Dannevirke Community Board member Tim Delaney was determined to stick to his principles and refused to back funding for a national pony club dressage event here in January.
In 2013, Mr Delaney and fellow board member Ernie Christison were adamant the community board shouldn't approve funding for the Central and Southern Hawke's Bay Showjumping Group's show in Dannevirke, with Mr Christison saying this was a "sport for rich people".
A request from the Hawke's Bay Area Pony Club for money to help cover the costs of the dressage arena decorations for the New Zealand Pony Club Dressage Championships at the showgrounds in January next year resulted in a heated debate at last week's community board meeting.
And although Mr Delaney stuck to his guns, Mr Christison had a turnaround, supporting a grant of $250, half of the $500 applied for, but not before querying how Dannevirke would benefit from the event, and about the financial well-being of the pony club.
"The problem I have is that in the last financial year this group had equity of $67,000. So how can they ask the community for money and how many kids from our area are involved?"