Tetrathlon
Pony Club Tetrathlon is very much like Modern Pentathlon, which you may have seen in the Olympics. It provides Members with a challenging competition requiring practical horsemanship, general athletic ability and a steady hand for shooting. Tetrathlon originated as a competition for boys however there are now competitions for girls and for different ages groups.
In Tetrathlon, runners go off at one minute intervals over a carefully measured course and each competitor’s time is measured. A bogey time is set for the course and for each second over or under that time a number of points are deducted from or added to 1,000 points.
Distances
Boys Open- 3000m
Boys Intermediate- 2000m
Girls Open and Intermediate- 1500m
Juniors- 1500m
Minimus- 1000m
Bogey times which score 1000 points are shown below:
Open Boys- 10 minutes 30 seconds
Intermediate Boys- 7 minutes 0 seconds
Open and Intermediate Girls- 5 minutes 20 seconds
Juniors- 5 minutes 40 seconds
Minimus- 4 minutes 0 Seconds
Ready reckoners are given in Appendix C of the current Pony Club Tetrathlon Rule Book
For information on organising the running phase, please see the notes for organisers sections in the Tetrathlon Rule Book.
The riding phase usually takes place over fixed cross country fences however, arena jumping can be used as a substitute (See appendix G in the current Tetrathlon Rule Book.)
Where possible Tetrathlon courses always include a gate to open and close whilst mounted, and a slip rail at which the competitor dismounts, takes down the rail, leads his pony or horse through, replaces the rail and remounts. Since Tetrathlon courses should test the ability of the rider rather than that of the mount, it would be a pity to leave these two obstacles out. Perhaps you can use the gate into the field for the former. A small gate mounted on a post with a second post to latch it on to is always a useful item for a Branch/Centre to possess. A slip rail is not difficult to construct, requiring only two poles and two posts and a little simple carpentry.
Maximum Heights
Open- 1.10m
Intermediate- 1.00m
Junior- 90cms
Minimus- 80cms
Competitors will score points according to how far they have swum in a certain time:
Open Boys- 4 minutes
Open Girls- 3 minutes
All Intermediate and Junior Competitors- 3 minutes
Minimus- 2 minutes
Competitors should swim in heats, the number in each heat depending on the width of the pool.
For more information on scoring and equipment please see the current Tetrathlon Rule Book
This phase uses any make of single shot 4.5mm calibre air pistol and Pony Club Targets. Competitors each have 5 shots fired consecutively with a time limit of 4 seconds per shot at each target. There is a maximum of 2 targets per competition.
Targets are checked by the scrutineers/judges and marked as follows:
10 marks for a Bull
8 marks for an Inner
6 marks for a Magpie
4 Marks for an Outer
2 Marks for outside the outer circle
A maximum score is worth 1,000 points. To work out the total points scored by a competitor the marks from both targets are added together and multiplied by 10.
Tetrathlon Rules
It is strongly recommended that you buy or download a copy of the appropriate discipline Rule Book(s) so that you always have it to hand for your competitions. All Rule Books are available from The Pony Club Shop at a cost of £3.50.
The 2020 Tetrathlon Rule Book is available to download
