This "Beauty and the Beast" sequel features co-stars wearing pony tails and a happy ending found halfway around the globe.

In marquee lights are the names of a petite Collegiate School sophomore and her powerful show horse.

Together, they struck gold in faraway Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand - site of the Southeast Asia Games (SEA) in December.

Nina Ligon, 16, and her Westphalian/Thoroughbred gelding, Pacific Storm (answering to "Winnie") shared top billing in a triumphant series of rides against competitors from 11 lands.

Her equestrian specialty is eventing - a three-pronged exercise involving dressage, cross country and jumping, waged over three days.

The stately tandem of Nina/Winnie, from Pepper Hill Farm in Manakin-Sabot, posted a score of 48.3 penalties, far outdistancing runner-up Wisrut Tangplan (also of Thailand) for the gold.

Intros: The 5-4, 120-pounder began riding at age 5.

The daughter of Thai-born Pan Lamsam and American Austin Ligon, she has dual Thai/U.S. citizenship. On her riding résumé, her name is written in English and Thai.

Ligon, the lone female and also the youngest contestant, helped host Thailand claim top team honors.

She trains on her family's farm in Goochland under Richmonder Jon La Force and also in Scottsville.

Ligon, with two older siblings, was born in Thailand but has lived most of her life in the area.

Until her splash at SEA, her most prized win came last March at the Poplar Place Horse Trials in Georgia. She took top 1-Star honors out of 50 entries (including some pros).

Pacific Storm ("Winnie"), age 11, towers 17 hands high and rocks the scales at 1,300-plus pounds.

So how does a small-framed girl (her feet barely reach the stirrups) control the reins of such a mammoth animal?

"He's much stronger than any other horse I've ridden," she said. "It took me six months to get used to him; I'd always ridden much smaller horses."

She suggests she developed valuable upper-body strength for riding with eight years of gymnastics, from ages 3-11.

Knock on wood: So far, no serious falls.

"It is a dangerous sport," she said of the bounds over four-foot fences, "but when I'm riding, I don't think about it."

School life: Ligon plays the violin in the Collegiate orchestra and performed in the school's Music Man theatrical presentation last fall.

She enjoys classical music, yet is no stranger to hip-hop. Last spring, she and friends Steffi Curl and Taylor Daniels won the campus lip-sync contest, gyrating to "Lose Control" by Missy Elliott.

If it weren't for her year-round love affair with riding, she says she likely would go out for the soccer or track teams.

Next: A full spring and summer of riding competitions awaits her. She would like to represent Thailand in the Asian Games in 2010 in China.

The ultimate dream for her and Winnie would be to represent her birth country in the 2012 Olympics in London.

So who is more important in equestrian competition - the rider or the steed?

"Well, I guess the horse, because you wouldn't have a sport without him," she said.