As the Devon Horse Show (Pa.) approaches on May 27-June 4, I find myself thinking back to the many years I attended this wonderful show as a trainer of junior riders and the great memories I have of competing “Where Champions Meet.”

For a long time, I was known as a “pony person,” and it’s a title I’m proud to have earned. I began my training career in the pony ring with young riders who had dreams in their eyes and aspirations of competing at shows like Devon and the fall indoor circuit.

I can still remember my first win as a trainer at Devon. A relatively unknown young rider named Holly Sorensen and her kind and patient pony, Chimney Sweep, captured the medium pony stake class against many older and more seasoned campaigners. This was the beginning of a successful junior career for Holly, and for her sister Jordan, riding the wonderful mounts provided by their very supportive parents, Maxine and Les.

It was also the beginning of my career at the AA-rated level of the sport. I can still remember the nervous, yet exhilarating feeling you get when competing at these venues, a feeling that’s never gone away for me.

Now the venues have changed as my career path has led me to the jumper ring and to the American Invitational (Fla.), to Europe, and this summer to Spruce Meadows (Alta.). If you’re lucky in your career as a horseman, this feeling of excitement follows you from the beginning at local shows all the way to your final goal, whatever level that may be.

Pony riding is the foundation of our sport. The pony ring is the place for riders to develop their skills and test themselves against each other. And it’s a place for trainers to develop their skills and establish their own training programs and teaching methods.

Everything I learned from my pony years has helped me with my hunters and jumpers. What incredible teachers our ponies become. Not only do ponies teach their riders the skills necessary to pilot them around the course, but they also teach them life lessons.

You know, ponies seem to last forever, and I believe that’s because they all have a little devilish side to them. It’s what keeps them interested in their job and makes them survivors. Plus, every couple of years they get to teach another youngster the ropes and have a little fun of their own.

Ponies often become a child’s friend, sometimes their best friend. You can tell them anything, and they’ll offer an understanding ear without being judgmental. And they’re usually adventurous enough to go anywhere and do anything their riders have in mind. Just look at how the riders dress up their ponies during the hunt teams competition at Devon. One look and you know they’re all saints.

One of the most important benefits a pony brings is offering a child the opportunity to be better prepared for life. Aside from the riding element, the partnership with a pony can build self-esteem and confidence. A good-natured pony, combined with a good instructor, can prove to be the best teacher a child (and parent) can have when it comes to life lessons.

The instructor provides the structure for the child to learn the responsibility of caring for their mount, and the process offers numerous opportunities for riders to learn the patience, tact and empathy that will help them navigate through life.

With their devilish side, ponies teach you early on that being tactful gets you a lot further than being a bully. A pony can be just as much of a bully as you can, and he outweighs you and has the street smarts to out-maneuver you.

But to me the most important lessons ponies teach you are to be responsible and to have empathy for your pony and your fellow man. A pony relies on his caretaker for all his needs, much like a child relies on a parent. So, in essence, the child becomes the responsible party or parent to the pony. Thankfully, there is usually an adult to oversee everything.

Done properly, children learn to feel what the pony feels, and they transfer this skill to their interactions with other humans and other equines. To become a true horseman, a rider must have these qualities and be able to feel what their mount feels and get inside his head. Spending hours with a pony helps develop these skills so that they’re as natural to a rider as breathing.

This brings us to the foundation of a pony rider’s education. In January, George Morris wrote a superb Between Rounds column on the position of hunter riders in America (Jan. 7, p. 8). Just looking at the photos of those riders from 50 years ago shows how we have allowed ourselves to drift away from the solid basics of proper riding.

Form equals function, and a proper position encourages an animal to perform to the best of its ability. This was very apparent at last month’s AHJF European/ American Hunter Challenge at the FEI World Cup in Las Vegas (see May 6, p. 24). The European jumper riders took home the top honors in this hunter competition. While this wasn’t an equitation class, their style was superb, and they gave the audience a brilliant riding lesson.

So often we hear how different jumper and hunter riding are, but these jumper riders showed everyone that good basics and proper position are a universal benefit, no matter which ring you’re in.

In order to promote proper riding, we need to take advantage of the pony ring to develop correct basics and instill these traits in our young riders. As a hunter/jumper community, we need to develop a plan to help young trainers to further their education in a non-confrontational environment, so that they can develop their riders properly. This plan would be the beginning of our instructor’s certification program, which would be voluntary and offer continuing educational opportunities for hunter and jumper equestrians.

Right now, the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association’s Trainers Committee is hard at work on a mentoring program for both riders and trainers, to offer young equestrians the opportunity to learn from established professionals.

We’re very fortunate in this country to have so many different opportunities to interact with ponies. Whatever your interest may be, you can usually find ponies involved, in hunters, jumpers, driving, showing in-hand, eventing, hunting, dressage, Pony Club, or another equestrian interest.

Those of us competing in the hunter and jumper disciplines have an incredible competition each summer that brings together more than 500 ponies and riders from all over the USA–the USEF Pony Finals.

Pony Finals is a huge melting pot that provides a great opportunity for both pony riders and trainers to see competitors they’ve only read or heard about, to watch each other and their trainers, and to learn from them. Pony Finals builds friendships and fosters teamwork and camaraderie in a competitive atmosphere, in addition to all the wonderful goodies the riders take home courtesy of the sponsors and USEF.

Pony Finals also provides the single greatest lesson in sportsmanship available to our pony competitors. Sometimes we forget how important it is to teach our students good sportsmanship, but as trainers we need to set an example. The reality is that you won’t always get a prize, but the satisfaction of doing your personal best and being a gracious competitor is what’s important.

After being involved in the evolution of the Pony Finals by serving as co-chairman of the Pony Committee for five years, my friend Alvin Topping and I have stepped aside so that Mindy Darst and Sissie Anderton can capably take over. I’m eagerly anticipating their leadership and the future evolution of the Pony Finals.

As more ponies and riders attend this championship, Mindy and Sissie will be looking for new, innovative ways to keep the Pony Finals fun, fresh, and of the highest caliber. I hope all of you in the pony world will support and help these two energetic horsewomen in their mission.