Harrisburg, Pennsylvania—Oct. 12

Grace Stenbeck-Werner and Prestige have been on a roll this season. Her wins include the grand and large pony hunter titles at USEF Pony Finals (Kentucky) and the large pony hunter stake at Devon (Pennsylvania), and shortly before coming to the Pennsylvania National they won the WCHR Pony Challenge at Capital Challenge (Maryland). So the pressure was on to continue her winning streak in Harrisburg.

And they did just that. Stenbeck-Werner, 11, guided the 14-year-old Belgian Riding Pony (Ive Van De Delthoeve—Bichette Du Moulin De Pierres) to a first and two seconds over fences, plus a red ribbon in the under saddle to win not only the large pony championship but the grand pony hunter title to boot. Kenzie Smith and On Tour picked up the reserve title.

It’s Stenbeck-Werner’s third time at the Pennsylvania National, and her second year winning a tricolor there, having won the medium pony hunter title last year with Cleverist.

“He is very, very comfortable,” said Stenbeck-Werner of riding Presitge. “He’s listens a lot so it’s very nice and when I walk in the ring I know he’s going to listen to me so I feel very confident.”

Prestige lives at Stenbeck-Werner’s farm in North Salem, New York, and trains under the guidance of Maddie Flocks, and her show trainer David Belford comes to visit from Ohio once or twice a month when they’re not at competitions. Stenbeck-Werner has been riding him for about two years.

“In the barn, he’s very nice,” she said. “Once he finds his person he’s very attached to them, so you always have to be with him and if you’re with another pony he goes crazy. But he’s the sweetest and he loves cuddles. We call him ‘Prince’ and he’s the prince of the barn.

“At home, we practice a lot of outside leg,” she added. “He’s really easy, so it’s just staying consistent.”

Belford said Prince is a one-in-a-million pony.

“It’s not very often they’re a unicorn and have a halo,” he said.

Editorial Writes A Winning Chapter

Cisy Zhou couldn’t have had a much better trip to Pennsylvania National. She rode her own Editorial to the medium pony hunter title over Lilly Ward and Woodlands Corduroy, and the judges rewarded her with Best Child Rider On A Pony honors.

Even more impressive is that Editorial is just 6 years old and still in his green year, making his indoors debut this year.

“He was imported by David Raposa,” said Zhou’s trainer Patricia Griffith. “We left him at home that winter and developed him and then we broke his green year December of this year, so he’s 6. He did the greens at Pony Finals. This is his first time at indoors.”

Zhou guided “GQ,” a New Forest pony of unrecorded breeding, to two wins to take the division title.

“He’s really fun to ride,” said Zhou, 10. “He has a really strong left drift but he always does his best. He always puts 100% into his jump and his lines, his lead change is automatic. He’s really sweet. In my lessons we really work on the left bulge for sure.”

GQ reminded Raposa of superpony Vanity Fair, who dominated the pony ranks a decade and a half ago, prompting him to give GQ a magazine related moniker. That also inspired his show name, Editorial.

“Theres something Vanity Fair about him, the way he looks and the plain brown so that’s how that came to be,” said Griffith.

Zhou lives in New York City, and it takes between an hour and an hour and a half to get to Heritage Farms in Katonah, New York, to ride. While she has several ponies, GQ has a special place in her heart.

“He’s really sweet, he loves to take naps every single day so I can just walk right in,” she said. “He’s so brave for a 6 year old, he doesn’t spook at all, he’s never refused, he goes right into the ring. We had my trainers ride him and train him, and then I come on the weekend. He’s my first green pony. It’s a little different [to ride a green pony] but he’s really made up especially for his age.”

Korotkin Achieves A Dream

Even before she started showing at the Pennsylvania National, Carsyn Korotkin was a regular at the horse show, thanks to coming from a horse show family.

“This is my favorite show ever,” said Korotkin, 13. “It will always be my favorite. I’ve been coming here since I was 6 and watching my brother [Tanner Korotkin ride in Dover Saddlery/USEF] Medal Finals and all that stuff. It’s always been my biggest dream to win here.”

Carsyn achieved that with a little help from a small pony named Pepsi, owned by Lily Epstein. Together they won the small pony hunter championship over Clovermeade Heartthrob and Reilly Robertson. That had Carsyn grinning from ear to ear, especially coming off a few mistakes at her last horse show.

“The second day [of Capital Challenge] I kind of cracked under pressure but I got all the kinks out so I was ready to come here,” she said. “I just wanted to be prepared.

“He’s very soft, [so you have to be] light in your seat, and if you’re going to sink in do it soft,” she said. “[You need] soft hands; you can’t be handsy. He’s very particular.”

Carsyn, who trains with Ali Sweetnam and the team at Sweet Oak Farms as well as her father Alan Korotkin and the team at Castlewood Farm, started riding Pepsi, a 10-year-old Welsh pony (Goldhills Master Bronze—Silvandra’s Classy Chassis), two years ago. At 13 Carsyn is aging out of the small ponies this year, so the Washington International (Maryland) will be her final competition with him.

“Even when we first started we were getting mid 80s,” she said. “It was pretty good from the start, and now all of the sudden getting low to mid 90s, its unreal. I never thought I would ever be this consistent.

“Our last round will be the [WIHS Pony Equitation Final], ” she continued. “After that Lucy Sweetnam is actually going to get him and I’m very excited for her. I’ll get to see him all the time and hopefully get to do some under saddles and stuff on him.”

Get horse show results here. Follow along with all the news from the Pennsylvania National here. Check out the November issue of The Chronicle of the Horse magazine for full analysis from the horse show.