Margaret Keers

My name is Margaret Keers, though sometimes I go by the nickname "Tobi." I'm a C3 from Carbon River PC in the Northwest Region. At Championships, I'll be competing in Tetrathlon in the Senior Division.

My favorite foods are ice cream, french bread, and peas, though not all at the same time.

What I love about Pony Club is the kids. Every time I go to a rally (often as an AHMJ), I am surprised and delighted by the tricks I learn from the D2 with the pony that likes to run away, or the C1 who knows how to get the elastic on a girth clean. Pony Clubbers are such a talented group of smart riders, and I suspect every team packs a great sense of humor along with their first aid kid. Teaching, rallying, and just hanging out with other Pony Clubbers is why I've spent the past 15 years of my life hanging around the barn. It's truly a Pony Club Family.

At Championships, I am looking forward to meeting the people on my catch team! I'm also excited to exchange region pins, cheer on my teammates, and showing off the love of my life: my horse, Paris. I'm also looking forward to creating (safe) mischief in the barn, which will probably be a dance party or a short skit.

Paris is the most amazing creature I have ever had the good fortune to meet. He has the greatest honesty and heart, and I truly conisder him my partner. My trusty 15.3 hand chestnut QH/TB steed and I roam around just about every Pony Club discipline. He loves Foxhunting, excels at Polocrosse, schools Prelim Eventing, enjoys Musical Freestyles, and now he's heading down for Tet champs. We've known each other for five years, which more often than not feels like the entirety of my life. In our spare time, we hang out and I teach him tricks, like striking on command and bowing. Currently, we working on lying down, flying changes, and passing the B Traditional Rating.

Outside of horses, I'm an absolute nerd. I attend the University of Washington, and will graduate next spring with a BS in Psychology, and minors in Japanese and Linguistics. This means I get really excited about brains. (Though I promise I'm not a zombie.) When I'm not at school or riding Paris, I invite friends over to watch Japanese cartoons and make costumes. Sometimes, however, these interests overlap with Pony Club, as they did at my Pony Club's Halloween party last year, when I was a Pokémon Trainer and Paris was a Ponyta.

I have a cat named Beowulf, who is a very talented cuddler. He's not very good at catching mice, though, and often needs my help. It's kind of like team penning.

My Pony Club is somewhat infamous in our Region for being the crazy club. We're always doing silly things at rallies, like inviting the HM Judges to dance parties in the barn aisle, "kidnapping" our teammates horses when they've left for lunch (and leaving a ransom note in the tackroom), pretending we are pirates by putting bandannas over one eye, making up code words for use in Games and Polocrosse ("MARSHMALLOW!") and generally having too much fun. One theme that has been relatively constant is making up short skits to perform just before awards. It began a long time ago at a Games Rally, where we commandeered a Backstreet Boys song, changed the lyrics to suit Pony Club, horses, and the spirit of team-building... and eventually resulted in "Dressage Idol," in which we had a three of our girls as a panel of judges, one dressed up in formal gear as a rider, and two more with a blanket thrown over us: the horse. Of course, I was the hindquarters. At any rate, we were startled halfway through the test by the appearance of a "crazy fan," and proceeded to buck our rider off. I still think of that experience as one of the true meanings of Pony Club. (Find it on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tBH9_IwKk0 .)

Anyway, I think that sums it up!