About Matakana Pony Club...
Matakana Pony Club, established in 1977, is a branch of the Warkworth District Pony Club, and Waitemata Rodney Area Pony Club. We are situated at Diamond Jubilee Park - Matakana Valley Rd.
We have a membership of junior and young adult riders aged 4yrs to 25yrs old, and adult membership is available.
Our focus is on promoting and improving the quality of riding and horse management instruction for riders and their coaches.
The Pony Club grounds are open from October to April for riding, weather permitting and depending on ground conditions.
Our Pony Club Rallies teach the NZ Pony Club curriculum and are run on a Wednesday at 5.30 pm mounted for all levels.
The season commences in October each year.
Throughout the season we also host a variety of combined events with Warkworth Pony Club. Please refer to our Calendar for more information.
Our Coaches
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Briar Woolley - Senior Coach
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Tayla Keon - Senior Coach
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Gabrielle Malins - Riders Without Horses
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Margot Rawlings - D+-C Coach
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Angela Davies - lead rein - D
History of Equestrians
at Diamond Jubilee Park
The area now known as Diamond Jubilee Park was purchased by the people of Matakana from the Cruickshank family for a certain amount in pounds and shillings around 1903. There used to be a Parks Committee which would look after the affairs of the park.
The Matakana community raised the money to purchase the park. Income came from sports groups using the park and from grazing sheep in the winter time.
In its early years, the grounds were used by the local Mounted Riflemen for training, as well as by the local cricket club. A concrete cricket pitch was installed to support these activities. However, after the Second World War, the park fell into disuse and became a wilderness, overgrown with blackberry.
In the early 1970s, a group of local farming families approached the Parks Committee with a request to use the park for a pony club for their children. They cleared the land, erected fencing, and removed the cricket pitch to create a suitable area for riding.
Soon after, the local soccer club also applied to use the grounds and did so for several seasons. However, the fields proved too wet for winter play, and the land returned to seasonal grazing by a local farmer’s sheep.
The park became a hub for community events, with the pony club actively supporting many of these occasions. For many years, the pony club and the wider Matakana community worked together in harmony to maintain and utilise the space.
In the 1980s, the park was transferred into the care of Auckland Council, marking a new chapter in its stewardship.
Training at Waiwera, 1942
Members of the Rodney Mounted Rifles outside the Warkworth Hotel in 1914