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Silver Tide Stable in Sagaponack at 5 p.m. on a Monday. From left: MacKenzie, 11; Alexandra, 6 with Lolli Pop; Charlotte, 11; Vivianne, 6 with Cocoa Caliente; James, 9; and Scout, 4.
We chatted with a group of pony kids Silver Tide Stable in Sagaponack about the summer ahead, which all culminates in August with the whole to-do that is the Hampton Classic Horse Show.
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MacKenzie, 11
If Lolli Pop could talk, what would she say?
“I’m not doing this unless there’s a cookie in front of me.”
Who would her favorite singer be?
Beyoncé. Or Shakira. I feel like she matches Shakira’s vibes.
Alexandra, 6 with Lolli Pop
What’s the best part about pony camp?
When two of the ponies got married. Like we all threw flowers when they were walking, and we dressed up the horses like unicorns, too. Then there was the day when we put braids in their hair. I got to do that. I got to sit on the horse bareback and braid its hair.
Charlotte, 11
What’s your favorite thing about horse shows?
I like the equitation quite a bit more than hunter because it’s judging your position and your heels, whereas hunter is judging the pony, and some ponies don’t look as good as other ponies, and that can get your points eliminated. Some people lease ponies to ride them in shows — like, I’m leasing a pony named Jackie O. for a show. She has a motor, so she’s kind of fast, but she’s really comfortable, and I think she jumps nicely, too.
Scout, 4
Who’s your favorite pony?
Lolli Pop. She looks blonde like me, and her mane is blonde like me.
Are you doing the Hampton Classic this summer?
Yeah, leadline.
And what are you gonna do in the Hampton Classic?
Try to win.
And Here’s What Being a Horse Mom in the Hamptons Entails…
According to Christine Truesdale, whose daughter Capri competes in the Hampton Classic each summer.
No one in my family rides, and my daughter Capri came home from school one day and said, “Mom, I want to take riding lessons.” I’m thinking, Oh, this is gonna be something she’s going to do once. I quickly learned this was not just taking riding lessons. This was a lifestyle. My life is now, literally 12 months out of the year, traveling to shows. I’m rarely ever at home in Connecticut anymore. I’ll never forget when my daughter first started riding. This woman said, “Well, you have to go to Wellington, Florida. That’s the horse capital of the world.” And I looked at her and said, “Oh my gosh, there’s no way I’ll ever be going to Florida.” Fast-forward several years, and we spend the winters and own a home down there. Plus we were only going to lease one pony, then all of a sudden we were leasing another pony, and then buying a pony, and that’s kind of how it starts. Now Capri is 16, and we have horses. When you only have one horse, it’s hard because we learned that the more she rides, the more she learns, and you can only ride and jump so many times a week on the same horse since they need rest. She trains five-to-six days a week. And when she’s showing, shows are usually Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
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We go down to Florida starting in November. The season begins December 1 and then the Winter Equestrian Festival runs for 13 weeks from January. While she’s doing that, she’s being tutored full time. They’re very flexible with her show schedule because that can change by the hour. Then we go to Tryon, North Carolina, for the first two weeks of May for their spring series. And then to Devon, Pennsylvania, for a big show. And then we’re back home in Greenwich for a week and then we go to Lexington, Kentucky, for two and a half weeks. And then we’re back for a few weeks. Then mid-July we go to Traverse City, Michigan, for three weeks. And then in August it’s the Hampton Classic. We have a home in Montauk, so it’s really nice to be able to go back to your own home. The show is very famous but also a very serious horse show. I mean, there’s a lot of pomp and circumstance, and at a regular horse show, you really wouldn’t see people getting super–dressed up and wearing fancy clothes and fancy hats. But the goal of this all is to win.
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