Pony Club Podcast

Mongol Derby-Riding Pony Club Member Aliina Keers and 12-Year-Old Keira O'Connor-Reichert About Pony Club

• United States Pony Clubs, Inc. • Season 2 • Episode 13

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Pony Club Podcast cohosts Sarah Evers Conrad and Megan Scharfenberg interview Pony Club life member Aliina Keers, who rode in last year's Mongol Derby, and talk with 12-year-old Keira O'Connor-Reichert and her mom, Debbie, about her eventing adventures with her ponies and about going viral on social media. This month's episode is brought to you by  Kentucky Equine Research.

Guest, Aliina Keers: Aliina Keers is a graduate C-3 Eventing, H-B in Horse Management, and a Life Member and alumni of Carbon Hills Pony Club from the Northwest Region. She is currently a kennel huntsman for the Iroquois Hunt Club in Lexington, Ky., where she trains both staff hunters and English foxhounds. In August of 2022, she completed the Mongol Derby, billed as the longest and toughest endurance race in the world.

Guest, Keira O'Connor-Reichert: Keira O'Connor-Reichert is a C-1 in Eventing and Horse Management with Pickering Hunt Pony Club in the Eastern Pennsylvania Region. This 12-year-old went viral for a helmet-cam video in which she talks her Welsh pony, Flower (Pine Creek's Snapdragon), through a cross-country course. At last count, the Facebook video had more than 2.1 million views, but at the time of recording, it was at 600,000 views. Keira is a big advocate for Pony Club and is already planning to attend the 2023 USPC Championships East in Eventing. She, Flower, and her scramble team captured first in Dressage in Standard Junior Training Level at the 2022 USPC Championships.  

Guest, Debbie Reichert: Debbie has been a member of Pony Club with her daughter Keira. She shares more of Keira's story with listeners.

Hosts: Sarah Evers Conrad is the Marketing and Communication Director at the United States Pony Clubs, and Megan Scharfenberg is the USPC Marketing and Instruction Coordinator