United States Pony Clubs
A national organization to teach riding,
mounted sports and care of horses and ponies
to those under twenty-one
Pony Club News - Number 25 - Spring 1985
Many Pony Club families can boast having at least one Graduate A, and a few may even have two or three. But imagine-five Graduate As in one family with the possibility of a sixth!
Such is the case for the Fritz Coester family of Iowa City, Iowa. Graduates of Rapid Creek P.C. in the North Central Region, the five are: Janet, A-75; William, A-76; Hans, A-77; Michael, A-80; and Susie, A-84. Their mother, Mrs. Fritz Coester (Betsy), is an A Level Examiner and D.C. of Rapid Creek, for which she has served as D.C. for 26 years!
Each of the Coester children has carried horse interests well beyond Pony Club. Janet has to her credit such awards as high point horse/rider combination for USCTA Area 4 in 1973, third place in A division at Pony Club Championship in 1975, acting as groom for Bruce Davidson, Sis Steinkraus, and Iris Winthrope, the opportunity to ride Red's Door before he became an internationally famous event horse. Now a nun in an Iowa convent, Janet enjoys riding occasionally.
Working for a brokerage firm in Chicago, Bill still finds time to compete, train horses, and serve as a Technical Delegate. He competed in four Junior Championships and the first Ledyard Three-Day, won four consecutive Central States dressage derbies, was high point horse/rider combination in USCTA Area 4, placed fourth at 1976 A Rally and third in 1977, and has qualified for AHSA finals in both the third and fourth level dressage. He currently competes at Prix St. Georges level dressage and intermediate level combined training.
Hans is a third year medical student who also does a lot of riding, gives clinics, and teaches during the summer months. He was USCTA and Central States high point horse/rider combination in both 1975 and 1976, competed in four Junior Championships, and placed eighth individually at the Young Riders Championship in 1975. He was third at the A Rally in 1976 and second in 1977.
Michael, too, has competed in four Junior Championships, and rode on the 1975 second place international team for Young Riders.
A student at the University of Iowa, Susan is majoring in art and writing. In 1981, she placed twelfth at Radnor, was sixteenth overall at the Continental Young Riders Championships in Vancouver, and has coached Rapid Creek P.C. Know-Down teams to victory four years in a row. Even with her busy schedule, Susan finds time to teach and help local Pony Clubbers. She coached the North Star P.C. rally teams in 1983 and competed at the Festival in Lexington.
Tom is another Coester coming up through the Pony Club ranks. He is a high school senior and currently a C-2, eligible for C-3. A competent horse handler and farrier, Tom will soon take over brother Mike's business.
When looking at her children's lives, Betsy feels much of their success comes from their years in Pony Club and eventing. These experiences taught them sportsmanship, discipline, and how to care for animals, people, and themselves. They learned how to organize time and received training in citizenship. As Betsy so simply but aptly states, "It's learning to face and work through problems, to relate to other people, and to smile no matter what."
Betsy herself has served as an excellent role model for not only her own children but all the Pony Clubbers she has taught through her 26 years as D.C. of Rapid Creek P.C. An accomplished horsewoman, Betsy was raised in the Elkridge-Hartford Hunt country of Maryland, where she showed hunters in the late 1940's and went on to Madison Square Garden. She studied dressage in Europe and has ridden through Prix St. George level. In the early 1960's, Betsy rode at the Olympic three-day level and competed in such events as Myopia and Pebble Beach. She also hunted a private pack of foxhounds and was a TD, judge, clinician, and event organizer. Her horse Pedro was ridden by both Bruce Davidson and Jimmy Wofford when they first began their eventing careers.
Rapid Creek P.C. was started in 1959 by Betsy. In 1962, it hosted the regional rally and has represented the Midwest Region three times in National Rallies.