Mollie Bailey

One pony rider makes history with an incredible clean sweep of the pony hunter championships.

Not many pony riders would dare imagine a clean sweep at the Wild Horsefeathers/USEF Pony Finals. But when Lillie Keenan laid her head on her pilow after competing at the competition, Aug. 15-19 in Lexington, Ky., that remarkable dream had come true.

Last spring Candice King had an up-and-coming star on her hands in Tarco. The pair made their international debut for the United States during the Samsung Super League Tour, helping the team place
second at Rome (Italy) and fourth at Lucerne (Switzerland) and Rotterdam (the Netherlands).

But disaster struck midway through their European tour when Tarco got cast in his stall and twisted his foot. The freak injury put the 11-year-old gelding out of commission for 10 months.

Addison Phillips guides her green hunter to grand championship honors during the East Coast phase of the Finals.

Top riders and horses flocked to the HITS On The Hudson show grounds in Saugerties, N.Y., Aug. 6-8, to vie for the USEF Junior Hunter National Championship East. After all of the junior hunters took a turn, Addison Phillips’ Mirasol was crowned grand junior hunter champion.

It was a record-setting weekend in Lexington, Ky., as 10-year-old Lillie Keenan captured all three regular pony championships at the Wild Horsefeathers/USEF Pony Hunter Finals on August 19. Keenan earned the grand championship on medium pony Enchanted Forest, the small pony championship on Blackberry and reserve overall championship on large pony Vanity Fair.

The talented New York City native couldn’t stop praising her mounts. “They’re all so wonderful,” said Keenan, who rides at Heritage Farms. “I'm so lucky to get to ride them all.  They were all perfect all week.”

The Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky., has been overrun by hundreds of ponies and children all week, vying for the ribbons at the UESF Pony Hunter Final. For Taylor Ann Adams,14, years of hard work and practice paid off yesterday, Aug. 17, as she earned the top spot in the coveted USEF Pony Medal Final.

Droves of supporters trekked to the Kentucky Horse Park  on Aug. 18th to watch Lexington, Ky., native Elizabeth Boone vie for the Adequan/USEF Individual Pony Jumper Championship at the USEF Pony Finals National Championship. And Boone gave them a show to remember, posting the only two clear rounds of the day and earning the individual pony jumper championship aboard Campbellcroft LLC’s Magic BB.

The elated 12-year-old couldn’t stop praising her mount. “He is such a good boy,” she said. “He’ll leave from anywhere, he tries so hard.”

The blue stands at the newly constructed National Equestrian Center in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, overflowed with show jumping aficionados decked out in green and yellow face paint and wigs on July 27 for the show jumping team final at the Pan American Games.

Medal-crazed fans belted out patriotic songs and soccer chants between trips, hungry to bring the team gold medal back to Brazil. They were justly rewarded for their support when Brazilian international superstar Rodrigo Pessoa posted the final double-clear performance of the day, ensuring the team gold for Brazil.

No one was quite sure if the Brazilians would pull off the equestrian events at the XV Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro (see p. 8 and Aug. 3, p. 8). In the months before the event, cross-country course building fell far behind schedule, health concerns worried competitors, and bureaucracy plagued every aspect of the importation process.

For years Christopher Hickey has been waiting for the opportunity to stand on the top step of a podium with the U.S. national anthem playing in the background.

Rio de Janeiro’s famous Christ the Redeemer statue was voted one of the “Seven Wonders Of The World.” But were the vote to take place today, the panel would find a greater achievement in Rio de Janeiro: Sue Benson’s cross-country course.
   
When the British-based Benson agreed to design the three-star course for the Pan American Games in Rio, she knew it wouldn’t be an easy task. She’d been warned about the challenges of working in a different culture and understood that bureaucracy would tangle her efforts.