Mt. Ridge Countess
7-yr-old Welsh Section B mare, 12.1 5/8 hh permanent card, USEF #4934915

Mt. Ridge Countess (Tess) was purchased in April 2008 as a green prospect for our daughter Megan. We
presented her to the Weser-Ems inspection jury that summer, where she was inspected into the Weser-Ems Main
Mare Book. We had her first foal in 2009, an embryo transfer colt (
Valentino) by the amazing Weser-Ems stallion
Voyager. In 2009, Megan had a very good first year showing in the Green Pony Hunter division with Tess. It was
hard for her; unlike most kids, she did not have the years of preparation in the Crossrails and Short Stirrup
divisions. She started in the 2'3" division after about 10 shows EVER (and only two of them in the Childrens Pony
Division), on a 6-yr-old pony who had only done one show prior to us buying her. It is a testament to the pony's
temperament and trainability and to Megan's tenacity that they finished 2009 11th in Zone 4 in the Green Pony
Hunter division and 23rd in the nation (and we pretty much stopped showing in the green division in June).

On December 19, 2009, Megan won her first USEF Pony Medal class, qualifying for the USEF Pony Medal finals in
2010. In 2010, Tess and Megan have matured into a good team. They won another USEF Pony Medal class and
qualified for the 2010 Pony Finals. Megan managed to break her arm in June, which meant that they only had two
weeks of jumping to prepare for Kentucky. Despite this, they had a good showing, even with the nerves
associated with both their first trip to pony finals AND Megan's first show since June! Tess scored an 80 (ranged
from 78 to 80) in the Small Pony Hunter Model, finishing 38 out of 98. A heel bruise the week before pony finals
meant that Tess had to wear shoes or the first time ever (and we were afraid to pull them as we weren't sure if it
had healed enough) for the hack class, so her scores in the under saddle class reflected this, and she dropped
down the rankings. In the over fences, they were both very brave, and had a safe, quiet trip, with Tess deciding
about four strides out that she needed to add a stride to the scary double brush derby jump (no wings); many
VERY experienced ponies had stops and run outs at this jump, so we are thrilled that they had such a good time
at their first trip to pony finals.

Tess has become a fantastic, fun pony who is dead honest, sound, and very rideable. Megan has a lot of fun at
home playing with skinny jumps, bounces, and other "cool" things that many ponies would never do. Tess,
however, thinks it's all fun and a great trick. You couldn't ask for a better first division pony. It's very common for
me to end up sitting under her belly to clip her (she's sooo small, it's just too hard on my back to bend down that
far for that long!). Offered for sale; will consider terms.  The ONLY time she's ever been grumpy at a show was
when Megan was outgrowing her old Beval saddle (it was a size 13"!) and Tess's back was hurting. Once this was
fixed, she went back to her normal, cheerful self. No vices, info@oakmontsporthorses.com or 352-266-4669

Videos up on Youtube, go to www.youtube.com and search Mt Ridge Countess or Oakmont Sporthorses
A new video (with a rider of an appropriate size!) was filmed on 4/3/11; the link is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIzJb5kGT68
2010 Pony Finals