Pony Club Volunteer Awarded USHJA Award

THE UNITED STATES PONY CLUBS, INC. PRESS RELEASE

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Press Contact: Shelley Mann, Shelley@PonyClub.org

Pony Club: www.ponyclub.org, 859-254-7669

One of Pony Club’s Own Receives the USHJA Lifetime Achievement Award

New Orleans, LA, December 6, 2011— Georgine (Gegi) Winslet, a long-standing Pony Club volunteer, was awarded the United States Hunter and Jumper Association (USHJA) Lifetime Achievement Award. The award was presented during the USHJA Annual Meeting held in New Orleans, LA. The Lifetime Achievement Award was created in 2008 to honor members whose lifelong involvement in the sport of show jumping and the USHJA itself has benefited the industry. Recipients of this award have dedicated their lives to furthering the disciplines of hunters and jumpers on a national platform. Award winners will have their names added to the Eugene R Mische Perpetual Trophy located at the USHJA national headquarters in Lexington, KY.

Gegi Winslett started her Pony Club connection working with Difficult Run and Dominion Valley Pony Clubs in the late 1970s as an instructor and clinician. She has since helped clubs from coast to coast learn about her favorite activity: show jumping. Gegi was asked to serve on the ad hoc Show Jumping Committee at her first Annual Meeting in January 1980, Pony Club’s 25th anniversary celebration. From 1981 to 1984 she chaired the committee, which brought Show Jumping into Pony Club as a recognized national activity, and she wrote its first official rulebook. The first national championship of Show Jumping was held in 1984 in Saxonburg, PA. It was Gegi's idea that the only way Show Jumping would succeed was if it also taught Pony Club members about the sport and how to participate, while giving them the competition they desired. Gegi continued to serve on the Show Jumping Committee for several years, currently acting as an advisor to that committee.

A frequent presenter at Pony Club Annual Meetings, Gegi was named a Legend at the Pony Club 50th anniversary celebration during the Annual Meeting in 2004 and was named a Pony Club Founder in 2008. She holds a USEF "R" judge's license in Hunters, Hunter Seat Equitation, and Jumpers. Gegi is a life-long horse person.

About USHJA - The USHJA, as the National Affiliate for the Hunter/Jumper discipline, promotes the sport and the well being of its participants, offers broad based education for members and provides the framework for the conduct of the sport. For more information on USHJA visit their website at www.ushja.org.

About Pony Club— The United States Pony Clubs, Inc. (USPC) was founded in 1954 as a nonprofit national youth organization to teach riding and horsemanship through a formal educational program. Many of the nation’s top equestrians, including many of our Olympic team members and many business professionals, government leaders and career military officers, have roots in Pony Club. Youth members range in age from as young as 4 through age 25, and include adult members of the Horsemasters Program. There are approximately 10,000 members in 600 clubs and riding centers in 43 regions throughout the country www.ponyclub.org.