The P.O.A. (Pony of the Americas)

Pony showmen: (left to right)
Mike Zeniecki with Totally Hot Stuff
Sophia Ruffino with Tees EZ Dot

My name is Joanna Ruffino, and these are the kind of ponies I ride, the P.O.A. (Pony of the Americas). This breed is a highly affectionate breed, and they are really a “Jack of all Trades.” These ponies are known for being able to do everything, and I mean everything! They do english, western, reining, trail, games, jumper, halter and showmanship. Now most of you might think that is a lot, but it really isn’t to us.

When you think of a pony, you think of a little, fat, shaggy pony, but these aren’t little or shaggy. These are POAs. These ponies have a reputation of being the most fascinating colored ponies in the US. These ponies can be colored from leopard to a black with frost. Some of the POAs I’ve seen are quite wildly colored. It’s like walking into a barn of about 50 horses of all different colors, like from the Wizard of Oz. For example, my pony, Sassy, is a liver chestnut with a blaze and a frost and my sister’s pony, Dotty, is a leopard. My mom’s pony, Pops, is a buckskin with a frost and my Junior pony, Beauty, is just every color you could name on a horse. My friend’s horse, Emmy, is white and there are many, many more. I wish I could tell you them all ? I’ll send some pictures.

Pony showmen: (left to right)
Maggie Zeniecki with Tees Double Trouble
Joanna Ruffino with Tees Sassafras T
Sarah Baker with Tees Cream ‘N Sugar

One of the characteristics of the POA is sclera. Sclera is a white circle around the eye. Mottling is another characteristic which is found around the muzzle and eyes. It looks like a marble floor. All POAs must have mottling and sclera or they’re not POAs. These ponies also have striped hooves. During the shows, we are not able to put black polish on them because that covers up a natural characteristic.

POAs have a height limit of 56” which is about 14 hands. That means that to show a POA in the POA World, it has to be 56” or smaller, (but no smaller than 46”). I think that the reason for this is so that people don’t try to sneak an Appaloosa horse into the shows.

Many POAs have long tails, but some have “rat tails” which means a horse that does not have very much of a tail. This is not due to poor conditioning, but because the horse was born like that. We think this may have happened because when the cowboys and Indians rode these ponies, they may have gotten caught and pulled out a lot. As a result, the ponies evolved a short tail, to adapt to their surrounding habitat.

Now let me tell you about a typical POA show. Everyone gets up really early, about 5 a.m., and they work their horses and get ready for Halter and Showmanship. Not everyone does halter, but a lot do Showmanship. There are three age divisions. The 13-18 division is usually the biggest class, but 8& under could give them a run for their money, as well as 9-12. This year I’m in 9-12 and it’s pretty tough.

After Showmanship, we have Bareback, and then the western classes which include Western Equitation and Pleasure. Then we go on to jumping and english classes, including Open Jumpers, Hunter over Fences, Novice classes for novice horses or riders and the flat classes. In between these classes we have Lead Line and two 19 and over classes which are for young horses that are being trained by adults. There is also a Junior class for young horses which the older kids are training. Next comes the games which include Barrels, Poles, Flags, Scurry, Keyhole, Handy Horse, Go Go, Texas Role Back, Straight Barrels and Figure 8 Barrels.

On the second day, everything is the same except that instead of jumping, there is Reining and Trail. We usually split up the games, half one night and half the other. A real POA does all of this perfectly, and all the ones I know, do their jobs and do them well.

I hope you’ll check them out because they are really the coolest ponies I’ve ever seen!