Lexington, Ky. – The fourth day of competition at the 2024 USEF Pony Finals presented by Marshall & Sterling saw the first of two Grand Champions crowned in the hunter ring. The jumper competition heated up with the second round and the final for team competition.
USEF Large Green Pony Hunter National Championship and Green Hunter Pony Grand Championship
The large greens took on the over-fences phase on Friday afternoon, closing out the section with some standout performances. Emi Richard and So Dashing )FS Champion De Luxe x Charming Doll), a 2014 Belgian Warmblood gelding owned by Sprucedale, Inc., had a phenomenal round that won the over fences blue ribbon and propelled them to the top of the top of the class. Not only did they earn the USEF Medium Green Pony Hunter National Champion title, but their top score made them the Grand Champions for the greens.
“It was an amazing feeling, because a lot has gone into this,” said Richard. “Coming out of the ring, seeing the scores and seeing that I was in first, there was so much emotion; good, happy tears.”
Richard started riding So Dashing this past winter, and says he had some greenie traits in the beginning that they’ve worked hard to improve.
“We’d have good parts of the round, but it would never really come together,” she said of their early rides. “But we’ve been working a lot with him. To have it all come together at this show is amazing.”
Richard said she and So Dashing did click pretty quickly, “but obviously he was still green, so it was a little bit all over the place,” she said. “But we definitely have grown.”
“She clicks with every pony! She can ride every pony,” said Patricia Griffith, Richard’s trainer at Heritage Farm in New York. “But the partnership has really jelled now. She knows him and he knows exactly what she’s trying to tell him, and it can be super subtle now; all those great parts of a great hunter round. It really is beautiful to watch.”
Faith Schuttemeyer (Boynton Beach, Fla.) and Blue Tide (Toto x Toskana), a 2017 German Riding Pony owned by First Blue LLC, earned third place over fences to take reserve champion honors in the large greens and the 2024 USEF Green Pony Hunter Overall Reserve Grand Champion title. Kenzie Smith and Date Night (Valerius x Denver), a Dutch Riding Pony gelding, took second place over fences and finished in third place overall.
USEF Medium Green Pony Hunter National Championship
After a successful over fences performance combined with top scores in the model and under saddle, Susannah Morrell (Lakeland, Fla.) and Heartfirst returned to the center of the ring to receive the Medium Green Pony Hunter National Championship and lead the lap of honor.
Seventeen-year-old Morrell and Heartfirst (Clovercroft Polarized x Sassafras Creek), a 2017 Welsh Pony Cross mare owned by Bibby Farmer Hill and Donald Stewart, just began competing together this year, but have quickly developed a strong partnership. After earning two high scores in the model and under saddle classes Thursday morning, the talented duo laid down a beautiful round over fences. The judges awarded the pair a score of 510.46 for a total score of 1017.70, helping them secure the championship title out of a competitive group of 88 athletes.
Heartfelt is nicknamed Ms. Perfect, and Morrell expressed that she always lives up to that.
“She's always willing to do whatever you ask her to do," said Morrell. "She always wants to help and she always looks good doing it. Mainly with her you just have to stay straight. If you stay straight, she'll do anything!”
Morrell has been traveling to Pony Finals for six years and has loved every trip saying, “My favorite part is the over fences phase, and I love showing the Rolex Stadium!”
Dakota Zehler and Lost Boy earned the top prize in the over fences phase on Friday, earning a score of 519.46. Combined with their model and under saddle scores they earned a total score of 1009.32, which helped them secure the Medium Green Pony Hunter Reserve National Championship to close out the division in the Rolex Stadium. McKayla Brombach and Good Sport, a Connemara gelding owned by Capstone Farm, LLC, rounded out the top three for the division.
USEF Pony Jumper National Championship
The 2024 Pony Jumper National Championship Team Competition took place on Friday afternoon. The three-person team from for the combined Zones 2/3/4 took home the gold medal by finishing on just 16 faults. The team from Zone 8 was rewarded with a silver medal for their efforts over the two rounds of competition.
The team excitement played out in the Kentucky Horse Park's Claiborne Ring and featured competitive pony jumper athletes from all across the United States. A total of four teams competed in a two-round format, where athlete-and-pony combinations jumped a technical 12-effort track designed by Jasen Shelley. After all of the riders had completed their first round, the teams came back based on their score from round one, the highest number of faults going first.
Zones 2/3/4 had the early lead, with Melinda Slous (Redstone, N.J.) delivering a clear round on Twilight Van De Vrijboshoeve, while Kinser Vale with Praise On and Raines Gammon (Brookeville, Md.) with The Girl Next Door each lowered the height of a single fence for a team total of 8 faults. During the second round, Vale and Gammon each had clear rounds, while Slous had 8 faults to bring the team total to 16 faults and earn the gold medal.
All three riders made their Pony Finals debut this week and were thrilled with the experience as teammates despite never having met each other before.
“I didn't really know anyone at first, but they're really great girls and it was nice to meet them and ride with them as a team,” said 14-year-old Slous. “My first clear round was really good. My horse was on point and then he got a little tired in the second round, but he was still really good and he tried his best.”
Fourteen-year-old Gammon added, “I was a little nervous going into the first round and I made one little mistake at the second to last jump, but we fixed it in the second round. It was good. This was my first time being on a team and it was really fun and they're all really nice.”
Ten-year-old Vale of Williston, Fla., concluded, “It was also my first time on a team. I had fun learning what it's like, and these are two very good girls. I hope to meet up with them again in the future. Our first round was very good until we came up at jump eight – we had a little oopsie there, but then when we went into the second round and I made my pony wait and we got over that jump just fine!”
The team from Zones 2/3/4 was led by Chef d’Euipe Aaron Vale, who would love to see the pony jumper division continue to grow.
“There were a few of them out there that were quite gritty and showed some potential,” he noted. “Hopefully the pony jumper program gets more interest in the future because there were some that kind of impressed you with what they can do going forward.”
After the conclusion of the competition, the team athletes were escorted back into the rings where they took to the podium to receive their medals, cheered on by their friends and family. The silver medal team from Zone 8 included Zahara Henderson with Star Wish, Elina Liebert with Diarado Des Cibaudes, and Haley Honegger with High Dream N under the direction of Chef d'Equipe Alexia Honegger.
Individual jumping finals will take place on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. in the Claiborne Ring to conclude the 2024 Pony Jumper National Championship.
USEF Large Regular Pony Hunter National Championship
The large regular ponies had the final classes in the model and under saddle rings for this year’s Pony Finals. The 134-entries strong division saw some impressive performances and is currently led by Grace Stenbeck-Werner (North Salem, N.Y.) and Prestige (Ive Van De Delthoeve x Bichette Du Moulin De Pierres), a 2011 Belgian Riding Pony gelding owned by Swede Venture LLC. The pair won first place in the model and fifth in the under saddle.
The second spot on the leaderboard currently belongs to Bridget Harris (New York, N.Y.) and Brighton (Charivari x Clara), Wolver Hollow’s 2009 Deutches Reitpony gelding, after their second-place finish in the under saddle and seventh in the model. Katherine Mercer (Wellington, Fla.) and Take 3 LLC’s Goldmark, a 2015 Dutch Warmblood gelding, hold the third spot heading into the final day of hunter competition on Saturday.
Competition Information
Schedule and Results | USEF Pony Finals Event Page
2024 Pony Finals Livestream
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