By Kim J. Harmon

ASHEVILLE, North Carolina – Clovercroft Show Me The Bunny may have been one of the greenest of the Green ponies, but during the American Horse Show Association (AHSA) Pony Finals in Asheville, North Carolina, he ran like he was born to compete.

Show Me The Bunny – affectionately nicknamed Mac – took home a 10th-place ribbon at the finals earlier this month (August 13-18).

“We had just taught him how to jump in February,” said part-owner and trainer Abby Sealey-Ferrigno of Rabbit Hill Farm, which is based at The Ridge Equestrian Center off Hanover Road in Newtown. “His very first horse show was in April. He is amazing.”

Mac – one of three horse from Rabbit Hill to qualify for the AHSA pony finals – was ridden by Lia Poin, 12, of Fairfield. Now, Lia has been riding she was five, but – like Mac, who is five – this was her first pony finals.

“I think it was very intimidating for both of them,” said Mrs Sealey-Ferrigno. “I don’t even thing either of them was breathing when they first started.”

To qualify for the AHSA pony finals, the horse had to have earned a championship of reserve championship at an AHSA-sanctioned horse show. And despite having just started competing four months ago, Mac was able to do that.

Down in Asheville, the horse went through their warmups on Monday, August 13, and then spent the next four days competing.

“We were just looking to give (Mac) the experience of being in a national final,” said Mrs Sealey-Ferrigno. “We figured winning would just be the icing on the cake.”

Among the areas Lia and Mac competed in were the Model Phase (judged on conformation, soundness and movement), Over Fences (“It was a very intimidating course,” said Mrs Sealey-Ferrigno), Jumping Phase and the Flat Phase (Mac’s only real stumbling block).

“He just didn’t want to back up when he was supposed to,” said Mrs Sealey-Ferrigno, “but the judges still loved him.”

Mac and Lia earned enough points in all those phases to earn the 10th-place finish and take home a great big ribbon.

Mac was bred by Sheryl Patton at Clovercroft Pony Farm in Nashville, Tennessee. He had better luck than the other two Rabbit Hill Farm ponies who made the trip to North Carolina – No Bunny But Me (ridden by Lia Poin) and Mapleside Blue Smoke (ridden by Lindsay Jacobsen).

But, still, it was a great experience for all.