Lexington, Ky – August 9, 2026 – The nation’s top young pony athletes took center stage in the Alltech Arena on Sunday during the final day of the 2025 USEF Pony Finals, presented by Marshall and Sterling. The highly anticipated Marshall+Sterling/USEF Pony Medal National Championship featured 203 junior riders showcasing their skills on their ponies during the first round of competition, and the field was eventually narrowed down to the top twenty for the final round. Vying for top honors, they maneuvered the course, which tested their handiness while keeping perfect form throughout the track.
In the end, Gabrielle Pitts (East Hampton, N.Y.) followed up her championship performance in the Small Green Pony Hunters with another national championship title, this time aboard Keepsake, an 8-year-old small Welsh Pony gelding (Byley Aragorn x Bettenakker’s Bbette) owned by Rivers Edge. The reserve championship honors went to Brynn Garrett (Linden, N.C.) with Odyssey Orion, a 12-year-old Welsh Pony gelding (Hilin Peredur x Blueridge Starlet) owned by Windsor Farm Equine LLC. Anna Moffitt (Spring Valley, OH) on her own A Bear Necessity, an 11-year-old Zweibrucker gelding (SmokeTree Snapdragon x Merry Fox), rounded out the top three.
Gabrielle Pitts & Keepsake. Photos by Shawn McMillen
After leading the lap of honor, Pitts expressed her excitement, expressing, “I feel amazing. I really love getting to ride these amazing ponies!”
During the first round, course designer Jasen Shelley (USA) tested the riders on their ability to navigate through a winding and flowing course that included a technical bending line as the first question, rollbacks, an in-and-out, and a final oxer towards the gate. After 203 pony and rider combinations jumped the first round, 20 were invited back to test over a ten-obstacle track for round two. The second course consisted of a direct approach to the first bending line, a sharp rollback near the gate to the in-and-out, a rollback to the trot fence and hand gallop to the final oxer going towards the gate before walking out of the arena.
Pitts was focused on delivering a solid test with Keepsake and explained, “I wanted to have a strong, confident, consistent round, and wanted to do all of the inside turns.”
Keepsake is trained by Scott Stewart and Ken Berkley of Rivers Edge, and Pitts began riding the talented small pony right before the Winter Equestrian Festival started, saying “He’s brave, but he likes a confident ride.”
This was both the pony and rider’s first time showing in an indoor, but they felt confident in Keepsake, noting they chose him so that Pitts could, “Focus on myself because he’s brave, so it helped me not have to worry about that so much.”
With the fall show season and Indoors quickly approaching, the duo is poised for a great end to the year together, and they will leave the 2026 USEF Pony Finals as National Champions.
The Pony Medal Finals concluded the 2026 USEF Pony Finals, presented by Marshall and Sterling. Next year, the event will return to the Kentucky Horse Park and continue to showcase the most coveted ponies in the United States, with some of the best young hunter, jumper, and equitation athletes that their respective divisions have to offer. To see a complete list of results or to learn more about the 2027 USEF Pony Finals please visit www.usef.org.