Blueberry Hill (Shawn McMillen Photography)

Lexington, Ky.- The US Hunter Pony Championships presented by Sallee Horse Vans, held as part of the US Pony Finals, came to a close on Saturday under intermittently rainy skies at the Kentucky Horse Park. Regular Medium Hunter Ponies went to task in the Walnut Ring in their Over Fences phase to determine the 2014 Champion. Taylor St. Jacques and Finders-Keepers emerged victorious on Saturday afternoon but it was Thursday’s champion, Blueberry Hill that proved unbeatable as she was named the 2014 Grand Champion Hunter Pony.

National titles are determined in the hunter championship following three phases of competition, with Model and Under Saddle phases each counting towards 25% of the overall score, and the remaining 50% being determined by the Over Fences phase.

Jayne (Elgin, Ill.) and 13-year-old Welsh Cross mare, Blueberry Hill, topped the Small Regular Hunter Pony Championship with an overall score of 1007.92. As the only Regular Pony pair to break the 1000 mark this year, they also added the Grand Champion title to their names on Saturday.

Read about Blueberry Hill’s Small Regular Hunter Pony Championship here. 

Earning the 2014 Reserve Grand Champion Hunter Pony was Devin Seek (Ocala, Fla.) and Aubrey Hill Equestrian's Hudson. The eight-year-old Welsh/Holsteiner gelding also topped the Large Regular Hunter Pony Championship with an overall score of 997.96.

Read about Hudson’s Large Regular Hunter Pony Championship here. 

In Regular Medium Hunter Pony competition, St. Jacques (Glen Allen, Va.) and R.H.F. Enterprises, Inc.’s 10-year-old Welsh Pony gelding, Finders-Keepers, scored the National Title with an overall score of 995.66. After earning 244.59 in the Model phase and 243.07 in the Under Saddle, the pair climbed 10 spots up the leaderboard with an impeccable Over Fences phase. They finished the phase in second place after scoring 254.00 to earn the 2014 championship.

“He’s really fun to ride; you just have to leave his face alone and tell him to keep going. He’s great,” said St. Jacques of Finders-Keepers. “He’s so brave. He’s so awesome, I love him.”

The winners of the Over Fences, Emma Kurtz (Hudson, Ohio) and Lonesome Dove Farm’s seven-year-old Welsh Pony mare Lonesome Dove's Good Hearted Woman, were crowned the Reserve Regular Medium Hunter Pony Champions. The pair earned 236.09 and 246.44 in the Model and Under Saddle, respectively, before topping the Over Fences phase with a 255.15 to finish on a total of 992.83.

Third-place honors went to Isabel Ryan (Locust Valley, N.Y.) and her own and John Skinner’s eight-year-old Welsh Cross Pony gelding, Rosewood. The pair were awarded 244.61 in the Model, 251.65 in the Over Fences, and 241.07 in the Over Fences to finish on an overall total of 979.10.

To learn more about the 2014 US Pony Finals, visit www.ponyfinals.org.

For results, schedules and more, visit http://usefconnect.com/ponyfinals/.