Pony up!

Sleek and lithe, Bluebelle doesn't look like the chubby, cantankerous pony a farm kid might grow up riding.

But Genevieve Munson of Rogers doesn't look like a typical 10-year-old farm kid, either.

Genevieve has been showing ponies since she was 4, and in early August, won the 2014 U.S. Equestrian Federation Pony Jumper Individual Championship in Lexington, Ky. She is the youngest rider to ever do so, according to her father, Mike Munson, who founded the Northwest Arkansas Pony Club and owns the Rogers Equestrian Center.

"I think Genevieve is a horse," Munson tells anyone who asks.

Her passion and expertise shouldn't surprise anyone who knows the family. When Genevieve was born, she already had a 12-year-old sister and a 9-year-old brother both riding English style. And her parents bought her a pony almost immediately after they brought her home from the hospital.

But Munson is quick to assure that the sport isn't being forced on his next-to-youngest daughter. She made a list of New Year's resolutions at the beginning of 2014, he explains. No. 1 was make all perfect scores on her tests in fifth and sixth grades at Shiloh Christian School. No. 2 was winning the national pony jumper finals -- not going, her father points out. Winning.

Young and restless

Listening to Genevieve, it's difficult to believe she's 10 years old, but it's easy to understand why she's annoyed about her age. Many competitions require her to be 12, and people often discount her skills because she is so young.

"A lot of times, I'll make a big goal, and I can't do it because of my age," she says. "And I don't like it when people underestimate me."

On the other hand, she says, it might be a good thing they do.

"No one thought I was going to win."

The uninitiated often underestimate ponies, too.

"Everybody always says, 'Your pony is so cute,'" she explains. "Not when she's in the arena. She turns in to a beast."

Genevieve says she started riding "when I could sit up."

"I guess it's where I'm gifted -- and I enjoy it," she says. "The nationals competition was definitely something new, and I'm glad we went up the weekend before. When it was time to compete, I was ready."

She says she intends "to make an effort again next year and see if I can be consistent," but she's also working on another area of competition -- pony dressage -- with her previous mount, Glenmore's Top Hat.

"We bought him as my first real pony," she says. "He took me a far ways -- from jumping 18-inch straight bars to 3-foot straights. We tried to convert him into a jumper pony, then Bluebelle sort of drifted into my life. But I ride him all the time."

The problem with dressage?

"I can't do it until I'm 12."

Perfect pony

Finding the perfect mount is no small feat, Munson says.

"Bluebelle is quite a pony," he describes. "Most children would be just terrified."

Genevieve had been used to Topper's sweet, gentle disposition in hunter events. A jumper, her dad describes, can be aggressive. And owners of talented but aggressive jumpers often don't feel safe with tiny 10-year old girls on them.

Genevieve just happened to meet Bluebelle's owner, the legendary Carlie Beisel, at a Pony Club event in Columbia, Mo., two years ago. She came to her dad with Beisel's name and contact information, urging him to consider leasing the pony. They began traveling to Greenwood, Mo., in the Kansas City area so Genevieve could get acquainted with and ride Bluebelle, described as a "mare of unrecorded breeding" in the national equestrian media. Genevieve was 9; Bluebelle was 14.

Their first USEF A-rated show together was the American Royal in Kansas City in November of 2013. At their next show in Tulsa, Okla., the duo won.

"There are two athletes in that arena," Munson says. "They both have personalities. They both have good days and bad days. It's a big challenge to get everybody on the same page."

Ponies like Bluebelle "have been bred to do just this," he explains. "They discovered Bluebell could jump because she jumped sideways over a 5-foot gate when no one was paying attention. We have to spell the word J-U-M-P around her. She can't even hear it or she gets excited.

"These animals like their job. It seems like they're made and bred to carry little kids around on their backs -- and they're most happy when they're doing that."

To jump the 3-foot, 9-inch barrier required for competition meant that Bluebelle was jumping something almost chest high on her. Genevieve's trainer told her father that would take two years of work to get ready.

The Munsons managed to lease Bluebelle -- the pony was not for sale -- and bring her to Northwest Arkansas, where Genevieve put herself and her pony on a six-day-a-week practice schedule. Within four months, they were meeting the requirement.

But the partners still couldn't ride in the U.S. Pony Club Championships. Genevieve had to be 12.

"There was no age restriction to be on their national team, though," Munson says. And Genevieve led that team to a gold medal in Lexington.

"She won't refuse a jump,"Genevieve told The Chronicle of the Horse about Bluebelle. "Jumping is her life, and she couldn't have it any other way."

Asked by Phelps Sports how she felt about her victory, Genevieve said she was "really, really happy."

"But I really want to congratulate Bluebelle," she added. "She's the one that jumped over the fences. It wasn't me."

Pony pathway

That's the kind of response Munson and wife Glenda expect from a youngster raised on horseback, just as all of their children -- daughter Morgan, now 22; son Gabriel, 19; Genevieve; and 4-year-old Michaela -- have been.

"We have the good fortune of getting to use the pony as a character-building tool and a leadership-building tool," Munson says of the work undertaken at the Rogers Equestrian Center. "We teach them confidence and leadership skills -- and the pony just provides a venue to do that."

The family bought the farm in eastern Rogers in 2004. Munson says it took about a year just to get it in usable condition and that it was intended for the children's use, "kind of like building a football field in our back yard."

Now, the Rogers Equestrian Center staff teaches about 40 public lessons a week. Munson expects they'll hit 2,000 lessons in 2014.

"The primary thing we do is teach English riding to children and adults, using U.S. Pony Club curriculum," he explains. "We have a recreation program where a child may come and ride once a week and will learn every area of horse management from the ground to on the horse's back.

"Then we have a competitive program, which requires a minimum of two times a week. And we take them to horse shows and allow them to celebrate their skills."

"The U.S. Pony Club is unique because its educational programs place equal emphasis on the teaching of riding skills, horse-care fundamentals and team participation with sportsmanship," states its website, ponyclub.org. "From the moment youth join USPC until they graduate (at age 25), they are part of a broad network of activities and educational programs that promote the health and safety of both horse and rider. USPC is dedicated to developing knowledgeable, competent, responsible and caring horsemen."

"A lot of children in our area end up riding horses because there is not enough access to quality ponies," Munson says, explaining that a pony is defined by both breed and size. "Many of these girls who are riding ponies in competition are also riding horses. It's not uncommon to see ponies in the ring with horses.

"There is an entire industry in the United States and Europe dedicated to breeding these stunningly beautiful little animals.

"But I think God made ponies for little girls."