Nottingham girl takes first at international equestrian competition
Faith Ann Hudson, 7, of Nottingham Township, rides her horse, Sunny, through a obstacle course at Rebel Run Stables Riding Academy.
Faith Ann Hudson, 7, of Nottingham Township, recently won a world championship in a race at the Appaloosa World Show and placed in some other events. Faith holds the ribbon and Sunny shows off their trophy at Rebel Run Stables Riding Academy.
Faith Ann Hudson, 7, of Nottingham, recently won a world championship in a race at the Appaloosa World Show and placed in some other events. Faith and Zippos Sonny Te, with their ribbon and trophy, are shown at Rebel Run Stables Riding Academy.
Faith Ann Hudson, 7, of Nottingham Township, rides her horse, Zippos Sonny Te, through an obstacle course at Rebel Run Stables Riding Academy.
For 7-year old Faith Ann Hudson of Nottingham Township, the first time is the charm.
At the end of June, the second-grader at Hillcrest Christian School in Bethel Park flew to Fort Worth, Texas, with her mother and father to compete for the first time in the 2016 World Championship Appaloosa Youth Show. Of the four class/divisions she entered, she placed in three, including a first place win for walk/trot Keyhole Race in the 10-and-under group. In the race, she was pitted against 15 competitors from across the United States.
The race requires each horse and rider to pass through a keyhole design marked with chalk without touching the outline of the perimeter. Horses running this event must have speed, but also the agility to stop quickly from full stride, turn and bolt directly back into a run. For her equestrian achievement on her horse, Zippos Sonny Te, Faith Ann took home a trophy, a ribbon and a jacket with the Appaloosa logo on back.
“I trained a lot before the competition and was really happy to learn I’d won,” she said. “I got a trophy and a ribbon and want to compete again next year.”
“We first sat Faith Ann on a pony at 6 months,” explained her mother, Amy. “You might say she rode even before that because I rode while I was pregnant with her.”
Hudson started training her daughter at an early age at her Rebel Run Stables Riding Academy, on their 115-acre farm in Nottingham. Faith Ann also receives additional training from Marie Palmer, the stable’s instructor, and through the Brush Run Pony Club of America, which includes barrel racing instruction from Sandy Bennett.
While Faith Ann and her mother love riding horses, her father, Mark, an anesthesiologist, prefers to serve as the cheering section. Mark’s daughter, Emma, also rides and won national and world championships in 2012.
Faith Ann, who also rides English style and jumps, is already planning on returning to next year’s world championship show. Amy said her daughter would like to get out of walk/trot and start running and that her next goal is to jump higher. After watching the equestrian events at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, she also has her eye on participating in the games down the road.
Besides riding, Faith Ann takes ice skating lessons at Southpointe. She is also a member of the cheerleading squad for Union Finley’s grade and middle school football teams and does gymnastics.
“Faith Ann was very focused and didn’t seem a bit nervous,” Hudson said of her daughter’s performance at the world championships. “In fact, I was a lot more nervous than she was.”