Fifteen-year-old Patty Baker topped an illustrious field to win the Best Pony Rider title at the Northeast Benefit Horse Show, held June 28-July 2 in Northampton, Mass. Baker, who trains with Abbi Seley Ferrigno at Rabbit Hill Farm in Newtown, Conn., also claimed the large pony hunter tricolor aboard Mapleside Blue Smoke, known around the barn as “Lilly.”

For Baker, the victory capped off a year of sheer hard work. “Lilly has been my project,” she said of the gray, Thoroughbred-Welsh mare. “She was very nervous about everything when I first got her. Now she is so relaxed. She has really turned around. She is so fancy, and she’s an awesome mover and jumper. And, she has a great personality!”

Ferrigno has been training Baker for 21³2 years. “Patty is very, very dedicated,” she said. “She comes to the barn every day and will ride eight ponies if I ask her to. She never complains. She will ride with the little kids and helps everyone else with their ponies. Patty really is the unsung hero of our barn.”

Baker was not the only Rabbit Hill student to shine at Northeast Benefit. Madeline McDermott, 10, picked up the reserve cham-pionship in the medium pony hunter division aboard her 13.1-hand, chestnut Welsh gelding, Clovercroft Cinnabunny.

“Madeline has only been showing since February,” said Ferrigno. “We put her right into the pony hunters. She’s a super hard working kid.” McDermott and Clovercroft Cinnabunny, a.k.a. “Coach,” also compete in the green pony hunter division, where they are currently leading the Zone 1 standings.

Another of Ferrigno’s students, 9-year-old Cailah Carroll, dominated the small pony division. Carroll earned championship honors with a catch ride on Katelyn Krolick’s Highland’s Night Light and clinched the reserve tricolor aboard her own pony, Clovercroft Strawbunny. Carroll also won the USEF Pony Medal class aboard Highland’s Night Light, also known as “Billy.”

“This was actually only Cailah’s third time riding Billy,” said June Gillis-Ahern, who trains Krolick and her ponies from Victory Stables, Inc. in Stoughton, Mass. “She has been catch riding him for Katie as we try and sell him. Katie has a few other ponies she is showing, so it worked out that Cailah could do him at some of the shows. It’s a super match–she loves him and he knows it!”

Carroll may show the 12.1-hand, chestnut gelding at Pony Finals if he is not sold by then.

Carroll’s success didn’t surprise her trainer. “Cailah is here at the barn from dawn ’til dusk,” said Ferrigno. “She rides all types of ponies. She says she wants to be famous, and I think she will be.”

Krolick also had a great show, earning ribbons in the small pony hunters aboard her new pony, Sapphire. Krolick purchased the 12.1-hand gray mare from Janet Sassmanhausen this past April and has already won a championship at the Shallowbrook horse show (Conn.).

“Sapphire has her own rhythm and jumps like a junior hunter,” said Gillis-Ahern. “We’ve spent a lot of time working on the flat, finding a rhythm with her canter and smoothing it out at the ends of the ring. She and Katie have really started to click.”

Sarah Warden clinched both the short stirrup hunter championship and the short stirrup medal aboard her large pony, Wood-land’s Moon Fox. Warden and “Foxy,” who have been together a mere three months, train with Kathy Haas of Rising Star Equestrian Center in Medway, Mass.

“Sarah’s great,” said Haas. “She is pretty driven for a girl her age. She works hard, and she is very clever.”

Both Warden and Woodland’s Moon Fox seem to enjoy showing. “They perform better at shows than at home,” said Haas. “They enjoy the spotlight.”

The pony, a 14-year-old, dark bay gelding, had considerable success in the show ring with his previous owner, Lindsey Davitt. The pair clinched the Zone 1 Children’s Hunter Pony championship in 2004 under trainer Amy Eidson. According to Haas, “Foxy” has been selected for inclusion in the Massachusetts Horsemen’s Council’s upcoming show hunter Hall of Fame.

Warden’s barn mate, 11-year-old Allison Joyce, won the 11 and under equitation cham-pionship aboard Haas’ dark bay Holsteiner, Mozart, and topped the Marshall & Sterling class with her own mount, Priceless Treasure.

“Allie is one of the most mature kids I have ever worked with,” said Haas. “She even organizes barn activities for the other kids.”

Jane Lin, also of Rising Star, won the adult Marshall & Sterling and was reserve champion in the adult amateur hunter, 36 and over, division aboard her Selle Franç¡©s mare, Domino.

Lauren Horth, 15, was named Best Child Rider and topped the junior hunter division aboard her bay gelding, Carpe Diem. The pair train with the mother-daughter team of Sally and Christine Hart at Overmeade Farm in Lenox, Mass. Horth has been riding at Overmeade since she was 6.

“Lauren works very hard,” said Christine Hart. “She takes five lessons per week and rides seven days per week. Her horse is still a bit green, so she has to work harder than most of the other kids.”

Carpe Diem, a 7-year-old warmblood, “is just fantastic,” said Hart. “We brought him up through the 3’6″ divisions. He’s so talented, and still so young. We were lucky to find him.”