Lexington, Ky.—Aug. 9

Someone else might have thought that Yasmin Rizvi drew the short end of the straw. Her mother, P.J. Rizvi, and sisters, Zayna and Farah Rizvi, travelled to London to watch P.J.’s dressage horse, Breaking Dawn, compete in the Olympic Games with Canadian Ashley Holtzer. But Yasmin made the most of staying stateside, riding Roxbury to the medium pony hunter championship at USEF Pony Finals.

The Welsh cross (Super Star—Farnley May Pop) moved from third to first after a fourth-placed over fences trip. Tha trip bumped her cumulative point total to 1015.3, edging out Lili Hymowitz and Trillville.

In this year’s tweaked schedule, the 137 medium ponies started after the small ponies stood for the model and competed under saddle. (Rafael topped the small pony model and earned second under saddle to lead that division with Hymowitz; Hi Lite and Maddie Schaefer lay second, with Goldfish and Addison Piper right on their heels thanks to winning the under saddle.)

The mediums took over the Walnut Ring till eight p.m., save an hour in the afternoon when the show went on hold as nearby storms threatened to take over the Kentucky Horse Park.

By the time Yasmin got ready to go, she was a bundle of nerves.

“It’s tricky here because the better you do the later you go,” said Christine Trigger, who trains Yasmin at home. “Earlier in the day she said ‘Oh I hate going at the end! Everyone always messes up at the end!’ But she stayed calm and it all worked out.”

It was no surprise to Yasmin, 11.

“She’s always good,” said Yasmin, Greenwich, Conn. “She’s easy to find the distances on and she has a good motor. With [trainer] Patricia [Griffith] we work on my position and spooky jumps—but ‘Roxy’ never spooks.”

Griffith refushed to take too much credit for the pair’s success.

“Yasmin just came to us a month ago,” she said. “This is literally our third show together. She was in great shape, has lovely animals and is a fantastic student. She always tries hard. We had to battle the nerves a bit here, but she held it together.”

Yasmin’s other pony, Swingtown, finished third with Schaefer, who catchrode for Yasmin as the rules limit riders to one mount in each division.

Around The Horse Park           

-Georgia made a huge move up the standings in the over fences. That pony—who was the reserve medium pony here in 2010—trotted into the ring with McKayla Langmeier just as rain started, but he didn’t seem to mind. His first-place round catapaulted him from 37^th up to overall fourth in the medium division.

-This marks Griffith’s second championship so far at 2012 Pony Finals. She also trained Maddie Schaefer to the medium green title on Frosted, a pony Schaefer has been riding since he was 4. “He’s really consistent. When you’re laying it down, he won’t be the one to fit in one more stride,” she said of the Welsh (Rosmel’s Dressed In Scarlet—Rosmels Jazzy Jolene). Despite winning multiple pony hunter titles at the fall indoor horse shows and Devon (Pa.), this marks Schaefer’s first Pony Finals tricolor.

-Large ponies model and compete under saddle tomorrow starting at 8 a.m., then the 105 small ponies take their turn over fences.

-Read about Zone 4 capturing the team pony jumper championship. http://www.chronofhorse.com/article/zone-4-zooms-pony-jumper-gold. The individual competition finishes up tomorrow evening.

Full results are available at shownet.biz.