Equestrian Inspirations: Uniquest
A collaboration wishing to provide equine coaching, social interaction, as well as unicorns and rainbows!
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Continuing with my series of conversations with talented people in the local equestrian world, I thought it would be interesting to find out more about a coaching collaboration that has been brought to my attention, Uniquest.
Uniquest is made up of three ladies - Penny Sangster, who you may have heard me chatting to before and is based in Dundonald, Sonya McAleer from Omagh and Gráinne Bennett from Newry - who have competed to a high level themselves (in fact, Sonya is still competing!) and who wish to share their equine passion with others!
I was keen to learn more about each of them, about the concept of Uniquest and what they are planning for the months ahead…
First of all, can you just introduce yourselves one at a time to the listeners? Please say your name and then just give a wee bit of your horsey background. You go first, Penny, in case anyone hasn't heard our previous chat.
Okay, so I know we had a chat before, Bree.
For me, I started off many years ago, when I was seven and got a donkey and that's where my riding started… you can stop laughing right now, Sonya!
I missed out on the fun of Pony Club, so that's why we have fun when we're together - I sort of like doing Pony Club, because I missed out on the fun of the Pony Club. I used to do showing and then went on to do dressage, so I wasn't a member of any Pony Club or Riding Club.
From the dressage, I went on to do eventing, based with Karen Dixon and that's really where my passion went on from there.
Brilliant. And how did you get into coaching then?
So coaching, in the beginning, was a sideline when I was eventing. And then, unfortunately, due to too many accidents, the riding had to take a second step.
So the coaching took over and I did a little bit of coaching when I was younger.
My first attempt at Pony Club camp was as a coach, not as a member itself. And that's really where my passion for Pony Club has come from.
And that's why I love doing so much with the Pony Club and I absolutely adore camp. It's a great time to have fun and be with like-minded coaches and we all have great fun together.
It's about putting the kids first as well. They have fun, but we have fun at the same time.
Oh, that's super. I'm really glad to hear that. And who would like to go next, ladies?
I'll go. Hi, Bree. It's Sonya.
Hi, Sonya.
My horsey background… I got into ponies when I was like five. My mum and dad were not horsey at all. They are now way more horsey than I even am!
But yeah, I started with my own pony and did a little bit of Pony Club with Seskinore, but fell in love with show jumping and decided that that was the way forward for me. I just wanted to jump jumps and go fast.
That hasn't really changed much…
As the ladies know, I love to jump and I love to go fast.
But I started when I was five and rode competitively until I was 13 or 14 and then actually gave up for 12 years and stepped away completely.
I didn't go near a horse, had no interest and then fell back into it around the age of 28, volunteering with the Riding for the Disabled and that's kind of where my love of coaching started.
And I think if I hadn't stepped away for 12 years, I probably wouldn't have ever fell into a coaching role. I probably would have just competed.
But fell in love with coaching, got my own horse. Now I have far too many!
I'm still competing and loving it.
And now I get to add coaching in and do the likes of Pony Club and camps and absolutely love it.
Excellent. So you're competing in show jumping at the minute, is that right?
Absolutely, I'm a show jumper through and through, as these two know.
They pick on me, Bree!
Oh dear!
No, I love show jumping and that is what I do with all of mine.
I have four currently out on the circuit and hopefully moving up to 1.30m this year or 1.35m.
Oh, excellent. Good for you. That's super.
And Gráinne, what about you?
First of all, can I please ask something… a wee birdie told me that you're affectionately known as Granny. Is that right?
Yeah, which one of you?
Yeah, so you can imagine, having a name like mine.
I'm Gráinne, but I get ‘granny’, so yes, I've unfortunately been labelled with that name for quite some time.
Actually I can go right back. So my riding career, my horsey career started 40 years ago. Oh my word!
I was a little girl that wanted to ride ponies and ride ponies. And eventually my parents caved and, back in the day, riding school wasn’t really a thing, so rather than getting me riding lessons, I was got a pony… A wild pony that was bought for £150 that my dad's saw her across the field. That will do her…
So Primrose, I was got Primrose… Primrose nearly killed me. She lay down and rolled on me. She dragged me over ditches… I mean, she just took dangerous to a whole new level!
But my parents weren't horsey, so they sort of knew no different. But they got, obviously, told about a Pony Club, the Iveagh Pony Club and I got signed up, because this was great. They could drive up, drop me off, so I was left at Pony Club!
I obviously fell in love with Pony Club and was a Pony Club candidate through and through, right the whole way up and was very passionate about doing all the Pony Club exams and was going to make a career riding horses and coaching.
My parents had different ideas, because they said, no, that industry is too difficult, too hard work and forbid me from doing any career with horses. So got I shipped off to university, which I kind of agreed to at the time and went off to university, studied law at the University of East Anglia in England, but was still part of the Riding Club there and still had this hunger for horses.
I came home from university and got back involved in the Pony Club. You can be in Pony Club now until you’re 25, so I thought this is brilliant, took a year out and got a job coaching at the Pony Club and, yeah, I never went back to my career…ever, nearly 20 years later!
Going from law to coaching kids was a bit of a change, but to say I am a Pony Club true blue to the backbone… I live it, I eat it, I sleep it, I love it! It is my all and everything.
And I've diversified to Uniquest, which we'll talk about later, which is even more fun. It's like the grown-up version, the adult version of Pony Club.
But anyway, putting that to one side.
Eventing. I fell into eventing through having done a little bit through Pony Club.
I trained with a lady called Sonya Duke, or Sonya Rowe, and another lady, Dot and became very passionate.
I'm like that. I give 110% whatever I go into. So I became very passionate about eventing and spent 15 years working alongside Sonya and Dot, learning the discipline of eventing.
But unfortunately, every time I got a nice horse that was fit to go up to the grades, I had to sell it - most equestrians are aware of that situation.
I was building a business, a livery yard and I needed the money to put back into the business, which a lot of these horses I've had have gone on to do wonderful things with other wonderful people. And it's great I've been part of their story.
So, yes, my journey has led me here to Tullylagan Pony Club. We're having great fun. That's where we are this weekend.
Brilliant. Oh, it's so lovely to hear a bit of background about each of you. So, can we now find out a wee bit more about Uniquest?
So, Penny, first of all, if you could tell us about Uniquest, how on earth did you three get together?
So, I came over to Ireland sort of like just before lockdown, as we chatted about before. And I got involved with the Tullylagan Pony Club back then, by doing stuff with them on Zoom and doing some training online.
Then, when the lockdown dropped, then I started to meet them face to face. And that's where I first was introduced to Sonya, because she was a coach for Tullylagan at the time.
She started shadowing me with assessing, doing some assessments. We started doing a lot of work together and then, through doing some coaching Zooms over lockdown, I met Gráinne.
And through that, we started doing some training towards training the Pony Club members to become coaches.
So I've worked with both Gráinne and Sonya separately on different occasions and different reasons through the Pony Club.
And then through Tullylagan, we became a bit of a team and we are a little bit of a trio. Last summer at camp, we actually just sat and chatted and went, we think that actually, adults deserve to have this much fun.
And that is basically where UniQuest started.
Brilliant. So Sonya, what was your initial plan of action then?
Well, we knew that we loved working together and I think as three coaches, you couldn't put three better women together, because there's absolutely no ego between us.
And we just want to give people everything that we've got to make them feel confident and happy and enjoy their horses.
So we thought, why not do something in a really beautiful setting, which is Necarne for us, like, it's just amazing. That's where we are this weekend.
We thought, let's put something together there, but build something that people of all ages and abilities could come, enjoy the horses, have a little mini holiday, but learn and grow together and we could have the craic together and that was kind of our plan… It was a bit of a ‘wing it’ kind of plan. We're not overly fussed on having lots of meetings, we're actually far too busy to actually have meetings! We had one meeting to organise Uniquest and it went off with a bang!
It was great, but our plan was just to build something that people would walk away having the best weekend.
Brilliant. And Gráinne then, where did the name come from?
It's quite a funny story with the name, because as Sonya had mentioned about us coming to this beautiful setting, Necarne, so we initially named it the Necarne Adult Camp.
And as the first day finished and the second day finished, we realised we had something very, very special. And we had brought together a group of very enthusiastic people that kept reminding us, ‘You need to do this again… You need to do this again!’
And we discovered that Necarne is a very busy, busy equestrian centre, with lots happening and booking this place could maybe only be viable once or twice a year, which wasn't enough for what these adults wanted us to provide for them.
So then, we were left with the predicament that we had a Necarne adult camp that we couldn't bring anywhere else!
So we said, we need to come up with a different name, we need to come up with a name that we can take these adult camps to a number of different fabulous venues that our country has to offer. So we struggled, we came up with a number of different ideas and then we decided…
Penny: Well it was actually… We threw it out to the people who'd come to the camp and we actually said you know ‘can anyone come up with a name?’.
I got poo-pooed by these two, because I’ve got a real thing about rainbows and unicorns and I said ‘we need to name it rainbows and unicorns’ and they laughed at me…
Sonya: But you’re the most serious out of us and you’re playing with child-like…
Gráinne: Unicorns and rainbows…! Crazy!
Penny: When we put it to the people who've been at the camp, guess what? They came up with rainbows and unicorns!
So it was actually a lady called Debbie who came up with Uniquest - that's where it came from and that's where it stuck.
Gráinne: And we decided Uniquest Ireland, so that we can take it to the four corners of this fabulous little island.
Excellent. Very good. And Sonya, so what do you do and what are your aims?
So, we provide a range of different lessons throughout either our day camps or our overnight camps. We touch on dressage, show jumping, cross-country.
We try to provide something with all disciplines, so that people can develop skills in all areas. But we want to provide that social element.
Like the social part of camp is, I think it's the biggest part and the biggest takeaway, because people are coming and having the craic.
You know, we did a wonderful demo at the last camp, which Penny tried to be the serious one and tried to get us to be really serious, which God love her, it's never gonna work with us two clowns.
But you know, it's just providing fun and craic and learning all into one space for people. And we just want to bring unicorns and rainbows to everybody really, that is, it’s the joy and getting people to I suppose go back to feeling like a kid again, for those people that maybe didn't get to do Pony Club… Like Penny didn't do Pony Club…
Penny: No, I have more fun now! Yeah and you said I'm the sensible one!
Sonya: I know, but you, well you are and you’re not!
Penny: I’m Wonder Woman!
Sonya: Yes, but like it's people coming to camps that didn't get to do Pony Club or didn't do Riding Club. It's giving that opportunity.
I didn't do a lot of Pony Club because I got like stolen by show jumping. Penny didn't do it at all; Gráinne is the one of us that is the true Pony Clubber, but it's giving people that energy and that feeling… Like when I arrived at camp last year, it was like Pony Club on steroids! You know, so all these adults, like, bouncing around the place. And I was like, what have we set ourselves up for?
But it was amazing and a wonderful, wonderful experience to be part of and to be fit to bring that to people is really special.
Oh, that sounds amazing. And, Gráinne, who is your market then? You know, what sort of levels of rider or any particular bracket or who are you aiming at?
Okay, so we call it, we try and push it out towards the adults of the industry; the adults that own their own horse or pony that want to learn in a fun, confident environment where there is, we have no boundaries. We are open to every suggestion, every idea, we want to make it work for what they need, any area and it's anybody that, any level, we cater for any level.
People that have been very successful eventers, show jumpers, that maybe have had a break, they want to build their confidence back up. They want to come nothing too serious, just get back into it with a massive social element to the camps, so that it is like Pony Club on steroids, but it is a holiday for these people, bringing their best friend with them, their horse or their pony, whatever the case may be… with lots of wine!
Okay, but what about people at the lower end, who are maybe a bit nervous or they've got a young horse maybe or they're just not that used to being out with their horse. Do you cater for them too?
Yeah. I'm going to give you an example. So my mum, who is very close to 70 and is reliving her youth, absolutely thinks these camps are amazing.
She really only likes walking and trotting. And, if she's pushed, she will canter and jump jumps.
Sonya: But you didn't tell me she hadn't cantered!
Gráinne: Never cantered. And the next thing, yeah, Sonya had her... So literally from grassroot pensioners to 18 or 19-year-olds that want to jump 1.20m, we will cater for whoever needs us. We are across the board open.
Oh, that's brilliant.
Penny: We're also all very open to mindset and mental health, because that's very important nowadays, so in our camps, it's something that we cover and something that we're all aware for and you know, with the way life is at the moment, it's important that we have this time with our horses, which is stress-free. You don't have to be aiming for any competition - most of these people ride because they enjoy riding and they want to learn. It’s fine they don't want to go out and compete; it's fine that they're over the moon about jumping a cross-pole; it's fine about them doing their first ever canter.
We cater for those people. They're as important as the ones that go out and make our teams up.
Excellent. I'm really glad to hear that. And Penny, you're at Pony Club this weekend, but what is next on your agenda for the three of you?
So, obviously summer is busy for everybody… Our next aim as Uniquest is our next camp, which is at Necarne. It's in August.
Unfortunately, we haven't managed to get a weekend date. We've got midweek dates, so it's tricky for people who are working.
And then we need to sit down and make a plan for the winter.
We managed to get some dates in February/ March-time at Danescroft, which went very well.
It's just finding out what people want and putting the dates out there, so we're working on it, camp is coming!
Sonya will give you more details, I've forgotten the dates! When are the dates?
Sonya: August 6th and 7th. I don't even know what date it is today, guys. I'm not going to lie. It's August 7th and 8th. Sorry, Bree!
I should have those dates in my mind, but yeah, August 7th and 8th. And we still have a few spaces left. We actually don't have an awful lot left, but there are still spaces left and people can find information on our Facebook page and they can purchase tickets through our Plain Sailing account.
Everything is on our Uniquest Ireland Facebook page and people can reach out through that if they have any questions and we are more than happy to help with any info they need.
Oh that's super, because I was going to ask you know how do you let people know what you're doing, so you're all kind of Facebook orientated then?
Yeah Facebook's the easiest option at the moment for us.
And can people contact each of you individually or do they just send a message through Facebook?
They can send through Facebook or we are all online. People can reach out to us if they want to speak to any of us individually. There's no issue.
We're all open and happy to queries that anybody has.
Oh, that's brilliant, because, I'm just conscious that maybe people... maybe think that it's a great idea, but they're just maybe not sure if they're at the right level. And I think just sometimes a conversation can really reassure people that yes, you would be able to cater for them perhaps.
Yeah, it's just about getting that communication, if people are a little bit nervy, especially if it's something they haven't done before.
But look, the three of us are honestly the most approachable and easygoing coaches that you'll ever meet. And we want people to come of all levels and abilities and just to enjoy their horse.
Yeah, that's what it's all about. You know, I think sometimes you lose sight of the fact that, the likes of myself, we're doing it for pleasure. This is our hobby. So, you know, fun and enjoyment is of the biggest concern.
So, Gráinne, what are your ambitions for Uniquest? Where do you want it to go?
I want Uniquest or the three of us certainly want Uniquest to be known as somewhere to go that you can build your confidence, life skills, all of this, while having the fun that like-minded people coming together can create.
We want to be able to offer a service, because it's a unique Pony Club for everybody, everybody - just like Pony Club is from Lead Rein to advanced. We want to bring it to everyone that needs us to help build those foundations.
Maybe there's a block out of place. We want to know, we want to help and we want to make this world better. Education is always better.
It empowers us and it builds confident, happy equine people and horses.
Brilliant. Actually, something has just occurred to me and any of you can answer this, please. Because I'm just conscious that we're chatting and a lot of leisure riders tend to be ladies, but are your camps also suitable for gentlemen?
Sonya: Our camp is open to everybody. And we have had a number of men come to our camp.
Penny: Oh, absolutely. Totally. And let me say, we have more fun with the men than the women sometimes!
Gráinne: Yes, we have a few very entertaining male riders, that bring colour and joy to the world. And we want more, more, please.
Oh, that's so good. Brilliant. Penny, where do you see Uniquest in five or in 10 years' time? Where would you like it to go?
Do you know, it's always a hard question to see where you want it to go.
I think what we would all love, and I think I'm speaking for the other two as well, is that Uniquest is seen as a safe, fun way to enjoy your horse and to have fun.
We've named it as a brand, but the brand is the three of us and although we all work independently, when we work together, we have fun.
We certainly have fun and I think that really comes across in what we do. And I think that's important.
So, it's building up on people trusting Uniquest really and actually taking that risk to go and have a lesson. To come and join in and to not be scared to take that risk.
Sonya: Yeah, it's just about keeping our… I think we'll keep going with this as long as we keep enjoying working together and I think that's never going to change.
Gráinne: If you put the three of us together and calculate our life experience, we're over 100 years of experience!
That's quite scary! Very impressive.
Gráinne: We have 100 years of experience!
Oh my goodness.
Gráinne: I'm not Piggy in the middle either.
Actually something else has just occurred to me. Could you please explain what is the format of your camps, whether it be a day camp or a residential camp, how is it structured? Are the three of you coaching individually? What disciplines do you each concentrate on? Things like that that might be of interest to people. How do you break it all down?
Penny: I think because the background of both Grainne and myself is eventing, we're lucky that we've got all three disciplines involved.
Sonya: Lucky or just greedy?
Penny: Okay, greedy! Okay, so I mean, we can do all the disciplines. I think because we are all busy when we do the clinics, it has been a little bit, who's free to run them, what we can do, what facilities we've got.
The ones that we did at Danescroft, we were very lucky. Leah was brilliant and we managed to get cross-country and gallops and show jumping and flat work. Again, we had most of the facilities there.
It does depend where we do them as to what we can do, but we do try and make sure that we share between us, because it's important that we share each other's knowledge.
And I know these guys, I learn off these guys. We throw ideas off each other. We are a team.
Oh, super. And is there anything else that you feel might be relevant to listeners that you want to share, either about each other or your individual experiences or your coaching techniques?
Gráinne: Yes, absolutely. So you asked about the format of the camps. So generally, we run them that you ride twice a day. And it's at a level that you're comfortable with, and especially, there's plenty of breaks if somebody's feeling lethargic or tired. Okay, we have time out. We have it really well organised to a schedule that they know exactly what they're doing, when they're doing it.
There is the time out for the extra events. We schedule in fun activities, there's extra pilates, we've done mindset, we've done feed and nutrition, we've done lots of added talks into the schedule of these clinics that there's a variety, so that you know it's not just sitting on your horse or riding a horse or jumping.
Like there's ladies come in, they don't ever jump, they don't want to jump and we can manifest the camp to suit those ladies or gentlemen and they have just as much fun as someone jumping the 1.20m.
Brilliant, that's really good to know.
Penny: And as I say, you know, the overnight camp we're lucky, because we're together we've got a lot more time. The day clinics, we've tried to do so that they get two lessons, with a break in the middle, so that there is that time out as well, because it's a lot of the social time. Normally, we're actually trying to drag them out of the horse boxes, away from they call it ‘coffee’, but I'm not too sure it is coffee! To get them back on board, but again, that's what this is all about…
It is about having that chat time with friends and encouragement.
The one thing that I think I took away from the camp we did last year, was almost the team spirit of whose group was the best!
They did become whose group was the best and whose group was the coolest.
Sonya: And the cool kids, that's what it was. It was like, who were the cool kids at camp? But they all were like walking out of camp last year thinking that they were like, we were the coolest.
Everybody came out like 10 feet taller at camp last year. And that's what I loved, the energy and the buzz leaving was as good as everybody arriving.
Oh, how lovely.
Gráinne: We also have lots of merchandise - beanies and jackets and, you know, to make it a uniform, to make us feel part of something, part of something special, because we all love our Uniquest beanies and we've got them in bright colours.
Penny: With rainbows on.
Gráinne: Of course, rainbows and unicorns and lots of pinks and yellows and greens and bright colours.
And it's all about just portraying that life of fun and happiness and bringing out the vibrance in everyone. So we all have a ball. We all really enjoy it.
Oh, it sounds great. I think my biggest problem, if there's only two riding sessions, how on earth could you choose which discipline or which instructors you're going to go with? That would be quite difficult.
Penny: Well, I think with the camp, it's great because over the two days, you get four lessons. We try and make sure that you get at least one of the instructors.
Most people, because we offer a flat, grid jumping and simulated cross-country they will tend to pick one of each. I have to admit trying to work out the timetable is a nightmare!
I can imagine!
We're trying and not everyone's going to agree to it, but then also on the day clinics there tends to be two coaches and you'll have a lesson and a session with one of each of them
Yeah, very good. And so aside from your August camp then, have you got plans for day camps in the autumn or later in the summer or have you anything else to look forward to?
Sonya: Because we work independently, it's just about us taking a little time together now to look and coordinate our diaries, because that is our biggest challenge is trying to get together.
I have tried to organise a Zoom for us probably about 17 times this year, Bree. And they've forgotten. It's just hard. So it's just tying our diaries together, but we are definitely going to look at it and we want to definitely bring something into the autumn and the winter, but we just have to try and tie together and find venues.
Gráinne: But there will be. Watch this space. There will be days that will be advertised well in advance.
Brilliant.
So come down. Come along.
Well, be sure to let me know and I will put it up on Horse and Field whenever you get something else organised. Just in case people do like the sound of it, but they're maybe going on holiday or something and they won't be around for your camp at Necarne. It would just be nice for them to know that they might have something else to look forward to.
Penny: Well, we're still hoping that we might get another camp in later on the year. Obviously, the later we go through the year, the Irish weather is not very kind.
Yes.
So we have to have that in mind. We were very lucky, our camp was November last year, and we were very, very lucky with the weather.
We can't guarantee that.
So, it's also trying to find the facilities that we can make sure we can still run the camps, without actually people getting soaked.
Yeah, fair enough. And I suppose the ground conditions and the all-weather surfaces and things are important then too.
Penny: Yeah, totally.
Okay, well, make sure you keep me posted.
We will. We're all pinned down, sat down. We're here.
We've been here the weekend. We're here tomorrow. So I think we're going to try and actually catch up with each other and catch breath and try and get some dates and we will certainly let you know first what the dates will be.
Brilliant and so you're still at Pony Club camp tomorrow and are you back together doing any more Pony Club camps or what’s next on your schedule, aside from Uniquest?
Gráinne: Well, we all have… There's a lot of Pony Clubs in Area 17, which is Northern Ireland and I'm teaching at a couple of different camps and I think Penny is also.
So yes, there's a few more camps coming up for the Pony Club kids.
Penny: Yeah. So, I know Grainne's off to Iveagh. I'm off to East Down.
Sonya: And I am, I'm actually going into some Southern Riding Clubs now and doing some confidence work and things with them over the next couple of weeks. So I'm getting a little change of pace and moving into adults for a while.
Oh, that'll be good fun.
Sonya: Yeah, absolutely. It will be enjoyable.
Very good. It's been a pleasure speaking to all of you. And I thank you so much for your time this evening. And hopefully I will hear from you very soon with some further dates.
Penny: Brilliant. Well, thank you so much, BrEe, for having us.
Gráinne: Thank you, Bree. It's been a pleasure.
Sonya: Thank you so much, Bree.
Likewise. Thank you very much.
Quite often in equestrian sport, we can be on our own and sometimes isolated. So I think it's lovely to see these ladies collaborating together and aiming to put fun and enjoyment at the centre of their coaching. You can tell that the craic is mighty when they all get together!
If you want to find out more, go to the Uniquest Ireland Facebook page or look up Penny Sangster, Sonya McAleer or Gráinne Bennett on Facebook.
Stay tuned for the next Straight from the Horse's Mouth podcast on Horse and Field. Thank you for listening.