance to the centre is free and the full schedule can be seen at the following link: http://lesiepicervia.it