United States Eventing Association

'We Can All Celebrate Together’: Iron Bridge Hounds Pony Club Brings Home the Victory in USEA IEL Championship

Aiken, S.C.—May 4— Amidst the unbridled enthusiasm of the USEA Intercollegiate teams competing in this weekend’s USEA Intercollegiate & Interscholastic Eventing Championships at Stable View, the Interscholastic Eventing League (IEL) riders have held their own with displays of teamwork and horsemanship all weekend long. While all teams put their best foot forward, one team rose above the rest. The Iron Bridge Hounds Pony Club came into the weekend with one goal in mind—to win. They achieved that goal by such a large margin, a little more than 16 points, that they were able to claim the title of champions before their last rider, 16-year-old Claire McMillan, had even left the start box.

“It feels great, and now it takes a little bit of the pressure off of my last ride,” McMillan said, chuckling.

Made up of Olive Dumais, Emma Whitaker, Kendal Fansler, and McMillan, these Pony Clubbers have had an exciting weekend at the championship. Each team member took away a different lesson from the experience.

Dumais was riding Theresa Dumais’ Sweet Frijole in the Starter division. She finished on her dressage score to bring home the lowest score of her team, a 24.0. Olive may be a long way away from graduating high school and attending college, but that didn’t stop her from scoping out the College Fair in the Pavilion.

“I think definitely my favorite part was all the colleges and what this sport can become and how much work it takes to actually do this,” Olive said. “I didn't know there were so many eventing teams and so many opportunities. As you can see, there's so many riders with different colleges. I think it's really cool.”

McMillan, who competed in the Beginner Novice Rider division, was hoping to get more experience for her green horse, RVR Coldstone, while she was here. Together, RVR Coldstone and McMillan had just one rail in show jumping and a little time on cross-country to finish on a score of 35.5 after the difficulty factor. The difficulty factor takes each rider’s score and multiplies it by a coefficient appropriate for their level to account for differences in level difficulty, and then the individual scores are added together to determine the team score.

“It's been really exciting,” McMillan said. “It's been very rewarding getting my young horse in a ring, and it was great to get him in a big ring for the first time at this event.”

It was a particularly exciting show for Fansler and Hedgerow Farm’s Dassett Evermore, known back at the barn as “Nancy.” Despite being only their fourth show together, the pair went double clear to finish on their dressage score of 25.47 (post difficulty factor) in the Open Training division.

“My favorite part of the weekend was probably finishing the cross-country,” Fansler said. “It was also my first time finishing on my dressage score in the Training division. I was really happy with Nancy, and the cross-country course was a lot of fun. I realized that I have to be confident for her, because if I'm confident, she listens, and she'll do anything I ask her to do.”

Whitaker rode Hedgerow Farm’s HSH Golden Boy in the Training Rider division, where she finished double clear with a score of 27.18 (post difficulty factor). Crossing the finish line without either time penalties or obstacle faults in either the show jumping or cross-country phase was momentous for the pair. “I really liked the layout of this cross-country course,” she said. “And it was extra exciting for me because it was my first double-clear all the way through the whole event this season.”

Always team players, the members of the Iron Bridge Hounds Pony Club unanimously agreed that victory feels sweeter when you get to celebrate together.

“I feel really happy that I could support my team and help us get first place,” Olive said. “I think it’s really rewarding to be in a group with these people.”

“And we can all celebrate together, instead of just being happy for each other, since we all won,” Fansler added.

For McMillan, the team aspect brought a unique dynamic to the event that can’t be found elsewhere. “I think it's really rewarding that we all get to enjoy the same moment and the same show of events, because we know that we all supported each other,” she said. “We think that we couldn't have done this without each other being behind it, being behind each other, and supporting us from the start.”

The title of Reserve Champion was claimed by the Go With It Farm Groupies A, consisting of Raegan Hornfeck, Collins Zgutowicz, and Jake Tessler, who rode two horses for the team. In 2024, part of the Groupies A team–Zgutowicz and Tessler–were part of the IEL Champion team, the GWIF Groupies.

Hornfeck rode Halliea Milner’s Legendary Spots, a 14.2-hand Pony of the Americas. Together the pair finished on a score of 28.1 (post difficulty factor) in the Beginner Novice Rider division.

“I learned that I always just have a great group of friends to fall back on, even when I'm stressed,” Hornfeck said, prompting Tessler to lean over and give her a hug. “I was the last one to ride for our team the whole weekend, because I was doing the lowest level, and they were always so supportive. Even when I was stressed out, they were always there for me.”

Zgutowicz rode another horse owned by Milner, L’Avventura. Finishing double clear in the Novice Rider D Division, Zgutowicz and the Thoroughbred mare earned a score of 29.8 (post difficulty factor).

“Well, I've never really been great at dressage, but this weekend, it really showed that you can improve even in a short amount of time,” Zgutowicz said of her weekend. “What I always do is I do my dressage, the score comes out, and then I move up after jumping phases.”

Tessler rode Keep Kitty in the Open Novice B division, who is owned by Zgutowicz’s sister, Madison Zgutowicz. Aboard the Hanoverian mare, Tessler also finished on his dressage score of 34.86 (post difficulty factor).

For his second ride, Tessler rode his own Fernhill Focus Maxi in the Open Intermediate division. Unfortunately three rails in show jumping added 12 points to his overall score. At the end of the competition, the pair finished on a score of 38.175 (post difficulty factor).

“My biggest takeaway was probably that horses can be fun, and you can have a lot of fun at the events, even though it can be stressful,” Tessler said. “I rode two horses. One of them was my friend Madison’s horse, Keep Kitty. [Madison] got injured, unfortunately. So I grew so much, even throughout the weekend with her, which was fun. And then I've gotten a lot better at riding [Fernhill Focus Maxi] within the past year.”

The team from Go With It Farm also won the Spirit Award for the IEL Championship this year. Team members could be seen driving around the Stable View grounds in golf carts decked out in purple tinsel and streamers and wearing purple at nearly all times. At the opening ceremony, the team wore capes and crowns while carrying larger-than-life purple letters that spelled out GWIF for Go With It Farm.

“I love seeing everyone with their barn color and pom poms and signs and just cheering everyone on, even from other teams too,” Collins said. “I think that's one of my favorite parts about the show.”

Team coach Milner led the way when it came to emphasizing why having team spirit is important. Her slogan, “Be Fierce & Be Kind,” was emblazoned across the team’s golf carts, gear, and banner. Collins, Tessler, and Hornfeck took away some important life lessons from Milner’s emphasis on supporting their barn community.

“If someone's cheering you on it does make a difference, and it's important to be there for your friends, even through the good and the bad,” Tessler said.

According to Milner, she believes team spirit is a pillar of any barn community. “I think it's really important for the kids to feel united. It's an individual sport, and we really try hard to make it feel a little bit more family and community, and spirit is part of that,” Milner said. “You know, being dressed the same and cheering for each other and all those things. Those are things we do all the time and it's really fun to put it all together here.”

“It's really good to remind everybody that no man's an island,” Milner continued. “We’re a community and you can't do it alone. I think our culture really thrives on individualism, and that's not really how we've survived this long. So it's nice to remind everybody that doing it together is better.”

While the reserve champion team put in the hard work to be there for their teammates and decorate their barn, horses, and golf carts, they also wanted to recognize some very important people that were essential in helping them show off their spirit, particularly when it came to ordering and coordinating their matching gear.

“We have really great moms and dads,” Tessler said.

In third place, the Aiken County Pony Club and River Mist Eventing came together to claim their spot on the leaderboard with an overall score of 95.41. Their team members included Hadiya Yarbou, Mia Faught, Sebastian Howard, and Alexis Ryan.

Helpful Links:

• Intercollegiate Championship Coverage
• IEL Championship Coverage
• Stable View Website
• Digital Championships Program
• Live Scores
• Livestream
• Ride Times
• Meet the 2025 Intercollegiate Eventing Championship Teams
• Meet the 2025 IEL Championship Teams
• View the cross-country courses on the CrossCountry App

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About the USEA Interscholastic Eventing League (IEL)

In August 2020, the USEA Board of Governors approved the creation of the USEA Interscholastic Eventing League (IEL) as an official program of the USEA. The mission of IEL is to unite junior riders who are in the 5th—12th grade and provide a supportive community through which students can continue to pursue their riding interests. A group of junior members in the 5th—12th grade who share a common bond, such as the same barn, school, Pony Club, or other connection, can register with the USEA as an IEL Club. The second annual USEA Interscholastic Eventing Championship will be held alongside the USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championship at Stable View in Aiken, South Carolina, on May 2-4, 2025. Click here to learn more about the Interscholastic Eventing League.

The USEA would like to thank Bates Saddles, Horse & Country, Kerrits, PulseVet, Sidelines, U.S. Equestrian, WeRideTogether, World Equestrian Brands, and Young Rider for sponsoring the USEA Interscholastic Eventing League.