Before 14-year-old Tegan Price entered the arena on Voxton Dude Perfect at this year’s USEF Pony Finals (Kentucky) his mother, pony trainer Tara Heuberger, cautioned him: Competing his own medium, “Dude,” against this caliber of ponies likely wouldn’t be like the time he’d catch ridden his trainer Robin Greenwood’s pony Etch-A-Sketch right into the ribbons at the 2024 USHJA Pony Hunter Derby Championship—East (South Carolina). 

“I gave him the whole speech of, ‘Now don’t be disappointed if you don’t get ribbons; this is huge for Dude,’ ” she said. “ ‘I just don’t want you to be disappointed. We’re just going to be proud of Dude for going in there.’ ”

Heuberger said Price looked confused by his mother’s sobering pep talk. 

“He was like, ‘What are you talking about? We’re getting ribbons!’ ” she recalled. 

Price had no doubt about Dude’s ability to hold his own—even though this would be only the pony’s third premier-rated show to date. Price has a theory about Dude, the pony he’s been riding for four years since he arrived at his mother’s sale barn as a green 4-year-old. 

“Dude loves everything,” Price said. “He’ll do anything you want him to do.” 

On that day, when Price wanted to win a ribbon at Pony Finals (the teen claims there was the promise of a Labrador retriever puppy on the line—his mother disagrees), Dude was game, as usual. The pair earned sixth overall in the medium green division: third over fences and 12th on the flat. 

While Price’s confidence in Dude paid off, Heuberger’s warning did come from a realistic place. Dude’s background is a little different from other ponies he shared the Rolex Stadium with this August. When he first came to Heuberger’s Three T Farm in Aiken, South Carolina, he had extensive experience—but almost nothing under saddle. The pony had been to chuckwagon races, gone camping, and he knew how to pull a cart.

“[His previous owner] just dragged him all over creation,” Heuberger said. 

“She took him over bridges and took him through creeks, but she said from the very start he was always willing,” she continued. “She taught him tricks. He knows how to lay down on command, rear on command, bow—we do not continue with the rearing on command!”

While the pony didn’t yet have the hunter chops, he did have something special, which was obvious even from his sale ad. Heuberger had been scrolling Craigslist for diamond-in-the-rough prospects when a picture of a pony pulling a cart gave her pause. She messaged the owner before dawn, but it turned out the gelding had been sold in the middle of the night. 

A few weeks later, a local breeder, Katharine Klein of Voxton Welsh Ponies, reached out to Heuberger knowing she was looking for a new project. Klein texted a picture of a pony, and Heuberger immediately recognized it the one bought out from under her on Craigslist. Klein explained that she was the pony’s breeder and sold him as a weanling; when he turned up for sale by that owner, she bought him back to ensure he found a good home. 

Heuberger and Price, who was just 10 years old, went to Klein’s farm to try the pony, then named “Turbo.” 

“I guess he had probably about 10 rides on him, and I got on him first,” said Heuberger, who at 4’10” can still comfortably ride ponies. “He doesn’t steer or anything. But I mean, he was just happy to do whatever. He had this massive stride.

“Katharine put up some makeshift jump, and I canter down to it, and the pony jumped it, totally willing, with his knees to his eyeballs,” she continued. 

Price, who often helps his mother try green ponies, was then eager to hop on. He could feel immediately that this pony had what he most appreciates in a prospect: a positive attitude. Price galloped around the arena and popped over the fence, all while looking between two happy, forward ears. They knew they had to bring him home. 

There was just one problem with the pony. 

“We didn’t need any Turbo,” the teen said of the pony’s original name. “His personality is so laid back, he just looked like a Dude; that’s the thing that came to mind. We’ve always said the ponies live up to their name, and so he is Dude Perfect, because he’s perfect.”

At this year’s Pony Finals, Dude had the chance to live up to the chill evoked by his name. In the flat class, the pony directly behind Price and Dude spooked, bucking off its rider and bolting straight past Dude, who didn’t react. The judges paused the class, and the riders halted their ponies, but a second pony rider came off, and that pony also began tearing around the arena. From the sidelines, Heuberger watched the mounting chaos; other ponies grew agitated, and worried trainers hopped into the ring to secure their riders. 

“And Tegan’s just standing there on Dude, like it’s really not a problem,” Heuberger recalled with a laugh. 

The pair are pretty similar that way, Heuberger said. Price has racked up many miles on unknown ponies, between green projects for his mother and catch riding show ponies. Heuberger said that when Price was younger, she’d hoped he’d at least like horses enough to trail ride with her—but he grew up to love the ponies as much as she does, especially competing. 

“The ponies that I take in training are mostly young ponies that just need miles and need to go to their first horse shows, or maybe they’re having a little bit of an issue,” she said. “And so he’s been riding all those training ponies since he was 7.” 

“I just don’t really get nervous riding,” Price said. “It’s just what I’ve always done, and it’s just normal to me now, to just get on the ponies and get on the young ones.” 

Heuberger wanted to be sure that her son had a special pony all to himself—one that wasn’t a catch-ride belonging to someone else, or a prospect that would be sold after a few seasons. For Price, Dude is that forever pony. 

“They’re like brothers,” Heuberger said.

Price says that as much as Dude loves jumping, he’s happy to do anything with his person, whether that’s trail riding (he gets especially excited about playing in the creek) or just hanging out on the property sharing snacks. 

“Tegan can’t seem to come to the barn without snacks,” Heuberger said. “You know, of course, Dude likes his popcorn, so now Tegan pops him popcorn.”

Heuberger’s own 27-year-old pony, first bought as a weanling, still lives on their five-acre farm and first taught Price to ride. They imagine the same happy ending for Dude, who has found a forever home with the mother-son duo. The show-ring success with Dude has been especially sweet when they consider his nonconventional beginnings. 

“To me, it’s a dream come true to believe in a pony and to get them that far,” Heuberger said. “I just feel so thankful that I was able to give [Tegan] that knowledge, bringing a pony along slowly and correctly, and sticking with it and putting the work in.”