Moriah Orlando, a Leonard resident, and Hailey Boger, of Oxford, had their equine knowledge put to the test when they competed in a Quiz Rally with the Metamora II Hunt Club, a division of the Great Lakes Region of the United States Pony Club.

The U.S. Pony Clubs started in 1954 to teach the English style of riding and the proper care of horses. Its main purpose is to promote sportsmanship, stewardship and leadership through horsemanship to students ages 5-25.

The clubs host both competitive and non-competitive events, such as foxhunting, show jumping, polocrosse and eventing.

The Quiz Rally was held at the Potawatomi State Park in Indiana on March 11, where over 90 girls competed from Michigan’s lower peninsula, northern Indiana, and northern Ohio– testing their knowledge of horse management.

Competitors were tested on their equine knowledge in four separate phases.

In some phases, competitors collaborated to answer questions and, in others, they were tested individually.

Topics during the Quiz Rally ranged from horse care to horse sports to general equine knowledge.

Orlando, 14, took first place individually in the event’s Senior D division.

She has been involved in the Metamora Hunt II Pony Club for three years.

Orlando’s first-place win qualified her to compete at the United States Pony Club (USPC) Championships, which will be held July 17-24 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY.

“I wasn’t expecting to get first-place,” said Orlando. “It was very exciting. It felt like my work had paid off… I went to horse camp last year in North Carolina, so I’m not nervous (about championships). I’m just excited to go and see the horse park,” said Orlando.

Orlando also spent a season foxhunting with the Metamora Hunt Club and is hoping to become a whipper-in, a huntsman assistant who brings straying hounds back into the pack, within the next few years.

“She has a passion for horses and Gay Kent, along with Joe Kent, have been huge mentors for her,” Orlando’s mother, Mary Orlando, said. “We’ve been really been blessed to experience these things and I know (Moriah) feels the same,”

The Orlando family currently has three horses, Sampson, Ruby and Mia.

After graduation, Orlando plans to attend Michigan State University, with the hopes of becoming an equine veterinarian.

On Orlando’s Quiz Rally team, which placed fourth overall in the Senior D Division, was Boger and Lauren Weeder, of Metamora.

The team spent hours leading up to the event gathered at the Oxford Public Library reading horse books and testing each other with flash cards over the last several months, according to Boger.

Boger, a seventh-grader at Oxford Middle School, said she’s been involved in the Metamora Hunt II Pony Club for six years.

She began riding horses, following in the footsteps of her older sister, Brooke Boger, who is a senior at Oxford High.

“My sister started riding before me and I watched her when I was little… I became interested in it and I guess we kind of found Pony Club and thought we might like it, and we did so we stayed with it,” said Boger.

Boger is also involved in the OMS Equestrian Team.

Her family owns two horses, Rousseau and Mr. G., which have inspired her to keep riding and participating in horse shows.

To learn more about the United States Pony Club and the Metamora Hunt II Pony Club, visit www.ponyclub.org.