TWO coloured ponies with no recorded breeding but interesting stories behind them won at the second of the season’s Sports Pony Challenge qualifiers in Wexford Equestrian last Saturday.

The seven-year-old Baby Buttons, who landed the 133cms class with a perfect 300-point score under the home-based Taylor Peare, is owned in partnership between the rider’s mother Orla and young horse producer Adrian ‘Eddie’ Burrell whose godfather bought the pony as a foal.

He drove the mare with the Wexford Hot To Trot group but she proved a bit flighty for that discipline so was passed on to Burrell. The latter had Ballydoyle work rider Keith Dalton school Baby Buttons before she did unregistered jumping for a year with Jessica Halley and was then schooled for dressage and working hunters by Michelle Sheridan.

Taylor and Baby Buttons are on a roll as just last month they won the HOYS 133cms working hunter qualifier at the Northern Ireland Festival in Cavan where they also finished second in two competitive classes.

In the 153cms section, not only was the winning pony, Carraig Thomand, competing in a dressage arena for the first time but so too was his 13-year-old rider Emma Kehoe. They were only seventh in the flat phase but won both jumping sections which isn’t surprising as ‘Puzzle’ is a Grade A 148cms gelding with just shy of 300 points to his credit.

Owner Colin Finn told how he came to own the piebald. “I was at Clifden Mart in 2013 and was told about this pony. However, as he wasn’t a Connemara he wasn’t allowed into the grounds of the Mart so I had to deal with the man who was selling him outside on the road. We broke him ourselves but he has spent the last three years with Martin McGann and his family in Co Clare and Ailbhe did a great job bringing the pony up the grades.

“We knew nothing about this Sports Pony Challenge until Orla told us about it at Wexford Equestrian on Bank Holiday Monday and persuaded us to enter. Orla then had to kit Emma out on the day as she didn’t have a tweed jacket. As the pony is on the market, we’re not sure what we will do with him next but Emma would like to take him to the Final at Barnadown and is determined to work hard at her dressage before then.”