By Kim J. Harmon

There is a first time for everything, all right, and the first time that Tyler Nicoll, 12, and Emerald’s Irish Charm competed together they took the high-point championship of the Kentucky Hunter Classic at the Bethel 4H Fall Horse Show.

Emerald’s Irish Charm – known affectionately as Pippin – is just four years old and has only been jumping for the past six months. But Nicoll, an eighth-grade student at the Newtown Middle School and one of only two junior riders in the Classic division, didn’t let that stop her.

“It was really fun,” she said. “The courses were kind of hard.”

The high-point championship comprised the two shows of the Bethel 4H – the spring show on May 20 and the fall show on September 16. There were 12 competitors in the Kentucky Hunter Classic division – 10 adults and two juniors – and Pippin was the only pony to compete.

Nicoll has been riding for about six years now, but this was her first competition.

“Our goal was just to get her around the course,” said Stacey Gallagher, the owner/trainer at Emerald City Farm on Huntingtown Road. “But Tyler did such an incredible job of training with him.”

Pippin, a Quarterhorse-Welsh cross bred in Pennsylvania, and Tyler will compete in two more shows this fall at Lion Hill to complete the competitive season. Maybe then Tyler will be able to move on and start training on a bigger horse.