Lexington, KY – On day three of the 2006 USEF Pony Final National Championships, Samantha Schaefer and Zone 10 walked away with the top prizes. The 13-year-old Schaefer, of Westminster, MD, rode her seven-year-old German Riding Pony gelding, Rockport, to their first Pony Finals win. This was their first time riding indoors, after the competition had to be moved inside today due to the torrential rainstorms the Lexington area saw last night.

Schaefer, along with 201 other riders, rode a tough initial course that Schaefer said was not easy, but not impossible. “I got a good draw and got to watch a lot of people go,” Schaefer said. “The hardest thing to work on was my position because I like to gallop and my legs slide back. He’s got a good canter; he does perfect lead changes so I never have to worry about that.”

Twenty-five riders were called back to ride another challenging course. Of those called back were eight large ponies, 12 medium ponies and five small ponies. The judges narrowed it down to two riders and asked them to enter the ring with no stirrups and ride a sitting trot, canter and rising trot.

Schaefer had two reserves, in large and small ponies, in yesterday’s 2006 Wild Horsefeathers/USEF National Green Hunter Pony Championship. Along with the title, blue ribbon and gold medal, Schaefer took home a tack trunk, dress sheet from Royal Rider and silver tray to represent the Easter Sunday Memorial Trophy that will have Schaefer’s name engraved on it and be housed at the USEF headquarters. She is a Pony Finals veteran, having been seven times. Tomorrow she will compete in the medium regular pony hunters.

Reserve champion went to 13-year-old Olivia Jack of Fairfield, CT, riding the 11-year-old blue roan gelding, Junior Mint, owned by Kate Salzman.

Tonight’s winners in the 2006 Adequan/USEF National Pony Team Jumper were Zone 10 (comprised of the states of California and Nevada). Tonight’s competitors were not only competing as a team, but also performing phase II of the individual competition—simultaneously.

Zone 10 was the “Cinderella story” of the night. Not only has Zone 10 never been represented in this Pony Finals class, they were also one rider short of the four-field rider teams entered in the competition, and their horses had the farthest combined distance to travel. This meant they did not have a fourth rider’s low score to throw out. In addition, these three girls were all first-timers to Pony Finals and more than had the cards stacked against them. However, they managed to ride three double-clean rounds, wowing the crowd, along with the other nine teams.

The judges asked five teams to return to ride a second round. Those teams included zones three, four, five, eight and 10. Tonight’s winning team was made up of 13-year-old Jocelyn Neff of Newport Beach, CA, riding Cinnamon Twist, her 13-year-old Welsh cross mare; 16-year-old MacKenzie Rosman of Saugus, CA, riding Mentos Junior, her 14-year-old Warmblood pony gelding; 13-year-old Madeline Burkhartsmeier of Camarillo, CA, riding Hocus Pocus, her 13-year-old Arabian/Appaloosa pony mare.

All three girls said they had faith in their ponies, knew they were fast and didn’t want to let them down. The girls all credit their ponies for getting them here and for the night’s win. They said their ponies would all jump skyscrapers for them if they rode them well.

“I thought it was more fun because we got to rely on each other and got to share the glory,” said Neff. “There was the anxiety of watching everybody go and we were just hoping we didn’t let each other down,” said Burkhartsmeier. They all agreed that being the last to go was probably the toughest spot to have on the team, and Burkhartsmeier showed everyone how it should be done.

Reserve champions were Zone Three (comprised of the states of West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, North Carolina and Virginia) with a total of four points. Zone Three is made up of 11-year-old Sara Ketcham, of Columbus, NC, riding the 11-year-old Anglo-Arabian mare Rosebelle, owned by Ann Hanna; 16-year-old Eileen Buckingham of La Plata, MD, riding her 13-year-old Welsh/Thoroughbred mare, Hot Gossip; 14-year-old Kylie Wright from Sparks, MD, riding Mystic Rainbow, a 16-year-old Welsh/Thoroughbred gelding, owned by Whitney Snyder; and 12-year-old Belinda Paget-Brown from Charlottesville, VA, riding Stizzy, a 12-year-old Welsh/Arabian gelding, owned by Paget-Brown and Shadowfox Farm, Inc. Paget-Brown had two refusals at the same fence and was eliminated. Her score was dropped.

When the winners were asked what the difference was between equitation and jumpers, they were in agreement that jumping was a little more exciting and equitation was a bit more work.

“Equitation is obviously a bit more formal, but you still have to ride,” said Neff. “You can’t just sit on top of your horse and be pretty. I’ve found it a really good foundation for jumping, a lot better than hunters because they also have the bending lines and roll-backs and bendings into two strides and they make things challenging by shortening the stride or making them long, so you have to adjust. I think it’s a very good foundation. People think it’s really easy and it’s not. You have to work really hard at it to make it look pretty, and in jumpers you don’t have to do that.

Their plan for tomorrow night’s pony jumper individual championship— “same ride,” said Rosman.