Top Young Riders, Juniors Compete at 2010 NAJYRC

Riders vie for medals in dressage, eventing, show jumping and reining at the 2010 North American Junior/Young Rider Championships.

Young Riders from Regions 5 and 6 celebrate team gold. | Photo by Brad Davis/SusanJStickle.com

August 5, 2010 — At the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky., the Adequan FEI North American Junior/Young Rider Championships presented by Gotham North (NAJYRC) July 28-August 1 gave riders the opportunity to compete in the same arena that will be used to determine world champions at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in September. The NAJYRC is the premier equestrian competition in North America for junior and young riders, ages 14-21.

Dressage
On day one of competition the dressage riders battled it out in the team tests. In the Young Rider team competition, the combined team of U.S. Regions 5 and 6 earned a total of 199.842 for the gold medal, with Ontario taking silver and the combined team of U.S. Regions 4 and 8 taking bronze. For the Juniors, team British Columbia took the gold medal, U.S. Region 7 took silver, and the combined team of U.S. Regions 3 and 4 took bronze.

Continuing with the Individual tests on days two and three, Jhesika Wells took the gold in the Young Rider division, and Jamie Pestana rode Winzalot to a gold medal in the Junior division. Finishing off the week were the Freestyles. Young Rider Jamie Holland of Canada/Ontario scored a 72.700 percent for the gold while Pestana and Winzalot added another gold medal to their collection in the Junior division.

Eventing
Participating in the NAJYRC, Junior riders took part in the CCI1* while Young Riders rode in the CCI2*. Competition began with dressage on Thursday for Young Riders and Friday for Juniors. Saturday saw solid performances over the David O’Connor designed cross-country course, and competition wrapped up on Sunday with show jumping in the main stadium.

Kelly Pugh and Copycat Chloe win Young Rider individual gold in eventing. | Photo by Brant Gamma

For the Young Riders, the Area III team took home the gold medal with a combined score of 217.80, followed by the combined teams of Areas VI and VII for silver, and Areas V and IX for bronze. Kelly Pugh and Copycat Chloe were the Young Rider individual gold medalists.

In the Junior Division, the combined team of Areas VI, VII and VIII took home the team gold medal, Area IV took silver and the combined team of British Columbia and Quebec took bronze. Kelly Loria and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds were the Junior Individual gold medalists.

Jumping
Junior and Young Riders jumped in several rounds of competition for team and individual medals in the NAJYRC and the Kentucky Horse Park. On Friday night, under the lights of the main stadium, the team medals were determined in a two round format similar to a Nations Cup. The Young Rider team from Zone 10 took home the gold medal, followed by Zone 5 and Zone 2. Silver and bronze were determined by a jump-off between the two teams.

The Alberta team was victorious in the Junior division, with Zone 10 taking silver and Zone 4 taking bronze. The individual competition concluded the week of NAJYRC competition on Sunday afternoon, Ali Wolff of Zone 5 was the Young Rider gold medalist and Ben Asselin of Alberta took the Junior gold.

Reining
In their third year as a championship event at the NAJYRC young reining riders spun and slid their way to medals. Canada made a strong showing, taking home top honors in all three competitions. Nancy Pratch and Rooster Kicker of Alberta took the blue ribbon in the Welcome Class. In the team competition the Alberta team finished on a score of 629.5 for the gold medal, followed by USA East for silver and USA West for bronze.

On Saturday, the individual medals were swept by Canada. Pratch and Rooster Kicker added another gold medal to their collection, finishing with a score of 215. Darcy Wilson and Miss Cielo Chex took silver, and Vanessa Strotman and Listos May Day Hobby took bronze.

Endurance
The North American Young Rider Endurance Ride was held concurrently to the NAJYRC as a non-championship event. Fourteen Young Riders arrived at Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill in Harrodsburg, Ky., to compete for medals in Thursday’s 120km ride. The riders began at dawn, and in the end it was Jennifer Stevens and Syrocco Cadence who prevailed for the gold. Syrocco Cadence was also named the Best Conditioned Horse. Sarah Jack and Syrocco Troilus took silver, and Steven Hay and Khalil Asam were the Bronze medalists. Riders also competed as teams with the team gold going to USA East, team silver to USA Central and team bronze to USA Mountain/West.

For complete results, visit www.youngriders.org.

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