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Courtesy Rob Kemp
Kathryn Kemp, in formal attire, and her mount, Angel, leap over a stadium jump. |
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Ponies brave frosty conditions
Kemp, Fiegel pass riding, horse management exam despite local snowstormDespite rain, sleet, and snow (mostly snow), the test goes on.
Two girls in the Wallowa Mountain Pony Club - Kathryn Kemp, 15, of Joseph and Lily Fiegel, 13, of Lostine - completed and passed a riding and horse management rating Oct. 3 at the Jim and Connie Dunham Ranch north of Enterprise. Connie is one of the club's instructors. For more than five hours on some "dicey" footing, Kemp rode her mount named Angel through to a rating of C2, while Fiegel and Forrest scored C1. They celebrated by packing snow into trophies.
The girls had spent months preparing for the United States Pony Club Rating. The thorough and detailed examination tested riding skill, dressage, stadium jumping and in cross-country course jumping. They also took verbal exams about all aspects of horse care, including showmanship, equine nutrition and health care, shoeing, bandaging and teaching younger 'pony clubbers.'
Kemp and Fiegel proved to be "well prepared candidates that possessed positive attitudes despite the weather," said Marla Foreman, a certified USPS examiner, who drove from Pasco, Wash., through the snowstorm to rate the girls.
The local club is within the Inland Empire Region of the United States Pony Club, which originated in the United Kingdom, hence the term "pony." Whether a 12.2-hand pony or a 16.3-hand horse, they are all called ponies.
Pony club features many horse sports in its program. They include dressage, eventing, polo, games, stadium jumping and the tetrathalon, which calls on running, shooting, swimming and stadium jumping.
For more info on the United States Pony Club, go to (www.ponyclub.org). For info on Wallowa Mountain Pony Club contact president Nancy Fiegel, 263-1107.
Nancy Fiegel and Rob Kemp contributed to this story.
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Reader Comments
Posted: Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Article comment by:
Thomas Paskowski
Delayed congratulations to Lily Fiegel from Tom Paskowski, her Mom's uncle, in Las Vegas, NV.
Have more news about interested hikers in Camas and Portland and Sisters, OR.
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