August 11, 2006

First-Timers Zone 10 Win 2006 USEF Adequan/USEF National Pony Jumper Team Championship

Tonight’s winners in the 2006 Adequan/USEF National Pony Team Jumper were Zone 10 (comprised of the states of California and Nevada). Tonight’s competitors were not only competing as a team, but also performing phase II of the individual competition—simultaneously.

Zone 10 was the “Cinderella story” of the night. Not only has Zone 10 never been represented in this Pony Finals class, they were also one rider short of the four-field rider teams entered in the competition, and their horses had the farthest combined distance to travel. This meant they did not have a fourth rider’s low score to throw out. In addition, these three girls were all first-timers to Pony Finals and more than had the cards stacked against them. However, they managed to ride three double-clean rounds, wowing the crowd, along with the other nine teams.

The judges asked five teams to return to ride a second round. Those teams included zones three, four, five, eight and 10. Tonight’s winning team was made up of 13-year-old Jocelyn Neff of Newport Beach, CA, riding Cinnamon Twist, her 13-year-old Welsh cross mare; 16-year-old MacKenzie Rosman of Saugus, CA, riding Mentos Junior, her 14-year-old Warmblood pony gelding; 13-year-old Madeline Burkhartsmeier of Camarillo, CA, riding Hocus Pocus, her 13-year-old Arabian/Appaloosa pony mare.

All three girls said they had faith in their ponies, knew that they were fast and didn’t want to let them down. The girls all credit their ponies for getting them here and for the night’s win. They said their mounts would jump skyscrapers for them if they rode them well.

“I thought it was more fun because we got to rely on each other and got to share the glory,” said Neff. “There was the anxiety of watching everybody go and we were just hoping we didn’t let each other down,” said Burkhartsmeier. All agreed that being the last to go was probably the toughest spot to have on the team, and Burkhartsmeier showed everyone how it should be done.

Reserve champions were Zone Three (comprised of the states of West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, North Carolina and Virginia) with a total of four points. Zone Three is made up of 11-year-old Sara Ketcham, of Columbus, NC, riding the 11-year-old Anglo-Arabian mare Rosebelle, owned by Ann Hanna; 16-year-old Eileen Buckingham of La Plata, MD, riding her 13-year-old Welsh/Thoroughbred mare, Hot Gossip; 14-year-old Kylie Wright from Sparks, MD, riding Mystic Rainbow, a 16-year-old Welsh/Thoroughbred gelding, owned by Whitney Snyder; and 12-year-old Belinda Paget-Brown from Charlottesville, VA, riding Stizzy, a 12-year-old Welsh/Arabian gelding, owned by Paget-Brown and Shadowfox Farm, Inc. Paget-Brown had two refusals at the same fence and was eliminated. Her score was dropped.

When the winners were asked what the difference was between equitation and jumpers, they were in agreement that jumping was a little more exciting and equitation was a bit more work.

“Equitation is obviously a bit more formal, but you still have to ride,” said Neff. “You can’t just sit on top of your horse and be pretty. I’ve found it a really good foundation for jumping, a lot better than hunters because they also have the bending lines and roll-backs and bendings into two strides and they make things challenging by shortening the stride or making them long, so you have to adjust. I think it’s a very good foundation. People think it’s really easy and it’s not. You have to work really hard at it to make it look pretty, and in jumpers you don’t have to do that.

Their plan for tomorrow night’s pony jumper individual championship— “same ride,” said Rosman.

Back to 2006 USEF Pony Finals Index