golf cart – Decaseconds

The Day Before Pony Finals

2023-Feb-132023-Feb-12 adohertyh1 Comment

Progressing through important summer horse show days finally brings us to the verge of Pony Finals. To whatever extent the event was subdued in 2020 and 2021, 2022 brought back the full experience.

Around Stonewall Farm, Pony Finals wouldn’t have been possible without the work of a whole team of young equestrians. Catching them in a rare group shot felt like a rare alignment of planets.

Naturally, that was because of the amount of time spent ferrying to and from the Rolex ring. As in past years, golf carts play a key role.

In the ring, young riders have time to school and explore the space before they return for scored trips beginning the next day. Behind this squad, the VIP sits empty.

There’s a mix of high stakes and informal context that makes this day before Pony Finals fascinating.

The formal riding clothes that will make up the next few days, the spectators in the stands, the judges, the jumps—all are absent.

There’s even time to stop for a snack…

…Or for a group photo.

The huge expanse of the Rolex’s footing makes for some remarkably neutral backgrounds. Details in horse and rider are all that stand out.

Back at the barn, pony after pony goes out for schooling or trials.

Will awaits a pony on the way back from the ring.

Megan gets Piper’s horse out of his stall…

And grooms him.

Piper heads off to ride.

The schooling ring is as busy as the Rolex.

In the warm-up, young riders focus on perfecting their rides.

Piper in the ring—with some good advertising.

“Maybe the real Pony Finals champions were the friends we made along the way.”

Horses Among the Preparations

2022-Jan-212022-Jan-20 adohertyhLeave a comment

The background of this image—fleets of golf carts, tons of bedding, parking lots of trucks and horse trailers, plus busy grooms and working students—is a good reminder of the effort that goes into the equestrian experience happening in the foreground.

Pony Finals Mega 2021/2020

2021-Aug-252021-Aug-24 adohertyhLeave a comment

The start of August marked Pony Finals 2021 (and a partial re-do of the aborted Pony Finals 2020.) Unlike recent years in the Walnut Ring, this year’s Pony Finals was held in Kentucky Horse Park’s dramatic Rolex Arena—and I was there with media credentials for The Plaid Horse.

Getting the show up and running meant moving a lot of resources, like the stack of bedding here, around the Horse Park… But the result was occasionally some unfortunate traffic jams.

Rails for jumps, likewise, were stacked up and ready to go.

The pony model classes happened relatively early on in the competition. Though spectators crowded the rails, stewards monitored them carefully to prevent any coaching of the young competitors.

Carleton Brooks and Piper Klemm were among the spectators.

Achieving victory in the model has a lot to do with conformation. Front legs should be even with one another.

When the class ended, the competitors exited beneath the massive Rolex sign.

Just outside the Arena was an area for warm up and golf-cart parking.

Riders stand at attention during an under saddle class.

…Then exit the Arena in an orderly fashion when the class has ended. The pool of competitors in some divisions was so large that they were broken into multiple groups.

While some ponies were in the ring, others were in the schooling ring for trials.

With horses and ponies involved in all kinds of activities, the Horse Park had a festival atmosphere.

Small ponies look even smaller in front of big signage.

And the huge Rolex Arena looks even bigger with a small pony in it.

At the end of the day, though, this is ultimately about what pony and rider can do together in the ring.

Fences on fences on fences.

The list of what pony is in what class… While this board might be small at some shows, here most divisions number in the dozens.

A bird’s eye view of the warm-up ring.

So many ponies are on the grounds that tents are used to supplement stall space.

Bath time outside the tent. Drying off the pony after washing is important to prevent overheating on humid summer days.

Back at the cottage, the trailer rests before another day as “pony taxi service”.

Venturing Into Kentucky Horse Park

2020-Jan-032019-Dec-31 adohertyhLeave a comment

The huge expanses of space and the mixture of animals that might not be seen elsewhere make Kentucky Horse Park a sort of real world Jurassic Park (minus the dinosaur attacks).