About Springston Trophy

Springston Trophy is the largest pony club three-day eventing competition in not only the South Island, but the Southern Hemisphere. Pony clubs from Picton to Invercargill are invited to enter teams of 6 riders ageing from 25 to as young as 6, to compete in dressage, cross country and show jumping, with the intention of crowning the best eventing South Island based pony club each year. It is rich with history having started in 1972 hosted by Springston Pony Club. With 15 teams entered, the inaugural competition was taken out by Gore Pony Club. Since then the competition has traversed the South Island being held every year with the exception of 2020 where it was cancelled for the first time ever due to COVID-19. On average 30-40 teams enter Springston Trophy every year.

Each time a club puts their hand up to host Springston Trophy it is a monumental undertaking which takes a mammoth amount of organisation. The driver for a lot of these pony clubs to take o which takes a mammoth amount of organisation. The driver for a lot of these pony clubs to take on such a huge task is to give back to the pony club organisation, and continue the tradition of the Springston Trophy competition, which has evolved into a prestigious and well known event. It also creates opportunities for involvement for the event host’s local communities, which benefit from the influx of riders to their area. 

Another major factor of hosting Springston Trophy is the building of a new cross country course. The intent is that the new cross country course will last the hosting pony club for many years to come, and encourage riders from all corners of the South Island to come and compete at future competitions, as well as train during the season.

The last time Springston Trophy was held at the Rangiora Showgrounds was in 2008 when North Canterbury last hosted the competition. This was a fantastic competition which saw 36 teams converge on the showgrounds to experience the new Sally Wigley designed cross country course. The event was hotly contested which in the end saw the title taken by the home team of Rangiora Pony Club.  Fast forward 16 years and the competition once again returns to Rangiora to be hosted by North Canterbury Pony Club.