JOPPA, Md. — They’re just 42 inches tall at the shoulders, but Olney Farm’s Shetland ponies of Joppa, Maryland, make a big impression at the Washington International Horse Show. This year, 10-year-old Sophie Perri and her friend and fellow competitor 11-year-old Addie Steffes will be competing on ponies from the Harford County farm.
Sophie, riding Olney Farm’s Smarty Pants, said she’s a little nervous about competing in the horse show, but like a seasoned competitor, she added, “I’m scared I’m not going to win.”
She said there are distinct advantages to riding Shetland ponies — the first being their small size. “If they buck you off, it’s not as bad as a real horse bucking you off.”
Sophie knows her pony well. When Smarty Pants, a little pinto, is excited, “She throws her head a lot and she gets all fancy,” she said. That means that the pony arches her neck, she explained, creating an elegant figure as the little mare revs up for a race. “It’s just really fun,” she said.
Addie was working with Mardi Gras, a little bay pony and a racing veteran with attitude that likes to go full speed. Addie said Mardi Gras can be a bit of handful, a trait that many of the sturdy Shetland ponies share.
“They’re sassy, so you’ve got to sit up and you’ve got to get control of them. You can’t let them take control of you,” she said with authority. “You’ve got to be the boss.”
Addie is a teeny bit nervous about the competition at the Capital One Arena, but to calm herself, she said she thinks of “how proud my mom would be of me — if I didn’t fall off.”
When she rides at the Washington International Horse Show, Addie will be aboard a different pony, OhMy! A pony with plenty of go, but a little less attitude.
On a Sunday morning, the girls were giving the ponies a workout at Olney Farm, a riding facility that has been in the same family since 1855. Under blue skies with birds singing, the girls rode side-by-side, with Addie on Mardi Gras and Sophie on Smarty Pants. The two laughed and joked as they sped around an outdoor ring, with the ponies easily clearing two-foot jumps, and later, they took the ponies to a larger field, where they could go at top speed.
Sophie’s mom, Kate Perri, who grew up on the farm and who teaches there now, explained the origin of the Shetland pony races. For some time, as a fun activity at the farm, riders would take the little Shetland ponies over jumps, imitating the sport of steeplechase, where horses need a combination of speed and endurance over a course that can stretch for miles.
“We’d invite people we knew who had Shetlands, and it was so fun, we’d do it every year in May,” and somebody caught wind of it and they were asked to do a demonstration at a larger event in Maryland, Kate said.
While the Shetland pony event may just be a miniature version of what the full-sized horses do, it’s still an exciting event, Kate said. She knows the girls feel the tension before the race begins at the horse show, when the arena can be packed.
“They get the butterflies in their stomachs” as the announcer declares the start of the race. Kate said she doesn’t get nervous watching anymore. “I get very excited because it’s just exciting to watch.”
The Washington International Horse Show was established in 1958. The six-day show brings Olympic veterans together with junior riders in events ranging from the dramatic high jump known officially as “Puissance” to hunter-jumper competitions.
The Shetland pony competition is Thursday, Oct. 26.
