From the media tent at the Rolex (Kentucky) Three-Day Event at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky: The first “horse” out on course was actually not a horse at all. He’s technically a pony.

Karen O’Connor’s crowd-favorite “Theodore O’Connor” stands 14.1 hands. He and Karen clocked around the course like old pros, picking up just a handful of time penalties to end cross-country on a score of 60.1. They ended the day in 10th place.

“I’m speechless,” said O’Connor. “Our goal with this pony has always been to never over face him and never show him what he can’t do. I was very nervous coming into the cross-country today. But, as each exercise came, he just proved to me that he is just one-in-a-million horse. I’m in awe of him.”

From the official media release: “Teddy”, clearly ready, met every fence dead-on, and Karen gave all of us a real riding lesson. When asked about her ride, Karen said, “It was a great learning experience. I’m still drunk on “pony power.”

When queried on how she was going to keep him focused for show jumping, Karen replied, “That’s pretty easy, he looks up to everything anyway.”

For more about Theodore O’Connor, scroll down to yesterday’s post about him.

Photo by Michelle C. Dunn, courtesy of Rolex