(Lexington, KY) - Adrienne Sternlicht on the seven year old gelding Vanity Fair, won yesterday's 2005 Wild Horsefeathers / USEF Green Pony Hunter Championship. The championship was held as part of the USEF Pony Finals being held August 10-13 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY. As champion, the twelve year old Adrienne and "Coco," a large pony, walked away with the Brownland Farm Perpetual Trophy, a Royal Rider Dress Sheet, a ten-inch Revere bowl keeper trophy and a Pessoa saddle. Her trainer is Patricia Griffith.

The reserve champion was Jennifer Waxman, with a 14th birthday today, on 11 year old Devon Walther's Fort Knox, a medium pony gelding, age 7.

Exhibitors went head-to-head in three phases of competition, a model class, an under saddle class, and finally an over fences class. To vie for top honors, they competed against riders from across the nation who had qualified to compete in this event by winning a Champion or Reserve Champion at an "A" or "AA" rated United States Equestrian Federation competition between December 1, 2004, and July 1, 2005.

"The course was challenging because it wasn't like a normal hunter course, although it wasn't like an equitation course, the lines were off your eye and you had to basically figure out the course by yourself," said Adrienne. "The option was the hardest part. I decided already when I went into the ring which one to take but I didn't know how it was going to ride because some ponies were staying out and some ponies were staying in."

This was Adrienne second pony finals but she hasn't participated in the last two years because she went to summer camp instead. Now she'd rather be at pony finals, "I love my camp friends and I miss them a lot but riding is my favorite thing to do. I was totally surprised when I won, I was just so excited that I got a ribbon in the first class (3rd in the model) and then he ended up winning the hack and I thought 'Oh, maybe I have a chance.'" The pair won the over fences as well.

Adrienne clearly loves her Dutch pony, "Coco acts like he's not green, he's brave as can be. He's awesome, he has auto changes and he really trusts me with what ever decision I make. He'll jump from anywhere. He's such a goof around the barn, he acts like a big dope. He's silly and he loves to jump. He loves his job."

Adrienne's win was a big comeback since she had broken her leg in March while skiing and had only ridden Coco twice before the accident. She started back riding and showing in June.

Reserve Champion Jennifer Waxman has plenty to celebrate on her birthday today. She rode the Fort Knox, a palomino Welsh cross, for the first time at the Kentucky Summer Classic Show last weekend because his owner, Devon Walther, had just broken her leg. "I thought the course was nice, it was pretty inviting for green ponies and the jumps weren't scary. It was hard enough though for Pony Finals. The turn after the turn to the last line was the hardest part if your pony has hard lead changes. Sometimes they thought they were going to turn right but they had to turn left. That caught a lot of people off-guard."

Jennifer is a Pony Finals veteran, this is her sixth in a row, and she had high praise for Devon's pony, "He's really fun to ride for a green pony, he's really not green. He has a really big stride. He doesn't look at anything."

This competition was made possible through the generous sponsorship of Wild Horsefeathers. Visit www.wildhorsefeathers.com to discover the many pleasant surprises for the junior exhibitor that Wild Horsefeathers has to offer online and also, in their annual print catalog.

The judges for the Green Hunter Ponies were, Susan Ashe of Wellington, Florida, Linda Andrisani of Wellington, Florida and James Clapperton of Wellington, Florida.

The USEF Pony Finals runs through Saturday and will include the Pony Medal, Small, Medium and Large Pony classes as well as the Team and Individual Jumper Championships.

ENDS
For more information, please contact Maria Partlow, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications on (859) 225-6941 or via email at mpartlow@usef.org . USEF press releases are available on our web site - www.usef.org .