Lexington, Ky. – While eventing competition heats up in the Rolex stadium at the 2025 Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS EquestrianTM, there’s even more for horse fans to see just down the hill at the Chewy Demonstration & Exhibitions Ring. Over the years, the demo ring has featured countless breeds, disciplines, and other entertaining equine acts. Among this year’s lineup is a group of charming Connemara Ponies and their people representing the American Connemara Pony Society (ACPS).
The ponies in this year’s demo represent the breed’s versatility and athleticism, with backgrounds that include eventing, dressage, hunter, jumper, Pony Club, and more.
- Windy Hollow Lilia (“Lil”), a 29-year-old mare owned by Katherine Short and ridden by Ella Graham.
- Wildwood Hearne Topgun (“Topgun”), a 21-year-old stallion owned and ridden by Elliott Timmons.
- *Gold to Blue Easily Dun, (“Shamrock”) an 8-year-old halfbred gelding owned by Alexis Harthill and ridden by Amanda Burriel.
- Knockma’s Finnarva (“Finn”), a 13-year-old gelding owned and ridden by Cathy Blackmon.
“I’ve been riding Connemaras since the 70s. I just love their can-do attitude and their athleticism and temperament, and they love their people,” said Blackmon, whose partner for the demo, Finn, is a homebred of hers. “They know who’s sitting on their back. You can have a five-year-old crawling on them, or an accomplished professional, and they perform to the level.”
“They’re incredibly intelligent athletes,” Burrell added. “They’re wonderful students. Once they figure out who you are and trust you, they’re willing to do anything for you. They’re incredible in that way.”
With the exception of Lil, who participated in a Connemara Pony demo during the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, doing an exhibition in the big atmosphere of an event like K3DE is a new experience for the ponies. But being the center of attention comes naturally to them.
“They get attention everywhere they go,” said Short. “Everywhere you go, people stop you and say, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s so cute!’ Or ‘What breed is that?’”
Burriel said that she brings Shamrock to hunter/jumper shows where he is something of an anomaly among the big horses, and it brings a lot of positive attention.
“People are like, ‘Oh my gosh, what is this horse? He jumps really well and he’s super cute!’” she said. “It’s all warmbloods at the rated hunter shows, so people are not used to it, but they really enjoy seeing him.”
Topgun, who is an eye-catching buckskin, caught the eye of Breyer when they were on the search for a new Connemara Pony model.
“It was around 2019, and Breyer approached the ACPS saying they wanted to do another Connemara,” said Timmons. “They helped them narrow down a short list of ponies.” Ultimately they provided Breyer with photos of suitable Connemara models, and Topgun was the one they picked.
Timmons has been Topgun’s trainer throughout his long career, and now in his 20s, he’s still going strong.
“I rode him for his entire career,” she said. “And in 2017, we moved to Indianapolis, and he stayed in Florida [with his owners at the time], and so he was pretty much retired at that point. We bought him in 2022 and he’s still going.” In fact, Topgun and Timmons finished on their dressage score to place second in the Open Beginner Novice at the Ocala International Festival of Eventing just the week before coming to K3DE.
Topgun isn’t alone in having continued success in his 20s. Connemara Ponies are known for their longevity and soundness. At age 29, Lil is still going strong, and she and Graham are having fun in all kinds of sports. The pair qualified for and competed in the U.S. Pony Clubs Festival Championships last year. They went to the National Dressage Pony Cup Championships where Lil was recognized with a special award for being the oldest pony competing at the show. And while dressage is their competitive focus, Lil is still happy to shift into another gear when asked—they’ve been a competitive pair in pony games.
“They truly are such a good family, amateur, or junior horse,” said Burriel. “With Shamrock, I’ve put a 75-year-old student on him, and he knows his job is to pack her around cross rails. But then I can get on him and jump around the 3’6”. He knows we’re at a horse show, so we’re doing that job. They’re really intuitive animals.”
When asked what she wants people to know about Connemaras, Blackmon said, “Just the joy of it. They have such a can-do attitude and temperament. Every day you bring them out and they look at you going, ‘Okay, what are we doing today?’”
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