Polly Sweeney Finds The Winning Rhythm In WCHR Adult Amateur Challenge

Photos and Story by Tricia Booker for the USHJA

   When Polly Sweeney walked into the ring for the WCHR Adult Amateur Challenge wearing the WCHR Leading Rider Armband, it was all part of a dream come true this year.
   And the dream’s fairytale ending concluded as Sweeney guided Karen Long Dwight’s Pimm’s Cup to top honors with scores of 90, 89 and 89. 
    “It only took me 71 years to get this thing,” said Sweeney after the class. “I’ve been riding since I was 3. I’ve won a lot here and there, but this is the biggest. This is so exciting. My husband’s here, my daughter’s online and my son’s online, my granddaughters, who love to ride, are online watching. It’s just a thrill.”
        Sweeney, of Pasadena, CA, rode Pimm’s Cup for the first time here at the Capital Challenge, and it was a match made in heaven. With assistance from her own trainer, Archie Cox, as well as Dwight’s trainer. Ken Berkley, Sweeney, earned the show championship in the Adult Amateur, 51 & over, section on Thursday. Sweeney then chose the gray gelding as her partner over her own horse, Duet, for the WCHR Challenge.

     “My horse is here, and I rode her in the 51 and over yesterday, too,” said Sweeney. 
“It’s just that she’s got a bigger stride, and I found myself all of the sudden not as perfect on her. So, I got prizes, but not top prizes. I’ve been champion on her at every show in California, but the competition here is much different.”
     Sweeney, a professional musician and the manager of the Pasadena Symphony and co-manager of the Santa Barbara Symphony, said that she felt an immediate bond with the 10-year-old KWPN (Silverstar—Pimarilla). She compared their instant rapport with the feeling she experiences when all of the members of a symphony are in perfect harmony.

     “It’s like playing a Stradivarius violin. It’s just magic,” she said. “And it gives me goosebumps to think about it.
     “You know from the first jump that the connection is there,” she continued. “I knew coming down to that first jump in the Challenge that we were on target. He was just saying, ‘What do you want?’ And I’m saying, ‘What do you think? And we read each other the whole way around. It was just fun. A thrill. It’s hard to describe to people who don’t ride, but it’s such a high…it’s got to be better than 

any drug! Maybe Champagne, which is coming next.”
     Sweeney wasn’t sure she was going to bring her own horse to Maryland from California, so she called Dwight to find out if she might have an extra horse. Dwight, who earned top ribbons on her Havana in the same section, offered Pimm’s Cup.
      “And so she said, ‘Oh please, he’ll be here anyway. Please enjoy him,’ ” said Sweeney. “I’ve been riding all my life, and I’ve ridden all sorts of different horses. This is a very special horse that Karen has. I feel really fortunate that she was so generous.”