Two Vashon equestrians recently won big at the U.S. Pony Club’s West Coast Championships. The girls, however, competed with their brains, not their horses.

Emily Kruly, 16, and Julia Ellison, 11, members of Vashon’s Olympus Pony Club, each placed at the Pony Club’s quiz competition, where riders were drilled on their knowledge of all things equestrian, from horse care to competition guidelines.

Each girl teamed up with a Pony Club member from another part of the Northwest and had to score high at the recent regional quiz competition to qualify for the West Coast Championships, which took place Aug. 7 to 10 in Cle Elum. At the intense, four-day competition, Ellison’s team placed third in its division and Kruly’s team placed first.

Kruly, whose team also placed second at the regional competition, said she studied hard during the week’s leading up to the quiz competition.

“You have to know a lot. It’s not common knowledge,” she said.

She called the event stressful but fun. She said she was glad to have expanded her knowledge of horses because she plans to one day be a veterinarian.

“It was super exciting, it was fun and it felt really rewarding,” she said. “We really worked hard to learn all that stuff.”