Lexi Ray Finds Fun with Mounted Games

Mounted Games are a natural draw for riders of all ages—just ask 23-year-old Lexi Ray, a C-2, H-B member of Tuscawilla Pony Club in the Sunshine Region. She got started in Pony Club with Mounted Games at age 5 and hasn’t stopped since.

Mounted Games competitions feature relay-style races requiring riders to master a variety of skills, such as picking up objects from the ground while remaining in the saddle; weaving through a series of poles at high speeds; handing items off to teammates without slowing their mounts; and dropping objects into buckets (sometimes at a gallop!). Playing Mounted Games provides a fun way to learn basic riding skills, and so much more.

Discovering Mounted Games

“My very first rally was a Games rally on my little Shetland Pony, Sparkles. I fell in love with Games from then on,” says Lexi.

Determined to learn all she could, Lexi says she watched YouTube videos of Mounted Games in other countries to teach herself the skills and strategies for each game. However, she discover there were some limitations. “Learning to vault through a YouTube video is ridiculously hard,” she laughs.

At the 2011 USPC Festival Championships when she was 10 years old, Lexi had a breakthrough discovery that made her more determined than ever to pursue her love of Mounted Games.

“My Quiz team discovered what Games were actually supposed to look like,” she says. “We spent all of our free time watching the Games teams compete. After what I like to call our ‘Games awakening,’ we proudly told our parents that we would go to Championships in Games and make it to the Prince Philip Cup.”

The Prince Philip Cup was a lofty goal. This invitational competition takes place at the Kentucky Three-Day Event each spring, with the top-placing teams from the Junior Division at the USPC Championships invited to compete.

“They thought we were insane, and rightfully so,” recalls Lexi. “We had no idea what we were doing, and only two of us had ponies. But we got our chance thanks to our coach, Pam Johnson, who we somehow convinced to come out of retirement for us.”

That team, the Lemonheads, came in 3rd at the 2013 USPC Championships and made it to the Prince Philip Cup. “We never actually won, but we left our mark in getting second every year we went,” Lexi says. “They even let us make a second-place trophy for teams to receive: the Lemonhead reserve champion trophy.”

Lexi has been competing at the USPC Championships in Mounted Games every year since then.

What’s Good About Games

Although Lexi’s time in Pony Club has offered her the chance to pursue a wide variety of disciplines, Mounted Games holds a special place in her heart.

“I compete in other disciplines like Show Jumping and Eventing, but nothing is quite like Games. I don’t know another discipline where you compete as a team and every member matters,” says Lexi. “Sure, you ride as a team in Pony Club rallies, but there is usually a dropped score, and you’re not competing as a whole. A Games team is a family. You have to learn to work together and figure out the best strategies for your team to succeed. No one is left to figure it out on their own.”

“My favorite thing about Mounted Games is the strategy involved. It might look like all we are doing is running full speed like a bunch of crazy people, but Games requires us and our ponies to understand when to go slow and when we can go fast. That whole time we are on the field, we are thinking through the best way to get that skill done.”

Lexi feels that many people don’t take the time to fully understand Mounted Games beyond the fast pace.

“I grew up doing Mounted Games because when I was 6, playing with bending poles and flags was way more fun than riding around in a circle practicing Dressage. However, I was actually learning skills like leg yields, bending, transitions, balance, and coordination, which we all use for Dressage, which is the building block of every discipline.”

In fact, Lexi says that while her Welsh Pony, Squirt, may look like a wild beast in the Games arena, he also competes in First Level Dressage.

“We use those same skills found in dressage tests when we are playing Games; we are just going much faster. If I had not started playing Mounted Games, I would have never discovered my love for Dressage and Show Jumping,” she says.

So although she has come a long way from Sparkles, and may be found these days jumping a very large Thoroughbred named Genghis Khan, Lexi credits those technical skills she developed for Mounted Games as the ones that make it easy for her to adjust her striding between jumps and use her seat to communicate.

A Lifetime of Mounted Games

Lexi was thrilled to be selected to ride for the United States on the United States Mounted Games Association (USMGA) team at the Nations Cup in South Africa, which took place Dec. 11-17, 2023—an opportunity she says she has been working toward her whole life.

“Mounted Games have certainly become my life,“ Lexi says. “I have been given so many opportunities to spread the sport that I love—from competing in the Prince Philip Cup with the Lemonheads, to winning the President’s Cup in 2016 with the Lemonheads, to this past year getting to compete at the EEI Games Invitational and winning with Mischief Managed. However, I think all of these opportunities really have just been preparing me for my ultimate goal of representing the United States in Mounted Games.”

Lexi encourages others to give Mounted Games a try. “For anyone who may want to try Games. I say do it. It doesn’t matter if you’re a 6-year-old Pony Club member or even that 6-year-old’s parents. Games are for everyone.”

To get started, Lexi suggests contacting the District Commissioner (DC) of your Pony Club to see about getting a clinician for Games instruction. Other resources include USMGA and Mounted Games Across America (MGAA). These two Mounted Games organizations have members all around the U.S. that can help you get started.

She offers a word of warning, though: “Once you catch the Games bug, it’s hard to stop. Just ask my mom. I even got her hooked!”