Waukon's Tiffany Riehm and "Pony" win pair of World Championships

by Lissa Blake

Some say practice makes perfect.
For Waukon’s Tiffany Riehm and her Paint mare, “Pony,” that practice paid off in mid-June when the duo earned two world championships at the Pinto World Championship Horse Show in Tulsa, OK. Riehm won both her halter class (where the horse is judged on its conformation) and her showmanship class (where judges evaluate how the exhibitor handles the horse).
Riehm, a 2009 graduate of Waukon High School, has been riding horses since she was about three years old. She started showing Pony’s mom when she was about 10 years old and advanced to national competition by the time she was about 16.
Riehm said from a young age, she knew that surrounding herself with the right team, which included top trainers, was important.
“When I was in high school, I moved my horse to a trainer and would go there on weekends and get lessons with my horses. I was either at the trainers getting lessons or at a horse show just about every weekend,” she said.
Riehm added that while she worked hard on her own, she never hesitated to ask others for help with her showing. “To be the best, I think you have to learn from the best,” she said.
She recounted a saying that she said has guided her along the way: “Practice is important, but you have to practice correctly. If you go out and practice it wrong every day, it’s still going to be wrong no matter how many times you do it.”

GETTING READY
This spring, Riehm decided she would take Pony, also known as "Ty’s Cool Angel," to the World show in Oklahoma.
Starting at the beginning of March, Riehm began that preparation slowly with a small workout routine, about 15 minutes a day to get the horse in shape and about 15 minutes of working on showmanship, which includes practicing things like setting her feet up, practicing pivots (turning with her right hind foot planted while executing a turn), backing straight lines, and walking and trotting in sync with each other.
In the halter classes, horses are evaluated on conformation, including balance, structural correctness, breed and sex characteristics and degree of muscling.
Riehm said in “fitting” Pony for the World show, she knew she had to be careful not to overwork her so she wouldn't lose weight, but needed to work on building good muscle so she could be at a good weight for the competition. In addition to adhering to a strict six-days-a-week workout schedule, she also worked closely with a Purina representative to make sure her horse was receiving the proper nutrition.
“I wanted to make sure her system was in balance and she felt the best she possibly could,” she said.

A SCARY SETBACK
Although Riehm did all she could to prepare Pony, her show aspirations were threatened when Pony started to exhibit symptoms of Lyme disease in late spring. In horses, Lyme disease can result in lameness, arthritis, neurological problems, moon blindness and dermatitis. Luckily, Riehm knew her horse well enough to know something was off.
After diagnosis, Dr. Rod Smed of Waukon Veterinary Clinic came to Riehm’s barn every day for a week to administer I.V. antibiotic treatments. “I have to say a big thank you to Waukon Vet Clinic. They were awesome to work with,” said Riehm.
Although this setback could have ended Riehm’s World Show prospects, she and Pony didn’t let it end there. “As the show got closer, I pushed her during her workouts just a little bit harder, and we were practicing our showmanship twice a day,” she said.
Riehm explained the showmanship class judges the skills of the exhibitor in showing his/her horse. Each exhibitor is required to perform a pattern designed by the judge with emphasis on preciseness of pattern and degree of confidence exhibited by the showman.
Riehm definitely had confidence going for her as she and Pony headed to Tulsa. “I felt we were well prepared. My biggest concern was the air-conditioned arena. Some horses can get a little silly going from the 100-degree Oklahoma weather into a nice, cool show pen,” she said.
But again, Riehm knew practice would prepare them both for the real thing, so she set out a few days early to get them both acclimated.

THE BIG SHOW
Riehm and Pony showed bright and early at 7:30 a.m. at the World Championships. The showmanship class had a total of 46 entrants, and Riehm and Pony were the 19th entry to perform the working pattern.
When she and her horse made the top 20, they were assigned a different pattern to rehearse for the finals. Even though the new pattern was a challenge and she only had the rest of the day to practice before that evening’s competition, she tried her best not to let her horse sense her anxiety.
“I didn’t really get too nervous. I know horses can feel the vibes from you, and if I got nervous, I would only make Pony more nervous. So I just tried to stay calm and practiced my pattern in my head while walking Pony to keep her calm,” said Riehm.
As someone who had trained her horse herself, she was a little intimidated when prior to the finals there were many trainers standing in the warm-up pen coaching and giving last-minute tips to their clients. But Riehm knew she and Pony were up to it, and Pony performed another “awesome pattern” for the judges, according to Riehm. “She was focused and did beyond exceptional,” she said.
When Riehm learned that she and the little horse she had trained herself had beat the entire class of 46, she said the feeling was indescribable. “It really was an amazing feeling winning showmanship on a horse that I had raised and trained myself,” she said.
Pony also won her halter class (mares five and older), which judges the horse on her conformation. “That same day, she placed third in another halter class that was judged on her color pattern,” she said.
Overall, Riehm said she was proud of the little horse that had never been in a showmanship class before the World Show. “After I won, I took her back to her stall where she got lots of well-deserved treats and lots of hay … She was one tired pony,” she said.
Riehm said her horse did better than she ever could have expected. “It took a lot of hard work and dedication, but in the end, all of the late nights and early mornings paid off - coming home with two world championships,” she said. “A big thank you goes out to my dad for everything he does to make sure I am able to go to these horse shows. Without all of his hard work, it wouldn’t be possible.”