Tuesday, August 14 2012 / Published in General

Pony Tails: Final Day at Pony Finals

This is the Final Blog from our Pony Finals Mystery bloggers! They did a great job! Wonder if we will ever discover who they are?

Friends Addison Piper, Yasmin Rizvi, Caroline Passerelli, and Maddie Schaefer pose for a picture in the Alltech Arena.

Hello readers from R, one of the survivors of PONY FINALS 2012.

Pony Finals was a great time this year and everyone had lots of fun.

The Medal was very spooky and many ponies added a stride in the first diagonal eight stride. I think that everyone had lots of fun showing in the big indoor even if they didn’t have great rounds. Many kids found it easy to qualify for the second round because many others had bad rounds. Lucy Deslauriers ended up winning with two PERFECT ROUNDS on her large pony Center Field a.k.a “Bernie”. Since Lucy won the Medal, she isn’t allowed to do the Medal ever again so she gets to finish her PF medal years with a win!

Winner of the pony medal Lucy Deslauriers

Parade of champions- Winners of the best child rider 10 & under cantering and jumping around the ring. 1st place went to Maddie Schaefer.

During PF there were many ups and downs. Some of the ups were: Hanging out with friends, showing in a big ring, ice cream, snow cones, more riding experience, and many exciting meetings and dinners! Many kids thought the opening meeting was boring, but it was also important to learn all the Pony Finals rules. One Pony Finals rule is that no one can train you while you are in the show ring. During Pony Finals only juniors can warm up your ponies. But once you are 24 hours away from showing, you are the only one allowed to ride your pony.

At Pony Finals there are many annual awards such as high score Virginia Bred Pony, high score Welsh Pony, and high score half Welsh p\Pony. There were winners in each division, and over all winners as well. I thought that these awards were great because some people didn’t get regular ribbons but they had a chance to win these prizes. The prizes included champion ribbons, small trophies and cups, flower necklaces for your pony, and flower covered champion ribbons! You also received a picture with your pony and a halter for your pony!

Leaving Pony Finals was sad. For some it was because of how they did, but for others it was because of their friends. Most people will not be seeing all of their friends again until indoors. Even though many people will be at the Hampton Classic, not everybody will! So through the hugs and tears and laughs, everyone exchanged goodbyes. Some even made new friends, and had a few more phone numbers added to their contacts (including me)!

A hug goodbye from Addison Piper to Yasmin Rizvi, while her friend Caroline Passerelli watches.

For those who were completing their last year riding a certain size pony, or are completely moving to horses: Good luck with horses, and just remember all the great ponies that taught you how to ride. Ponies can be hard sometimes but they are definitely worth it when you move to horses and think: wow horses are easy compared to ponies! So be thankful for your ponies and good luck with the rest of riding!

For those who didn’t place at pony finals 2012:

Don’t worry. Even if you didn’t place, you have so many more years of riding! For all you know, you might get champion next year! Or maybe even champion at a different exciting show! Just remember that a lot of the people that got champion this year didn’t start out like that. Just keep trying your hardest and one day it’ll all pay off.

Thank you all for reading my blog, and I hope you enjoyed the tips and input from my friends and I! I hope you all listen to our advice and we’ll hopefully reveal ourselves eventually, or maybe even continue this next year! Thank you to EMILY ALLONGO PHOTOGRAPHY for making this all happen, and enjoy the rest of the summer sunshine! We’ll see you next year…But until then, GOOD LUCK! <3

~From the Survivors~