Hailey Kreek, 11, rides her eleven-year-old Welsh medium-sized pony on Thursday, May 3, 2012, at Heatherfield Horse Park in Trenton, Ga. Kreek has been riding since she was three years old.HAILEY ELIZABETH KREEKAge: 11.School: Fourth-grader at St. Nicholas.Siblings: Sister, Emily, 9, and brother, Andrew, 5.Ponies: Tex and Three Wishes.CLAIM TO FAMEHailey Kreek has been a champion pony equestrian in the close stirrup and 11-and-under divisions since she started riding competitively at age 6. This year, after only a few months riding in the children’s class, she moved up to the medium pony division and hopes to compete next year in the national U.S. Pony Finals.
Leaning over her pony’s short, brown mane as he leaps over a raised bar almost 3 feet off the ground, Hailey Kreek looks more like an extension of her pony than his rider.
Hailey, 11, first sat in the saddle at age 3 when her cousins perched her atop their pony, Merry Legs, and walked her around their father’s 60-acre farm outside Charleston, S.C.
At an age when most children are still nervous about graduating beyond training wheels, Hailey said, she immediately felt at home guiding an animal weighing hundreds of pounds.
“Some people have to force it to be a rider, but I’ve never had to force myself,” she said. “I think it’s just a gift. I love to ride, and I always have.”