Katie Deaner knows the sting of getting close—but not quite there.

The 17-year-old from Nazareth, Pennsylvania, has dreamed of riding at USEF Pony Finals since she was little. But twice circumstances outside of her control thwarted her attempts to make it to the competition.

Next week, that changes.

After years of waiting, working and watching from afar, Deaner is finally making her Pony Finals debut, and she’s doing it on Blueberry, a 10-year-old Oldenburg mare (Bodyguard–Foxy Rabbit) bred by Cassie Mahoney and born at her owner Jennifer Horner’s Mane Line Stables in Pennsylvania.

It’s been a long road to get there. Deaner’s childhood pony, Spice, took her from the crossrails to the children’s ponies before moving on to teach other young riders to jump. Deaner has also been riding in Interscholastic Equestrian Association for the past six years and currently serves as team captain, and she’s as enthusiastic about spending time with her mounts while she’s off them as on.

In 2020 Deaner applied for the USHJA Gochman Grant, which funds a trip to Pony Finals for a first timer, but she wasn’t accepted. Her longtime trainer, Laura Zaharek, at Heritage Hills Show Stables, arranged a lease on a small green pony named Picturesque Caramel. The pony had previously qualified for Pony Finals with another rider but had spent the early months of the COVID-19 shutdown turned out in a field, unridden.

Deaner dove headfirst into the work. She watched every professional ride, showed up for every barn chore and worked tirelessly to bring “Caramel” back into shape. But as the team was loading up the trailer for the drive to Lexington, the event was canceled due to the pandemic—and the lease for Caramel ended.

That would have been enough to discourage many riders, but not Deaner. In the years that followed, she became a familiar face in many barns in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. She catch rode for multiple trainers, piloted green ponies in sale videos and pitched in wherever help was needed.

In the spring of 2024, Deaner earned a working student position at Topline Imports LLC at the Winter Equestrian Festival (Florida). Rather than being handed prepped, groomed and tacked-up ponies, Deaner was bathing, wrapping, grooming and schooling horses. One green pony she rode started the circuit struggling with lead changes in the 2’3” USHJA division. By the end of the circuit, they’d improved dramatically and even won a green pony hunter classic. Deaner looked forward to showing the pony at Pony Finals.

But Deaner was dealt another unlucky hand three weeks before the 2024 Pony Finals when she learned the pony wasn’t eligible to show.

“Since that was my second heartbreak with Pony Finals and since Pony Finals has been my dream since I can remember, I think that kind of set something off in me,” Deaner said. “I told myself, ‘OK, 2025 is my year. I’m going to do whatever it takes to get there.’ Even if the pony’s the hardest in the world, I’m going. I think it almost motivated me more to keep going and find more opportunities to be able to show.”

Now, that goal is becoming a reality, and at 2025 Pony Finals Deaner will ride Blueberry in the large green division.

Blueberry is the first pony from Horner’s program to qualify for Pony Finals, a distinction made all the more meaningful by the fact that she’s getting there with a rider who’s spent her junior career earning every ride she’s had.

Horner purchased Blueberry’s dam, Foxy Rabbit, already in foal, with the goal of producing a future Pony Finals contender. Blueberry was born on Feb. 5, 2015, and her early show career hinted at promise when she earned good ribbons on the line and won Pennsylvania-registered young hunter under saddle class at Devon (Pennsylvania) as a 4-year-old.

Blueberry stayed green longer than expected, not for lack of ability, but while waiting for the right rider. That match came in spring 2024, when Deaner began catch riding the mare under the guidance of trainer Marissa Cohen, with whom she had been working since 2023.

“Katie came to my farm to school, and I could tell immediately she was very eager,” Cohen said. “She went right to the brushes to get a pony ready for a lesson, and she asked a bunch of important questions. Anytime we went to horse shows, she always asked if we needed any other help, so she was very eager to learn.

“She’s one of the hardest-working kids I’ve ever met,” she continued. “She’s not afraid to get her hands dirty, and she genuinely wants to learn—not just about riding, but about horsemanship.”

Deaner showed Blueberry once in spring 2024, then the mare took time off from the show ring to develop further at home. She was still green and a bit weak behind, so Horner and Cohen focused the rest of that year on strengthening her and building her confidence.

Deaner was a big part of the process, riding whenever she could and watching videos when she couldn’t be in the tack. The two developed slowly but steadily and gained experience in the children’s pony division.

“[Cohen and Horner] really helped me a lot with my confidence with Blueberry,” Deaner said. “They’ve done a lot with the pony, and I can only take half-credit… They do over half the work of getting her prepared for the show ring.”

In February 2025, the pair debuted in the large green pony division at World Equestrian Center—Ohio. They didn’t earn any tricolors the first week, but Deaner didn’t need a ribbon to know something had clicked. The following week, they came home as reserve champions.

“I think just going through that first round and being able to take a breath and just being like, ‘OK, we got it, we’re going to be able to make it,’ ’” Deaner said.

The second tricolor qualifying Blueberry for Pony Finals was at St. Christopher’s (Pennsylvania) in May, where Deamer also earned Best Child Rider on a Pony honors.

Deaner describes Blueberry as sweet, forgiving and eager to please.

“She’s just the most awesome pony,” Deaner said. “She loves the kids. She’ll cuddle with you, she wants to give kisses, she’ll jump anything you point her at. I think that’s why we go so well together. We both want to get better.”

Outside of the show ring, Deaner balances a busy schedule. She transitioned to online school this spring to maximize her riding time and regularly rides for multiple trainers, sometimes riding at two or three barns a day. Deaner still has one more year of junior eligibility, and she has been in contact with collegiate programs. In the future, she plans to train and sell ponies and pay it forward to young riders like herself, those with passion but not necessarily resources.

“I want to be able to give rides to kids who maybe don’t have the funds just to give back some of what I was lucky enough to get,” she said.