Happy New Year!

It is always with great hope and excitement that I look forward to a brand new year, but also a time in which I like to look back and reflect on the year that has just passed. In the world of ponies we have much to be proud of and have seen some great accomplishments from our fellow pony enthusiasts this year.

Karen O'Connor and her Thoroughbred/Shetland/Arabian cross named Theodore O’Connor (Teddy), standing just 14.1 h, made us stand up and cheer as they brought home two gold medals from the Pan American Games this year. This was the first time that a pony had competed in the games in eventing. The pair followed up this accomplisment witha third place finish at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day-Event, the pair’s first four-star competition.

In the world of competitive driving in 2007 we have seen Miranda Cadwell and her pair of ponies earn the Individual Gold medal at the World Pony Driving Championship in Dorthealyst, Denmark. Cadwell’s Gold helped the U.S. team to the Bronze medal. Suzy Stafford, also a member of the Team USA and her pony Cefnoakpark Bouncer (owned by Sybil and Wanye Humphreys) were honored by having the Breyer horse company immortalize their pony into a model.

Another historic event took place this year at Pony Finals when 10 yr old Lille Keenan swept all three pony hunter divisions to win the 2007 Wild Horsefeathers/USEF Pony Hunter Finals Championship. Keenan, of New York, NY, rode Heritage Farm’s 13-year-old mare Blackberry in the small division, Chansonette Farm LLC's Enchanted Forest in the mediums, and Adrienne Sterlicht's Vanity Fair in the larges. What a great accomplishment for such a young rider and we are very excited to see her conitune in 2008! You can see the full press release from USEF here.

We have also felt the loss of some of the great ponies of our time, including the great Glannant Country Roads, owned and loved by Thalia Gentzel and family at Helicon Ponies. All of us at Ponyworld (and our associated newsgroup Ponies-L) pass along our sympathies on the loss of one of the greats. So here's to 2008 and the next round of firsts with our great pony friends!

Karen Fildes
Owner, Ponyworld