Seventeen-year-old Ella Doerr recently received the USEF Reserve Junior Sportsmanship Award. This is the most recent of several major awards Doerr has to her credit, including the USHJA Youth Sportsmanship Award presented at the US Hunter Jumper Association Annual Meeting in December. In 2016, she was chosen for the USHJA Youth Leadership Award. She is the only rider to be chosen for both these awards.
Doerr has scored in the top 24 in the country in the USHJA Horsemanship Quiz Nationals and competed in the finals three years in a row. At age 16. she was the youngest ever chair of the USHJA Youth Committee and an ambassador for shop USHJA clothing. On a state level, she has also won Pennsylvania Horse Show Association Championships.
Doerr rides from her small family farm in Wellsville, York County, PA. As she enters her final season as a junior rider, her petite stature allows her to remain in the pony hunter divisions.
Doerr’s current mount for the Large Pony Division is a Welsh cross named By Jove, known at home as Batman. “He’s really sweet. He’s a little bit quirky. He’s the most talented pony I’ve ever ridden,” she said. “He’s very spoiled. I’d bubble wrap him if I could.”
Doerr’s love of ponies started when she met Shetlands at her grandparent’s property. She started riding with her mother Brook and at age 7 she got a Chincoteague Pony she named Wind in the Willows. “I trained him practically from scratch. We learned everything together. I brought him all the way along to Zones,” she said.
She then competed in Pony Hunters with Faircourts Lighting Thief before moving on to By Jove about three years ago.
She trains at Woodberry Farm with Chris Gemmill, making the effort to trailer her pony in for lessons sometimes several times a week, year-round. She has found sponsors.
Keeping her mounts at home means Doerr does her own stable work. She also pays for her own riding expenses by holding down a job at Dairy Queen and babysitting, supplemented by horse show prize money and sponsorships. She also finds time to play with her little brother Parker, and care for her grandmother.
Doerr’s hard work has paid off. She realized her dream of going to the Pony Finals in 2017 by winning the USHJA Foundation Gochman Pony Finals Grant.
Knowing what she had to go through to make it to the Pony Finals in Kentucky, she freely shared her experiences on her Facebook page and blog, letting other young riders know what she was learning at the clinics that go along with the competition.
Doerr goes out of her way to help other riders. She started her own company “One Good Pony LLC”, where she created and produced a new card game called “Horsemanship – Colic Watch Out”. The fast paced game for two or more players of all ages is a fun learning device that educates players to the symptoms of colic.
Doerr is home schooled, with plans to attend college after graduating next year. She hopes to major in public relations and communications. She loves to read and is enjoying learning sign language.
Although she does not plan on an equestrian job for her primary career, she plans to continue working with ponies. She now has two ponies in her barn for training, with two more on a waiting list. She is also researching pony breeding and bloodlines and has recently purchased a pony mare with the possibility of breeding her in the future.
“I love ponies so much I want to keep riding and training ponies. I’m barely 5'2", so I can ride ponies forever,” Doerr said. “I love their personality and they’re so cute and wild, I love it.”
Doerr is appreciative of the awards she has received, but keeps her attention on the present. “I’m focused now on enjoying my last year and enjoying every minute of it,” she said. “I consider my ponies my closest friends. I want to keep playing with them and learning and hanging out with them.”
Doerr’s card game “Horsemanship – Colic Watch Out” is available for purchase on e-bay, and demonstration videos can be found on YouTube. You can follow Doerr on Instagram at onegoodpony.