Fast forward to 2017 and the club stands on the brink of a remarkable recovery.

“We’ve been through so much these past few years,” said club president Sandra Dennis.

“It’s just been incredible.”

The clubhouse has been painstakingly rebuilt over a five-year period with the generous support of grants and donations, including a $9000 grant from the state government earlier this year.

Though progress was initially faltering, work on the clubhouse improved rapidly in 2017 and the clubhouse is preparing an official reopening on Sunday, December 3. 

It’s been an story of personal sacrifice and pride for Mrs Dennis.

“The rebuild was achieved through support and help from so many people who gave time and donations to get the club back on its feet,” Mrs Dennis said.

“Everyone’s given time to this.”

Chief riding instructor Betty Miller said the past five years had strained the club but no-one had stood taller than her president.

“It’s taken a lot of rebuilding and raising the money to rebuild the facilities for Pony Club and Sandra’s put a lot of hard work in behind the scenes,” Mrs Miller said.

“It’s a credit to her work that the club is even up and running again.

“Without a Sandra, we never would have even got to this position.”

Mrs Miller said it had been difficult to maintain a membership base and engage new riders but the club had ultimately pulled through.

“We did have some donations for the building but they run out of money, so we turned to running open gymkhanas and other events,” she said.

That the club’s reopening  coincides with state-wide flood warnings appears a cruel twist of fate.

However, Mrs Dennis won’t be calling off the fanfare for a few stray droplets.

“As far as I’m concerned, our event is still on,” she said.

“There’s definitely no plans on it not going ahead.”

Mrs Miller agreed, saying more than 27 riders were ready to rumble on Sunday morning. 

“Let’s just hope the weather holds,” she said.