Whenever the winning teams were announced at the U.S. Pony Club National Championships at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, July 19-23, odds were favorable that the gleeful group accepting the prize was from the Maryland Region.

The 20-club region dominated the championships, taking first prize in the modified show jumping, junior games, senior games, training-level eventing, and training-level dressage divisions.

It was a last-minute “change of plans” that set up the Maryland modified show jumping team’s riders–Lauren Marshall, Ellen Halle, Tracey Gold, and Lisa LeVan–with experienced horse manager Krista Lynn Innerst, who led the team to win the horse management competition as well as the overall title.

Innerst, who had won the horse management award at the USPC championships for the past four years, was planning to ride her pony this year. But when the mare was six weeks late delivering her foal this spring, there was not enough time to prepare. Nonetheless, Innerst, a 21-year-old C-3 from Glennville, Va., reveled in her horse care role, making her last year in Pony Club memorable.

“They proved that horse management judges can be really nice!” said Innerst.

Halle, 12, also had a last-minute change of plans when her horse suffered an injury right before tryouts for the championships. But Halle clicked immediately with her borrowed mount, Touched By An Angel, leading the team with five clean rounds. She also posted the fastest jump-off time.

“It showed how Pony Club can work,” said Halle, a C-1 from Upperco, Md. “Pony Club teaches the riding skills you need to ride different horses.”

Despite being a scramble team, the regular show jumping winners from Middle California/Sierra Pacific–Julia Mach, Devon McKnight, Kristy Stapleton, Christina Brennan and Caitlin Gutoff–for the most part had the luxury of familiarity. Brennan was the only member from Sierra Pacific, and Mach and Staple-ton had been on a team together at last year’s Western USPC Championships.

“It helps to have a close relationship with the team because then you don’t have to deal with all the personal stuff,” said Gutoff, a 16-year-old C-1 from Moss Beach, Calif.

Although their jumping performances were consistent enough to claim the overall title by almost 3 points, they were lucky to overcome a major horse management deficit from the first day of competition.

“We were really smart and left every single one of our [stable] fans on the first night,” said Mach wryly. “It dropped us into last place [in horse management], and we kind of stayed there!” added the 17-year-old B from Orinda, Calif.

But their strong performances over fences, including Stapleton’s win in the equitation round, secured the team’s victory.

Scrambling For The Weather

Another scramble team that put together a win was Capital/Delmarva/Eastern Pennsylvania/ Midsouth, who topped the preliminary eventing division. Composed of Lisa Smith, Alexandra Holden, Marty Whitehouse, Julie Walton and Charlotte Cote, the group relied on three dressage scores in the 30s and two clean cross-country rounds for the victory. And despite not having a chance to bond before arriving to set up, they developed a team chemistry.

“We got along really well for a scramble team. We thought the same way when it got to horse management,” said team captain
Smith, 19.

Although the team had members stretching from four regions, they had one member with a home court advantage. “[White-house] lives 20 minutes from the horse park and brought everything that goes in the tackroom,” said Smith, a C-3 from Gaithersburg, Md., who was attending her fifth Pony Club championship.

The team also had to outmaneuver some scheduling difficulties and inclement weather to hang on. The preliminary cross-country phase, originally scheduled to begin at 7:30 a.m., began at 4:30 p.m. after a spectacular morning thunderstorm rendered the preliminary course initially unrideable.

“It keeps you on your toes,” laughed Smith. “But we survived. We pulled it off.”

Being a scramble team, they said they didn’t know they were going to have a horse manager until they arrived at the rally. But the addition of Cote to the team was certainly better late than never, since she recruited the training-level team from her home region of Eastern Pennsylvania to help her squad cool down after the preliminary cross-country.

To their surprise, the Maryland region–Courtney Sendak, Joanna Faircloth, Emily Southworth, Katie Collison and Nicole Coffey–coasted to victory on their dressage scores, instead of relying on their cross-country scores, in the training level eventing championship.

“Dressage was surprising because for most of us it’s not our strong point. We were kind of amazed,” said Southworth, a 17-year-old C-3 from Howard County, Md.

The team members, who had sported stylish garbage-bag raincoats to weather the cross-country day storm, also credited the stringent horse management standards of the Maryland Region for helping them handle the horsemanship tests. They combined those skills with rock-solid team work and an eye to keeping everything fun.

“All our personalities just meshed together,” said Southworth. “We didn’t come here to win. We just came here to have fun.”

Teamwork also sealed the novice eventing win for the Metropolitan/ New York-Upper Connecticut team of Abby Meyers, Cristin Swords, Kelsey Nickerson, Caitlin Heller and Nicole Javaly.

“You really come to find how important teamwork is. When things go wrong, you have someone to back you up, and that was probably the most rewarding part of it,” said Meyers, who laid down the lowest dressage score of the novice division, but then was eliminated on the slippery cross-country course.

“My teammates were the ones who had to come through and step it up a little bit,” added the 18-year old C-2 from Wilton, Conn.
Having a considerable lead after the dressage kept the pressure on to stay in front through the showjumping. “We were praying each jumping day that everything would go well,” said Swords, 18, a C-3, also from Wilton. “We had the pressure each day of knowing we had to keep our lead.”

“We decided we should just ride like we always do and not think about it, and everything worked out,” she added.

Welcome Surprises

The first-level dressage team from Virginia–Brittany Hillner, Heather Cline, Kara Santmyer, Ross Drohan and Elle Chasen–knew they’d produced some excellent rides, but when they were called up to the podium last to collect the blue, it was a welcome surprise.
“We knew we were near the top, but we didn’t know we were first,” said Hillner, 19, a B from Crozier, Va. “We just kept expecting the next team was going to be us. Then they got to second place and didn’t call us!”

Horse management also proved memorable for Hillner. She came to the rally with a well-worn pair of riding boots that were in good repair, but sported several holes. Initially she thought her team was going to lose points over the boots. But later she was called to the horse management of-fice and was handed a brand new pair of boots in her size instead. She was told only that they were a donation to Pony Club.

“I don’t know anything more than that,” she said. “They knew that I couldn’t pay for a $450 pair of boots right now. I’m a poor college student. That was a wonderful surprise.”

The training-level dressage winners from Maryland–Lauren Smith, Meredith Baker, Katelyn Rubright, Gabrielle Mathias and Alissa Hayward–tried to avoid surprises in Kentucky by holding a two-day training camp. With the help of team organizer Catharine Holden, the girls worked feverishly to perfect their tests.

Those efforts, combined with excellent horse management, brought the win. “Every-one contributed something different to the team,” said Rubright, a 19-year-old C-1 from Ellicott City, Md.

“It was tiring but a lot of fun,” added horse manager Hayward, 15, a C-2 from Columbia, Md.

To keep the preparations fun, the winning quadrille team from the Metropolitan region–Samantha Sedgwick, Erica Hill, Maggie Johnson, Mason C. Jager and Booli Selmayr–got creative.

“We ran the patterns on foot with each other,” said Sedgwick, a 15-year-old C-2 from Westport, Conn.

The team overcame a mediocre test the first day that left them in sixth place. “Our first ride we weren’t very happy with,” said Sedgwick. But a flawless second test vaulted them into the lead. “We’d practiced it more. It was a much harder test,” she said.

Still, the week’s biggest challenge was simultaneously presenting four pristine
horses for formal inspections.

“Instead of just having one horse to get ready at a time, all four of us had to be ready,” said Sedgwick.

Although the scramble team from Eastern Pennsylvania/Great Lakes/Middle California/ Southwest didn’t know they were going to have a team until the day before the start of the championships, they overcame their surprise and rode off with the upper-level dressage win.

Team members Jess Brumfield, Rachel Verwys, Kelly Gormley, Rachel Dwyer and Ginny Sullivan were also extremely practical about introductions.

“We got to know each other by sitting around and cleaning tack,” said Dwyer, a 16-year-old C-2 from Clovis, Calif.

Being on a scramble team also made the rally a more interesting experience, said Verwys, of Grand Rapids, Mich. “When you already know everybody on the team, then you tend to just hang out with them,” said the 19-year-old C-2. “When you’re on a scramble team, it makes you meet new people.”

International Flavor

While the members of the winning international games team from Great Britain hailed from all around the United Kingdom, they quickly cemented their relationship and squeaked out the win.

“It was really hard, but it was really good fun!” exclaimed an out-of-breath Sarah Peck, 15, who joined with Gareth McCombe, Andrew Lightbody, Megan Jones and Karen Dowey to make up the team.

The entire competition came down to the final pole-bending race, and when a member of Australia cut a pole too close, it heart-breakingly teetered, then fell, giving Britain time to race across the finish and take the overall victory. And that was a moment that could not be topped, said McCombe, from Northern Ireland.

“Winning is always the best part!” he enthused.

It was also a very close victory for the winning junior games team. The Maryland “Love Bugs”–Regan Whitehair, Jackie Stewart, Ashleigh Shemer, Brea Calhoun and Leah Mitchell–topped the division by less than a point.

The team, which had practiced on and off together leading up to the rally, rebounded from a slow start on the first day that left them near the back of the pack. And, they had to overcome the always meticulous horse management judging.

“They really cracked down on us!” laughed Whitehair, 14, a C-2 from Purcellville, Va.

The “Freak N Hot” advanced games team from Virgina/Capital–Jonathan Hoke and Valerie Brown–showed the poise of experience during the horse management judging, helping them score the victory.

“We’ve all been in Pony Club for so long, we’re friends with the horse management judges,” said Brown, 19, a C-2 from Woodbine, Md.
Since Brown and Hoke have also been dating for two years, they know each other well. But unlike the junior team, they had a spectacular opening-day performance and had to try to hang on.

“We had a big lead to start with, and then it was slowly diminished,” said Hoke, 21, who was presented with a cooler in honor of his last Pony Club rally during the awards ceremony.

Hoke plans to continue riding games with Mounted Games Across America. “I think that games is great for riding. It makes you confident on a horse,” said the C-2 from Somerset Bay, Va.

Extra games riding with MGAA also helped the Maryland senior games team race off with a more than 20-point victory. Several “Wild Things” team members also ride on MGAA teams.

To cement their teamwork, Julia Hickok, Brett Calhoun, Stephanie Hickok, Alyssa Peterson and Katie Sunderland, practiced together for four weeks in a row before making the 14-hour trip to Kentucky. They also drove through the night to avoid the heat and keep their ponies in top form.

Despite a significant lead going into the last day, the Wild Things still had to tame their nerves to stay on top. “We were all nervous. We shook!” joked Hickok, 14, a C-2 from Upper Marlboro, Md.

A Little Help From Friends

Thanks to the generosity of a friend, Angie Binkerd ran, shot, rode and swam away with the senior girls tetrathlon title.

Binkerd, 17, was introduced to tetrathalon eight years ago by former senior girls champion Ursula Hummel. “She grabbed me when I was really little and told me I should try it. And she’s stuck with me ever since,” said Binkerd, Heber City, Utah. “She told me that before I was done, she was going to get me to win that [first prize] plate.”

Binkerd, who also borrows Hammel’s horse for the riding phase, enjoys the eclectic nature of tetrathlon. “It’s a break from other equine activities,” she said. “It’s not just horse-related.”
Next, she’ll be making the trip to England and Ireland in mid-August for the Pony Club’s international tetrathlon exchange.

Also on the exchange squad is senior boys winner Sam Sacksen. While Sacksen said his strongest phase is usually the run, which he dominated by more than 200 points at the championship, the 18-year-old from Somerset, Pa., was most impressed with the riding phase in Kentucky.

“The course was awesome this year. It was more challenging than in years past,” he said. “It really made you sit up and think.”

Junior girls winner Geriann Henderson, 15, from Vernalis, Calif., aspires to make an international team when she graduates to the senior division. But for now she’s just enjoying her success at the junior level.

“It was a lot of work, but it was fun,” said Henderson, who started tetrathlon when she was 11. “It was really a challenge.”

In his second year as a tetrathlete, August Torsileri took home the blue ribbon in the junior boys division.

Torsileri, whose favorite part is riding, also spent plenty of time preparing for the other phases. “I just kept running and
swimming,” said the 15-year-old from Flemington, N.J.

Time spent practicing for the run allowed novice boys winner Nathan Pilla to best his usual running time by a whole minute. “This time I really upped my stuff,” he said.

Pilla, the only novice boy entered, usually rides his sister McKenzie’s horse. But because she was using him for eventing atthe championships, he had to ride a borrowed mount.

“That did drop my riding score a little bit,” said the 12-year-old D-3 from Minnesota. “I really wasn’t used to his jumping.”

Watching her older brother do tetrathlon got novice girls winner Christina Williams interested in the sport. Hailing from the arid lands of California, Williams, 12, was inspired by the lush Kentucky scenery during the run.

“It was pretty. It was all green, instead of like California, where it’s all brown,” she said.

The Aloha Spirit

For the first time ever, an entire team from Hawaii contested a riding discipline at the U.S. Pony Club National Championships. The team of Dana Ishii, Lorin Milotta, Kayla Fitzgerald, Kelly Reeves and Megan Thielst–all riding borrowed horses–took sixth in quadrille.

And while the riding may have been what they were used to, mainland-style horse care kept the girls guessing a little bit.

“We were so overwhelmed by everything. The [Kentucky Horse Park] is probably half the size of our island,” said Milotta, 18, a B from Wailua, Hawaii. “At the ranch where I board, we don’t even have stalls. We’ve been taken completely out of our comfort zone!”

But, thanks to the U.S. Pony Club spirit of hospitality, the team didn’t feel like a fish out of water for long. People loaned them any tack they needed and readily shared their expertise.

“It is nice to see the aloha spirit outside of Hawaii,” said Milotta with a smile.

The team members, who all ride together at the same barn and are members of the Na Lio Nani Oka Makani Pony Club, all felt fielding a team was an important step for Pony Clubs in the island state. Milotta said Hawaii’s five clubs often have trouble gathering the manpower needed to organize regional rallies.

“It just totally paves the way,” said Milotta. “It just makes everyone back home know that this is possible. When you’re young, you don’t see much beyond competing in Hawaii.”

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to let the kids know what to expect,” added Ishii, a 21-year-old C-3 from Sunset Beach, Hawaii, who was especially glad to make the trip because she’ll age out of Pony Club next year.