HARRODSBURG – Thirteen-year-old Courtney McGinnis prepared for her upcoming trip to next month’s Kentucky State Fair by winning the equitation 17-and-under class on the first night of the 183rd Mercer County Horse Show Tuesday.
The Indianapolis native, who said she was making her third appearance at the Mercer show, came in first in the two-person class, the first to show. She rode Kiss of the Zodiac, a 9-year-old American Saddlebred horse of Fish Creek Stables in Fisher, Ind.
McGinnis won this month’s Lexington Junior League junior saddle seat equitation championship and plans to compete at the Kentucky State Fair in Louisville. The state fair horse shows are scheduled to begin Aug. 22.
McGinnis said the inspiration for her horse riding career is her 18-year-old sister, Brittany, a member of the 2010 U.S. Saddle Seat World Cup Equitation team. Courtney said she “wants to be just like” Brittany and has been practicing equitation riding since she was 6, spending much of that time with Kiss of the Zodiac.
