Lexington, Ky.—Aug. 8

The rider who shows last in the over fences class at USEF Pony Finals has a tough task. Sure, they’re lucky enough to lead the standings from the first two phases of competition, but they have to wait around all day in anticipation of their round, hoping that they hold it together in the ring. So when Finley Baras topped the standings heading into the final day of competition in the medium green pony hunter division with Qualen’s Mystical, she was feeling the pressure.

But she had another Pony Finals champion in her corner, giving her encouragement: her sister Logan Baras who won the small pony hunter title yesterday with This Time.

“I was really nervous, and she was like, ‘Don’t be nervous. You’re going to do great,’ ” recalled Finley, 14.

Her sister’s words proved prophetic, and Finley laid down a smooth round to claim third place over fences, the medium green pony hunter championship and the grand green pony hunter championship.

Samantha Smith and IDream topped the jumping class to earn the medium green pony reserve championship and the reserve grand green pony title for Orion Farm.

“He likes to know you’re there with him and that you’re not going to abandon him at the jump,” said Finley, Greenwich, Connecticut. “He just kind of needs someone just to help him around, because he’s still young.”

Finley paired up with the 7-year-old Welsh Pony cross (Maple Side Mr. Magic—Foxmor Ooh La La) recently. She’s good friends with Holly and Reagan Garrett, who own him, and they helped arrange the match.

“She showed him two weeks of [HITS Saugerties (New York)],” said Michael DelFiandra, who trains Finley along with the rest of the Grafton Ridge team. “Then we went home for an off week before we came here, and he came home with us for the week, so we could kind of play with them, so she got to know him a little bit more.”

DelFiandra said that Finley has developed her mental game in the time they’ve been working together.

“She’s shown so much growth over these past two years,” said DelFiandra. “She came first year we came and we had small ponies, and we were 11 and wanted it so bad, but couldn’t figure out how to control our emotions quite yet on that part of things. She’s just shown so much maturity this year.

“It’s very much about getting her head in the right place,” he added. “We always say, focus on the good riding, the result will follow. Even today, I said to her, before he’s a green pony, your other ponies have been here, done that. They know what they’re doing. You need to show him how to be a good pony now. So that’s what she went out there focusing on, and she showed it.”

Mufasa Is King Of The Large Green Ponies

Sienna Rossano didn’t have a long time to get to know large green pony Mufasa. In fact, she just had one horse show at Brownland Farm (Tennessee) on the pony before Pony Finals to get to know him, and that was in April.

But that didn’t stop her from putting in a stellar over fences round today to climb the large green pony hunter standings from ninth to first. Orchard Zweed and Charlotte Morassutti claimed the reserve green pony title.

When it was her turn to challenge the over fences class, Rossano, of Fishers, Indiana, zoned in and focused on “Muf.”

“He drifts a little left, so I focused on blocking that side,” said Rossano, 13. “When I found the distance [to the last jump] it was a relief.”

Cara Cheska of Cheska Inc. has coached Rossano for the last four years.

“She was teeny, teeny, teeny, and so it’s been fun to teach her on the different animals,” said Cheska. “She does ponies, and now she’s starting to do the jumpers and some horses, and I think that [experience is] carrying over with her great riding. To hop on a pony she’s only shown once before, and walk in there under this kind of pressure—and when you know you’re on the winner—she has nerves of steel.”

The pony’s trainers—Stephen Long, Devan Cottrell, Anna Schierholz and Matt Piccolo—work with Muf’s owner Julian Steward, 9. Steward just competed at his first Pony Finals and he will take over the ride on Muf when the 6-year-old warmblood (Coer Noble—Ma Jolie) is a bit more confirmed. Schierholz said the pony was a stallion until about a year and a half ago.

“He has the right amount of machismo,” said Cottrell. “He wants to win. You can feel it.

“It’s hard to pass up a horse who gives you that feeling,” he added.

Find results here.

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