The Lilydale and Mooroolbark Pony Club, located in Yering, is jumping for joy after Yarra Ranges Council donated 15 logs from last year's June storm to the club for use as equestrian obstacles.
Yarra Ranges Council has been actively engaging with the community to determine ways in which logs that are too big to be milled can be repurposed to benefit the community into the future.
Club president Julie Lithgow said the new jumps will help ensure the club is offering the best equipment for its members into the future.
"Yarra Ranges Council gave us 15 logs and it was important for us to upgrade what we had to offer."
"We spent time working with Council to get these logs so that could offer new and exciting jumps to our members," Julie said.
The new jumps have been set up by a professional course builder and some have even been carved to look like animals, with one bearing resemblance to a Dachshund.
Already the jumps have been tested with over 150 riders and their horses converging on the club on 12 February to take part in a cross-country horse-riding event.
Club President Julie said feedback around the new jumps was positive and that everyone at the club was grateful for support from the Council.
"We got really good feedback from our competition on Sunday which had 150 competitors."
"It's quite hard to get these size logs so when you do you really appreciate them. Clubs like us, we don't have the money to buy these logs because at the end of the day we are just a community organisation, so it's just fantastic that we do have the volunteers to put the work in and carve these logs and place them where they need to be as well as what Council has done in donating them to us."
Yarra Ranges Council has been working with community groups, Men's Shed and artists to ensure a variety of logs are reused and repurposed around the municipality.
Yara Ranges Council Mayor, Jim Child said it was exciting to see the many uses that these logs have, and it was great to see that they are benefitting community groups who might otherwise have to fundraise for them or seek alternative materials.
"While the loss of trees from the Storm has been terrible it has been inspiring to see the community put a lot of these logs to good use and reuse/repurpose them in a meaningful way that will benefit the current pony club and future members."
