Throughout the summer, more than 160 athletes participated in 10 regional training sessions held nationwide, receiving invaluable education over the course of five days with mounted and unmounted instruction. Based on the recommendations of the riding and stable management clinicians, 16 athletes and five stable managers are selected to attend the National Training Session each year.

Riders at the National Training Session will vie for the title of champion and a $3,000 grant to be applied toward the cost of advanced training based on their performance in the riding and stable management sessions throughout the week. Congratulations to the following athletes and stable managers on being selected to participate in this year’s National Training Session:

Athletes

• Elliette Baker of Versailles, Kentucky
• Caroline Barclay of Roswell, Georgia
• Reese Dorsey of Parkton, Maryland
• Simi Gibson of Denver
• Anna Huard of Howell, Michigan
• Jocelynn Johnson of Falls Church, Virginia
• Alyson Jones of Groveland, Florida
• Hunter Lewis of Denver
• Molly McKeon of Laguna Niguel, California
• Olivia McKinstry of Vernon, Connecticut
• Brooke O’Malley of Los Angeles
• Cristina Pinnow of Winston Salem, North Carolina
• Jillian Puthoff of Reno, Nevada
• Abigail Ringuette of Unionville, Connecticut
• Lauren Satola of Fulton, Maryland
• Finley Scheffel of Georgetown, Kentucky

Stable Managers

• Emmie Esplin of Diana, New York
• Avery Houser of Raleigh, North Carolina
• Abigail Karl of Mundelein, Illinois
• Lucy Mackowiak of Westerville, Ohio
• Carly Williams of Efland, North Carolina

EAP athletes will be closely observed and evaluated during all phases of the four-day national training session, including flatwork, gymnastics, related distances and coursework, an intensive stable-management curriculum, and through a written test that gauges the horsemanship knowledge each finalist has gained throughout the year. In addition to the competition, finalists will participate in joint educational seminars with USHJA Horsemanship Quiz Challenge Nationals, which is held concurrently.

One rider will be named the overall USHJA EAP National Champion and will receive a $3,000 grant to be applied toward the cost of advanced training, as well as a variety of additional products and gifts from USHJA sponsors. Additionally, the top two EAP finalists will receive a coveted riding spot at a USHJA Gold Star Clinic within the next two years of their choice. Part of the USHJA Emerging Jumper Rider Program, these clinics offer horsemanship, stable management, mounted instruction and additional education from top clinicians and athletes.

For more information on the MZ Farms/USHJA Emerging Athletes Program National Training Session, visit ushja.org/EAP.

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Historically, Talent Search Finals competition has taken place over three days. This year, the first day will consist of the rider meeting, jog and a schooling class. The riding portion of the competition will be condensed into two days, with the flat and gymnastics taking place on the same day, with the jumping phase and work-off for the top four competitors taking place the following day.

The biggest change is to the flat and gymnastics phases. Previously, the judges had the flexibility to decide how to run the flat. Most years they utilized a traditional group flat class, however occasionally they used an individual test, similar to the National Collegiate Equestrian Association flat format, where riders perform specific movements in a set pattern. The specifications for 2025 call for the flat test to be performed individually. In that test, “each athlete will demonstrate a set number of flat exercises to prepare their horse for the gymnastic phase, which will follow directly after their completion of the flat.”

Though riders will remain the ring for both phases, they will still be scored separately.

“The Talent Search focus group felt this format would be more consistent with what an athlete could see or experience in their day-to-day training and/or practice of the flatwork skills needed to best prepare and educate horses aiming to jump at the grand prix level,” said Erin Keating, USEF director of jumper development programs. “The flatwork phase is always the foundation for the gymnastics phase, which is an important skill in building fitness and rideability at the championship level. The overall judging criteria for Talent Search remains the same as in past years, with the judges looking to identify athletes best demonstrating the talent and understanding of the foundations of classic riding across all three phases.”

There will be no change to the final day of competition, which starts with the jumping phase, followed by a jog for the top four horses, then the top four athletes will swap horses and tackle a shortened course to determine the winner.

Another change this year mandates a jog for all horses the day prior to the ridden portions of the schedule. Previously only the horses competing in the final four were asked to jog.  

“We felt it was important to make the change to include an inspection with the ground jury and veterinarians prior to the start of competition, which is more in alignment with a traditional jumping championship format,” Keating said.

This year, the East Coast final will take place Oct. 3-5 at the USET Foundation Headquarters in Gladstone, New Jersey, and it will be judged by Chris Kappler and Caitlin Venezia White. The West Coast final will run Nov. 7-9 at Desert International Horse Park in Thermal, California, and will be judged by Jimmy Torano and Lillie Keenan.

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Fylicia Barr may be a five-star eventer now, but she got her start in the sport aboard the most unlikely of mounts. Her first event horse was a gray Arabian gelding named Zanzibar, with whom she did a bit of everything: 4-H, barrel racing, English and western pleasure, and even a little reining. A painting of him—dished nose, delicate ears and kind eyes, standing in a field of flowers—graces the cover of this month’s issue of the Chronicle. 

When Barr, 30, first met “Z,” he was an emaciated, rough-looking youngster at a low-end auction in western New York. Barr was just 10 years old, and she had a total of three riding lessons under her belt. Barr’s mother, Shannon Barr, bought Z on an impulse, despite the fact that neither she nor her young daughter had the requisite skills or experience at that time to manage an unknown horse from auction.

However, in the years to come, Z (named by Fylicia in honor of the main equine character in the “Phantom Stallion” series) would pay back his rescuers in dividends. Not only did Fylicia ultimately event him through training level, he carried multiple young riders to 4-H competitions, and later came out of retirement to become the first event horse for Chronicle cover artist Josie Buller, who took him all the way to the 2021 USEA American Eventing Championships.

“It felt like he just wanted to do right by us,” Fylicia, of Unionville, Pennsylvania, said. “We saved him, and I think he knew that, and he always tried to do everything he could for us. There were definitely moments where he could have said no, but he gave us everything he had. We both did a lot for each other.”

We Meant To Buy A Saddle…

On the day Shannon and Fylicia met Z, they had gone to the auction with a friend, intending to buy a saddle. Instead, they bought a horse with an unknown past, paying just $800 for the gelding—one dollar a pound.

“We saw him, and he was so sad, and so thin—he just looked at us, and we knew we had to try to make something happen,” Fylicia said. “It was truly the blind leading the blind. At auction, you don’t get much info on them, and we saw him with a saddle on and assumed he was saddle broke.”

But when they got him home—to a facility Fylicia describes as a “backyard barn sort of set up,” they found out Z was perhaps only 2 or 3 years old.

“He was young, and not really broke at all,” Fylicia said. “It was a bit of a set up for disaster. I didn’t know what I was doing, he didn’t know what he was doing, but we found our way, together.”

Nursing Z back to health required nothing more than correct, basic care. Over the next several years, Fylicia slowly got him started under saddle. Although she took occasional lessons on other horses, she didn’t have much help with Z; looking back, Fylicia admits she made many mistakes.

“Now, as an equestrian professional, I’m horrified at some of the things he put up with,” Fylicia said. “But he never complained. He used to buck me off for sport, but he gave me a really good seat that I still have to this day, and it was always with a smile on his face. It was a game for him, more than him wanting to hurt me. He’d just sit and wait for me to get back on.

“He made me fearless,” she continued. “He made me feel like I could ride anything. He was always a really, really good boy.”

When Fylicia learned about eventing, she was instantly hooked. She and Z debuted in U.S. Eventing Association competition in August 2011 at the Erie Hunt and Saddle Club Horse Trials (Pennsylvania), where they ran beginner novice. At the same competition a year later, they competed at training level. By then, Fylicia was 17 years old and had acquired a mare named Galloway Sunrise, whom she purchased off Craigslist as a semi-feral 2-year-old. Fylicia began thinking it might be time for Z to step down a level as she continued her own progress forward.

“At training level, the jumps got a little big for him,” Fylicia said. “So we leased him to a couple of young riders that did 4-H shows with him. He was the perfect babysitter.”

Although he was sound and in good health, when his final 4-H lease ended, the Barrs took advantage of an opportunity to retire Z to a farm in western New York. For several years, he lived “his best horsey life” there, while Fylicia continued her own eventing journey with “Sunny,” eventually making it all the way to the five-star level. She attributes her tenacity in working with the quirky mare, and other challenging mounts, to the lessons she initially learned from Z.

“He taught me not to give up on the difficult ones,” Fylicia said. “If you put enough time and effort into trying to understand the tricky horses, you can come out the other side with a really quality partner—if you’re patient, and take the time to understand where they’re coming from.”

It was after Fylicia relocated to Unionville and established her business that she met 12-year-old Buller, who wanted to get started in eventing—but who didn’t have a horse. Fylicia immediately thought of Z.

“When Josie came into my program and needed something to ride, I thought, ‘Let me see if the old man has got a little bit left in the tank,’” Fylicia said. “And he absolutely gave her everything.”

From Starter To The Bluegrass

Buller is now an 18-year-old freshman at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, but she still vividly remembers the day six years ago when Z and his friends moved into the new home of Fylicia Barr Eventing.

“People were putting up white boards by the stalls with the horse’s and owner’s names, and Z’s little white board had my name listed below his, even though I was not the owner,” Buller, of Coatesville, Pennsylvania, remembered. “Fylicia very generously let me do a free lease on him, and act like he was my own horse. The stars kind of aligned, and Fylicia knew Z would be the best teacher for me—and he really was.”

Buller had gotten her start taking lessons a local hunter/jumper program, but when she learned about eventing, decided to shift her focus. Working with Fylicia and Z, she went from being a “rusty” crossrail rider to competing at novice. After gaining mileage at the starter level in schooling horse trials and learning the basics of dressage, the pair moved up fairly quickly. In June 2020, after eight years away from sanctioned competition, Z returned to the sport at the Plantation Field Horse Trials (Pennsylvania) at beginner novice —with Buller in the irons.

“I made a lot of mistakes—I got left behind plenty of times—but he was so, so tolerant,” Buller said. “I always felt untouchable on Z. He’s just the best partner, and we had lots of fun. I’d never really shown, so I did all my ‘firsts’ on Z.”

When Buller was 15, she decided to set a big goal: to qualify for and compete at the 2021 AEC.

“It can get pretty competitive in Area II, and Z, being an Arabian, would stick his head up in dressage, and I didn’t always quite know what to do,” Buller said with a laugh. “But we got a second place at Bucks County [Pennsylvania], and we got to go to AEC.”

Buller describes the experience of competing Z at the AEC, held that year in Lexington, Kentucky, as “magical.” She admits he even was “a little wild” on cross-country after being stalled for so many days. The pair finished 31^st of 38 in the junior novice, 15 and under, championship—and earned the best-scoring Arabian award.

“He was the only Arabian in the class,” Buller laughed. “Some people would say, ‘Oh, you ride an Arabian?’ Well, he’s the best cross-country horse you’ll ever find. A horse you truly care about will always give 110% to you.”

Watching her first horse gallop over the Kentucky bluegrass with Buller made Fylicia feel as if Z’s story had come full circle.

“Obviously, Z and I did not make it to the Kentucky five-star,” Fylicia said with a laugh. “That was my dream growing up, even though I was a 10-year-old kid on an Arabian pony we’d bought for nothing. But watching him and Josie go down the ramp into Rolex stadium, and gallop through the Head of the Lake—that was so special. He made her dreams come true, and my childhood dreams came to life through them at that moment, too.”

Although Buller and Z competed one more time that season, the AEC proved to be their swan song together. 

“We don’t know his exact age, but he is 20-ish, and he had held himself together,” Buller said. “It felt like he was trying really hard, and he didn’t need to keep competing, where I wanted to keep moving up.”

Inspired by her trainer’s work in producing her own horses, Buller moved on to a former Thoroughbred race horse named Lee, whom she competed through training level. But Z remained in Fylicia’s barn, and Buller would still trail ride him once in a while just for fun.

“Most of the time, I didn’t even bother putting a saddle on him,” Buller said. “I’d just hop on, and we’d get going.”

Behind The Cover Painting

As Buller neared high school graduation, she knew that her time with Z was drawing to a close. Fylicia had made the decision to send him to enjoy a final, official retirement with her mother in western New York, and Buller was preparing to head to college. When she painted a watercolor and gouache portrait of him standing in a field of flowers, which she included in her senior gallery, it was intended as a dedication to the horse who changed her life. 

“He absolutely is my heart horse,” Buller said. “Middle school was a pretty rough time for me, and having Z … I went to the barn every day after school, and I felt like I had him in my corner all the time. If I had a really bad day, and I got off the bus in tears, we’d just go out for hours and hours on the great hacking trails around the barn. I kind of felt like every time I stepped into the saddle with him, I got to leave everything on the ground.”

Buller loves floriography, a tradition which looks at the symbolism of flowers and colors. In her tribute to Z, each flower she painted in the field he’s standing in was chosen specifically to convey Buller’s appreciation for all that he means to her—the sweet peas at the front mean “thank you for a lovely time,” the zinnias symbolize everlasting friendship, the heather is for protection, and the Queen Anne’s lace for sanctuary.

When the Chronicle put out a call for submission to its annual Junior Art Gallery (see more submissions from young artists here), she sent it in. Chronicle staff chose the piece to grace the cover of the 2025 Young Rider issue. 

“I’m so happy it got on the cover, because if any horse deserves to be on the cover of the Chronicle, it’s Z,” Buller said. “He has given so much, to so many people. He was Fylicia’s first horse, and now she’s a five-star rider. He helped me through so much in middle school and made me into the rider I am today.

“I think it is so important, on so many levels, for all people to know that every single horse deserves a second chance,” she continued. “Horses always seem to give back, especially those who get into a really good situation after having been in a not so great one. They give you their whole heart, and there is a lot of value in having a horse you’re just really close with. With the right people, no matter what their breed, a horse can do anything.”

The post From Rescue To Ribbons: Chronicle Cover Horse Made Dreams Come True appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

This article originally appeared in the August 2025 issue of The Chronicle of the Horse. You can subscribe and get online access to a digital version and then enjoy a year of The Chronicle of the Horse. If you’re just following COTH online, you’re missing so much great unique content. Each print issue of the Chronicle is full of in-depth competition news, fascinating features, probing looks at issues within the sports of hunter/jumper, eventing and dressage, and stunning photography.

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In February 2024, Eva Crowley was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Type B, an aggressive form of blood cancer. Over the next seven months, she did 12 rounds of chemotherapy every other week at Duke University Hospital in North Carolina.

While undergoing treatments, Crowley made a bucket list with three major goals on it: to show at the World Equestrian Center—Ocala (Florida) with her junior hunter Please Watch Me; to qualify and show him at the Adequan/USEF Junior Hunter National Championships; and to qualify and show at USEF Pony Finals for her final junior year. 

“When you have an experience like this, it’s more of ‘while I’m able to do this, I should do this,’ ” said Crowley, now 18. “I’ve always had these goals in mind, but I wanted to make them a reality.”

Although she was encouraged by her doctors to stop riding during treatment, Crowley had other ideas and gained strength from Please Watch Me. She even scheduled shows between her rounds of chemotherapy.

“ ‘Pac-Man’ is what got me through all of that,” she said of the 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding (Parabol—Final Watch) owned by Julianna D’Alto. “He’s the best horse and the safest horse. I knew he would take care of me.”

In November 2024, Crowley and Pac-Man qualified for this year’s USEF Junior Hunter National Championships—East at the Jump for Charity show in Raleigh, North Carolina. With that item on her bucket listed teed up to accomplish, Crowley then set her sights on competing at WEC—Ocala. She set up and organized every aspect of the trip from her home in Durham, North Carolina, right down to booking the rental car. In January 2025, she showed Pac-Man in the 3’3” large junior hunters and a USHJA National Derby during Winter Spectacular IV at WEC—Ocala. 

In the process, she got an unexpected and deeply appreciated surprise.

Crowley has spent many of her junior years riding and working at Pleasant Hill Farm with trainers Cammie Fielding and Meaghan Kearns in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Unbeknownst to Crowley, Fielding had written a letter nominating Crowley for the Hannah M. Serfass Scholarship. Although Crowley didn’t win the scholarship, Serfass’ mom, Janine Serfass, reached out directly to Fielding and offered to give Crowley the Hannah Serfass WEC—Ocala Grant instead, which helped cover the cost of her show fees and expenses. 

“The Serfass family is so kind and generous for giving back to this sport in the way that they have chosen to,” Crowley said. “I was honored to receive that.”

In June, to finish that other item on her list, Crowley packed up her bags and headed to junior hunter finals at the Kentucky Horse Park to compete in the 3’3” large junior hunter, 16-17, division. She and Pac-Man placed 20^th  of 94 competitors in the classic round, while an unfortunate rail in the handy kept them out of the overall ribbons. 

“Pac-Man was phenomenal there,” Crowley said. “When I first started leasing him [three years ago], he was only supposed to be my children’s hunter. But we’ve been working hard with him, and he’s more than capable of doing this job too.”

With two out of her three bucket list goals completed, Crowley turned her sights to attending her last USEF Pony Finals at the Kentucky Horse Park in August. It would also be her final horse show before she headed off to Sweet Briar College (Virginia) for her freshman year. Although Crowley did qualify a large pony for the division, she learned two weeks prior to the competition that he would be unable to attend. 

“My entries were already submitted, and my accommodations were already booked,” Crowley said. “I really wanted to make this happen, so I decided it was time to try and find a catch ride.” 

She posted on every Facebook page related to Pony Finals she could find and called as many people as she could think of. “There were so many people who shared my posts, commented, offered me their ponies,” she said. “I’m so grateful to all of them.”

Trainer Greg Crolick of Greg Crolick Show Stables had the perfect large pony for Crowley: So Dreamy, a 9-year-old German Riding Pony (Diamond Touch—Mascarpone) owned by El Manto LLC. 

“ ‘Dreamy’ was so lovely,” Crowley said. “Greg and his barn were amazing. He gave me lessons in the days leading up to showing, and he definitely did not have to do that.”  Dreamy and Crowley ended up 27^thout of 150 ponies in the model and had a respectable trip in the over fences class.

Then, when Crowley discovered that there was a horsemanship test that she could take while she was at Pony Finals, she jumped at the chance. The teen has a decade of hands-on experience caring for her horses. The Emerson Burr Horsemanship Grant, which was created in memory of the late Emerson Burr to encourage and promote proper horsemanship in young riders, felt like a perfect fit for her. Grant winners are selected by taking a two-part exam that begins with a 20-question, multiple-choice test followed by a hands-on test for the top four scoring junior riders in each age group. 

“There were some pretty challenging questions [on the written test],” Crowley said, “but I’ve hung around the barn so much as a kid that I’ve seen many of the things they asked about on the test. I’m someone who has grown up doing all the care on their horse—we don’t have full care at my barn.” 

Several of the topics chosen for the test questions included plants that horses are allergic to, types of horseshoes, and what tools are used to perform a dental exam on a horse. 

Although Crowley received what she thought was an average score on the written exam, she was invited back for further hands-on testing two days later. Crowley was asked to demonstrate how to properly put tendon boots on, when to use a standing wrap, and how to properly fit a saddle and bridle. Her last task was to lead a pony in a straight line. 

Later that evening, Crowley learned that she was the winner in her 15-17 age group and received a $500 grant to be used for continuing education. 

“I was shocked. They must have liked my answers for the hands-on portion,” she said. “I think it’s phenomenal that USEF is still supporting tests like these. In an age where it seems that there are so many kids who show up and hop on their tacked-up pony or horse right before they show, it’s nice to see that horsemanship is still being encouraged.”

Not only did Crowley win the Emerson Burr Grant, but she also won the $1,500 Taylor Madison Orlowski First Timer Grant—another one Fielding nominated her for—earlier in the week at Pony Finals. The winner of the grant, which helps toward the expense of showing at Pony Finals, is chosen based on their strong horsemanship and sportsmanship skills. 

“I couldn’t believe that I had been chosen for a marvelous opportunity like that,” Crowley said. “I feel so lucky to have so many people and families supporting me for my last junior year. I feel very fortunate.”

Fielding is proud of Crowley for chasing after her dreams. 

“Eva’s parents were wonderful about making this all happen for her,” Fielding said. “Eva had the courage to push for these goals, and she pushed me out of my comfort zone to do these new shows and championships with her,” added Fielding, who attended her first Junior Hunter Finals thanks to Crowley. “I will be adding several of these to our students’ calendar and goals in the future.”

Now that Crowley has completed her bucket list and is off to college, Pac-Man is still enjoying life at Pleasant Hill Farm with a new rider for the time being. 

“I made the decision to leave him there while I went to school, and although I really miss him, I think it was the right choice for him,” Crowley said. “He goes outside in a huge field with seven other horses; he loves his friends. … I didn’t have it in me to take him away from all of that. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

More than a year later, Crowley’s cancer has continued to remain in remission. 

“With this type of cancer—if you’re in remission for a year, it’s extremely unlikely that it will come back,” she said. “So that’s huge news, and I’m glad to have that behind me.”

The post Eva Crowley: From Chemotherapy To Emerson Burr Grant Winner  appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

And how could he not aboard 22-year-old Maple Lane Kero, or “Peach,” as he’s known around the barn? 

The pint-sized Welsh Cob gelding (Mill Gate Hercules—Canterbrook Marmalade, Trevallion Royal Consort), owned by Linda Susan Krook and bred in Canada by Anne Corden, stands out in the ring, not only for his unique cremello coloring, but for his talent across two disciplines—dressage and working equitation.

The pair are competing this weekend in the childrens division at the US Dressage Festival of Champions—happening this week in Wayne, Illinois—fresh off their medal-winning appearance at the Discover Dressage/FEI North American Youth Dressage Championship, held July 30-Aug. 3 in Williamsburg, Michigan. 

Maverick and Peach represented Region 6 in the inaugural childrens division, earning individual bronze. While their three-person team was unable to complete due to one pair failing the first horse inspection, Maverick was thrilled with his first NAYC finish on his partner of two years.

“I thought all of [three tests] were really good, but I was most happiest with my individual test,” he said, which scored a 72.25%. “I think both me and my pony tried really hard. And since it was the last test there was, we had gotten feedback from the first two tests, and we really, really worked on what the judges wanted. And I think that really paid off.”

Maverick lives in Milton-Freewater, Oregon, with his parents, Kenton and Tiffany Wright. Kenton runs a training business focusing on Lusitanos and working equitation, and he also stands a Lusitano stallion. Maverick has been riding since he can remember and became interested in dressage when he in kindergarten or first grade.

“I started just moving up the levels and started training and working to be better and better,” he said. “Now I’ve [gone] to NAYC, and it’s a great honor.”

In Peach, he’s found a partner well qualified to show him the ropes. This week will be Peach’s second trip to the Festival of Champions—in 2011, he won the inaugural USEF National Pony Rider Championships with former owner Allison Cyprus. 

The senior pony has schooled through Intermediaire and has competed through fourth level with Maverick, who has earned his U.S. Dressage Federation bronze medal on the gelding and is partway to his silver.

“I think he has a really good personality, and he is always eager to go out and work,” he said.

When asked what keeps Peach happy in his senior age, Maverick said, “I think it’s part of the Welsh hardiness, their fire and their eagerness to go and just keep going. We also try to give him some supplements, but besides that, we just keep him in good work, good fitness, and just make sure he’s happy and give him a lot of treats and make sure he’s on a good work schedule.”

Peach enjoys a variety of training at home, including trail riding, where he gets to cross a river, some canters in the open to stretch his legs, jumping and working with cows. And for all of it, all he requires is a treat.

“He really likes treats,” Maverick said. “He will follow you around the barn just for a treat. And he’s very food motivated, and he has a lot of energy, and still has some spice left. Miss Susan was going to retire him, but she knows how much spice he has left, and he didn’t want to retire.”

He says that Peach has no problem switching from the dressage ring to the working equitation, which has several phases including a dressage test in a short ring, an obstacle course and sometimes events working cows.

“We’re just so grateful to have Peach with us,” Tiffany said. “He’s just been a joy. He’s super easy to have in the barn. He’s low-maintenance and just all around a good boy. We’ve been really grateful for Maverick to have the opportunity to do this level of riding with him.”

Maverick rides another pony for Krook in dressage and enjoys competing in working equitation with his father. He also helps break and back the young Lusitanos they breed. His mother is the assistant and manager of “both of us boys,” says Maverick.

The family enjoys the Lusitano breed for their minds and trainability and has around 50 on their farm, including 10 broodmares. 

“They’re just a really fun horse to ride,” Maverick said. “They’re really smooth, and they have really good movement, and they’re just a very good all-around horse as well as a really good competition horse. You can go out there and win at a top dressage show, and then go out the next day or a couple days later and go on trails, and they won’t care. They’ll just do whatever you task them to do.”

For his dressage goals, Maverick is hoping for another strong performance in Illinois this weekend, and beyond that, he has high hopes for his career.

“My goal is to get my silver and gold medal and possibly, if I have the right horse, and it’s the right time, go to the Olympics with a Lusitano,” he said.

The post Oregon Cowboy And Pint-Sized Cremello Hope To Repeat NAYC Success At Festival Of Champions appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

The day before the Marshall & Sterling/USEF Pony Medal Final, Cisy Zhou and her trainer Patricia Griffith weren’t sure which pony to enter in the class. She had two good choices: small pony Down To A T and medium pony Editorial. Editorial was greener—he’s only 7—but in the end they decided to gamble on him.

“I thought size-wise, she would look more elegant on the medium,” said Griffith. “And we had practiced a little in our pelham, and I thought, ‘This looks really the part.’ And I know that that pony is true blue, as is ‘T,’ so we had two good options, and we just decided we would go with him. I had a good feeling that she looked very good in the schooling area, like we could do each part of it. But again, you have to go in and you have to do all the parts together.”

Zhou did just that, laying down a great first round and nailing the second to rise to the top of the class. Kenzie Smith from New York City claimed second, and Lacey Powers of Loxahatchee, Florida, took third.

“It feels amazing,” said Zhou, New York City. “He’s really young and a green pony, so I feel really accomplished. He was really brave everywhere. He had my back everywhere and I really trust him.”

Zhou came into the second round really focused.

“[I ws thinking about] being accurate, getting up the lines and make sure you don’t miss any lead changes,” she said.

There was a bogey jump, Fence 2, in the first round in the form of an oxer set near the rail. Riders approached that jump after jumping a fence across the middle, but many ponies spooked or stopped at the jump. Twenty riders in the class were eliminated—most due to refusals at Fence 2—and another four fell off.

“I was not expecting that—neither was [course designer Jasen Shelley], I know,” said Griffith who trains Zhou along with the Heritage Farm team. “I had some people where I just said, go up there and ride it like they’re going to spook, and they didn’t at all. So it was really hard to judge who was going to look at it and who wasn’t. Some of the brave ponies that I’ve never seen look had a visceral reaction to it; I mean, I was a little nervous on all of mine, because I was like, ‘God, I’ve seen [solid] ponies now that I’ve known for 10 years spooking and stopping.’ ”

Zhou went early—she was 13^th of the 193 in the class—and at that point the jump hadn’t caused too many problems.

“I was almost happy we went early because we weren’t thinking that was like a thing,” said Griffith. “We were like, ‘Just go [Fence 1 to Fence 2].’ It almost worked our advantage, because we weren’t overthinking the second jump.”

Zhou first paired up with Editorial two and a half years ago. After spending the winter at home with Heritage Farm trainer Dottie Barnwell Areson, Zhou took over the ride and they spent the rest of the season in the children’s pony division. Last year was their “breakout year” when they entered the green and regular divisions, finishing their season with a medium pony hunter title at the Pennsylvania National.

“[He needs] a strong leg, firm hand, a lot of leg,” said Zhou, New York City. “He’s pretty brave, and he does all the work for you. He’s quiet. He takes a little leg and hand, but he’s quiet.”

This is Zhou’s second Pony Finals championship this year, winning the individual small/medium pony jumper title earlier this week. But her first round on Editorial didn’t go to plan when she missed in the medium pony hunter over fences class at the last fence. But heading into today’s medal final she kept herself focused.

“[Griffith] said ‘Just ride it like you would any pony. Give it your best go,’ ” said Zhou.

Though she has two more years on small ponies, Zhou has already started riding full sized mounts, and she’s hoping to compete in a 3’3” equitation final or two this fall.

Griffith said that Zhou’s natural seat on a pony has given her a leg up in the sport.

“She had that feel, like the way she sits around a horse, the correct feel, and she’s a worker,” and those two things have led to her success, said Griffith. “So talent and a worker is hard to top because she’s not afraid to ride all day. Try ponies for me. Drop her stirrups. She never says no. She rides all day long. So it’s not surprising that she excels because she’s very talented. She really has the drive and the desire and the backing. Her family wants her to do it, and she’s happy to put in the hours and come all day on the weekend it’s 100 degrees—she doesn’t complain.”

Get full results here.

Want more USEF Pony Finals? Get all the Chronicle’s coverage here. Make sure you’re following along with the Chronicle on Facebook and Instagram @chronofhorse. You can get more Pony Finals in the September issue of the Chronicle.

The post Zhou Caps Off USEF Pony Finals With Another Win appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

Currie Cooper remembers the first time she rode Victory very clearly. It was the end of 2023 at Capital Challenge (Maryland) and the recently imported dressage pony was green as grass.

“I couldn’t really get down a line,” she said. “He was too quiet.”

Victory has come a long way since then. Today Cooper rode the 10-year-old German Riding Pony by Gandora to the large pony hunter championship at USEF Pony Finals, picking up the reserve grand title to boot. Medium pony Best Sport, ridden by Charlotte Morassutti won the grand pony hunter title.

“The pony is absolutely beautiful, and he’s brave, super brave,” said trainer Richard Cunkle. “He’s a beautiful mover, and a beautiful jumper, and he walks out of a stall to the ring. He’s super quiet.”

Victory and Cooper, Point Clear, Alabama, led the division after the model and under saddle classes, and came back last over fences. Cooper said she experienced too much pressure going last, and she finished seventh over the jumps to take the large pony title over Gentle Touch and Lilly Herzog.

Cooper said at home she works on straightness with the pony.

“He’s really smooth and comfortable,” she said.

Cooper has been working with Cunkle for four and a half years. Victory lives with Cunkle in Wellington, Florida, and Cooper travels there to practice regularly and meets up with him at shows.

“She’s cool as a cucumber,” he said. “Her work ethic is amazing. She doesn’t care if they’re bucking or rearing, she’ll ride 10 just like that all the time, just the dedication and the hard work, to do it over and over.”

Find full results here.

Want more USEF Pony Finals? Get all the Chronicle’s coverage here. Make sure you’re following along with the Chronicle on Facebook and Instagram @chronofhorse. You can get more Pony Finals in the September issue of the Chronicle.

The post Cooper And Victory Seize The Day In Large Pony Hunters At Pony Finals appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

Two and a half years ago, Elin Uhrig’s former trainer Alexia Honegger told her student to write down her future goals, and Uhrig didn’t hesitate. She wanted to go to USEF Pony Finals, and she wanted to win.

This year, Uhrig made that a reality when she rode Juan Bay to the top of the USEF Large Pony Jumper National Championship. She also earned a silver medal in the large pony jumper team competition yesterday as the anchor for the Zone 8/9 team, so she’ll head back to Greenwood Village, Colorado, with plenty of hardware.

“I’m so grateful to everyone who helped me get here,” she said, citing her father and her trainer, Michael Dennehy, in particular.

Uhrig had been to the Kentucky Horse Park once before when she watched her sister, Isabella Uhrig, win individual silver aboard Juan Bay.

Honegger imported the Irish Sport Horse of unrecorded breeding from Ireland, and Elin took over the ride a year and a half ago. They’ve been on a roll since then, most recently helping her team win gold at the Zone 7 and 8 USHJA Junior/Amateur Jumper Championships (Colorado).

“He just kind of needs a little leg to the jump,” said Elin, 11. “He’s just such a good boy. He loves to go fast.”

Seventy-one horses contested the large pony division, which was combined with the handful of entries—including Elin and Juan Bay—in the open 1.05 meter division. Fifteen horses kept a clean sheet all week to advance to the jump-off course, and when the pair marched in the ring for that round they stayed focused and efficient to shave over a second and a half off the leading time. Delta S Irish Storm and Zachary Sherer finished second, with Summer Smith on Sissi Mai claiming third.

Watch Juan Bay and Elin Uhrig’s winning jump-off.

Elin and her squad were over the moon with her win.

“He’s a grand prix horse in a pony body, because he does the horse strides, and he’ll leave out like the horses can and still make an inside turn,” said Dennehy. “He’s amazing, and he is just so honest and brave and careful and fast—just the best pony I’ve ever trained.”

Pony Finals pony jumper entries have ballooned from low teens last year to 141 total this year with a revamped format. Dennehy said it was a bit confusing at the beginning of the season to know what the riders had to do to qualify, but in the end moving from all ponies competing at 1.05 meters and going to a championship split by height seemed to work out.

“It was great atmosphere today,” he said. “It was wonderful theater to have them all together. And I think they’re going to tweak that just a little bit for this coming year. But I love that they have a lower fence height. And these kids now, like Elin and I [were] talking earlier, if they’d had this format a few years ago, she could have brought her little pony and competed in the smalls two or three years ago when her sister came.”

Find full results here.

Want more USEF Pony Finals? Get all the Chronicle’s coverage here. Make sure you’re following along with the Chronicle on Facebook and Instagram @chronofhorse. You can get more Pony Finals in the September issue of the Chronicle.

The post Uhrig And Juan Bay Earn Individual Large Pony Jumper Gold appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.

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.

Want more USEF Pony Finals? Get all the Chronicle’s coverage here. Make sure you’re following along with the Chronicle on Facebook and Instagram @chronofhorse. You can get more Pony Finals in the September issue of the Chronicle.

The post Finley Baras Ups Her Mental Game For A Grand Win With Qualen’s Mystical appeared first on The Chronicle of the Horse.