Makenna Nastri and her pony Spotlight mid-jump. At the Pony Finals in Kentucky they placed 24th out of 168 in jumping.
Makenna Nastri proclaims that Spotlight is the “awesomest pony ever.” At 12 years old she did most all of the training on her own.
Twelve-year-old Makenna Nastri has been training with her mom Sara for years. Horses are their passion.
Most of their equestrian skills come from the local Emerald Valley Stables in Ridgefield. At it, Makenna has become one of the best in the country for her age at jumping and hunting, two events within the sport.
A couple weeks back she put those talents in front of the country at the 2016 US Pony Finals, put on by The United States Equestrian Federation in Kentucky. This event is about as big of a moment as someone like Makenna could be put into.
“I do a lot of shows, but they haven’t big as big as that,” said Makenna. “I was nervous.”
Helping to ease those nerves once it was time to shine was her pony, whose name “Spotlight” fits exactly what they were out to achieve.
“He’s the awesomest pony ever,” said Makenna. “He did really good.”
At the end of the competition the pair finished 40th overall out of 168. Most impressive was their 24th place finish in the individual jumping event. There were three divisions based on the size of the pony and Makenna and Spotlight were in the medium.
“Watching her in that environment was great,” said Sara. “It’s unreal how many ponies were there.”
Though Sara has had a significant influence on Makenna’s success, she says she’s proud of the independent work her daughter put in to make this happen.
“She’s done most all the training with the pony herself,” Sara said.
To make it to Kentucky Makenna had to win her way through standard qualifying rounds. The one that got her a ticket into the big show was at Wilsonville in June.
Sara says their trip across the country was done driving and took 37 hours one way. Both of them say every mile was worth it.
To learn more about the United States Equestrian Federation or the US Pony Finals visit usef.org. For more information about the Emerald valley Stable in Ridgefield that produced this team visit evstables.com or find their page on Facebook.
