United States Eventing Association

From an Appaloosa purchased for $800 winning the individual CH-J*, to a William Fox-Pitt look alike securing an individual win in the CH-Y**, the Adequan FEI North American Junior and Young Rider Championship proved once again to be one of the most exciting events in the country. Area II heads back to the east coast with a gold medal in the CH-J*, and Area III took top honors in the CH-Y**.

Casper and Alexis Nelson Are Made for the Movies

Any American eventer has seen the classic fictional movie Sylvester (1985), a story about a wild horse and his ambitious young rider. The story is set on a western ranch where rider Charlie trains her horse Sylvester to jump, and shortly thereafter competes him in an eventing championship at the Kentucky Horse Park. The movie may seem a bit unrealistic, but this week at the NAJYRC, a very similar story became a reality.

When Alexis Nelson of Area II first purchased an Appaloosa known around the barn as Casper (competing under the name Total Eclipse), he was an untrained cast-off from a western farm. On Sunday, Casper and Nelson became international junior eventing champions.

“Casper came from an Appaloosa breeding farm. Actually, I was at a lesson barn, Affinity Farm, and the person who owns the farm found him. He was just sitting in there in the field. It was a western barn and they couldn’t sit his big trot,” Nelson explained.

“So [the barn owner] got him for free. I worked with him for a year, and then when he was five I bought him for $800.”

Nelson and Casper will return home to a small boarding farm in Round Hill, Va., with both the individual and team NAJYRC CH-J* gold medals in hand. Nelson and the rest of the Area II CH-J* team -Margret Schaeffer, Grace Fulton, and Madeline Mosing - only added four points to their team dressage score and clinched the team win. Area V and Area VIII followed in second and third place, respectively.

Area III Holds on to Win the CH-Y**

The Area III CH-Y** team of Nicole Doolittle, Calvin Ramsay, Adrian Jones, and Emily Rusinyak entered the show jumping phase with a nine rail advantage over the team with the next highest score. Five rails came down, and Area III was able to maintain their lead to win the CH-Y** for the second consecutive year.

Calvin Ramsay on Flintstar added nothing to his dressage score of 63.2, which was good enough to earn him the silver medal in the individual competition. Ramsay was especially proud of the fact that the Area III team, which was placed second to last after dressage, managed to move all the way to the top of the standings.

“It’s what I appreciate most about the sport. With a good jump on cross-country and show jumping you can end up in the top, and I guess that’s what happened today,” said Ramsay.

Finishing the CH-Y** competition with the individual gold was David Ziegler riding Critical Decision. The duo had four rails in hand when they entered the ring, and used up all but one of those rails en route to his win.

To reward Critical Decision for a long and accomplished career, Ziegler is planning on retiring his mount in the near future. However, Ziegler plans to pick back up as soon as he gets home, saying, “I have some younger prospects in Pennsylvania. As long as I have a horse, I will keep at it.”

A number of observers commented throughout the weekend that Ziegler bears a striking resemblance in his appearance and riding style to the great William Fox-Pitt. Ziegler laughed as he has heard the comparison many times before, but was no less flattered by the compliment.

Double Silver for Area V, with Some Help from Area VI

Area V team coach Mike Huber is known for his talent in coaching the Area V teams at NAJYRC with numerous medals under his belt. This week was no exception, as Area V once again occupied a spot on the podium, earning silver medals in the CH-J* and CH-Y**.

The Area V CH-Y** team entered the competition with the deck stacked against them. As the only team in the competition with only three members, there was very little room for error. All other teams had the luxury of fielding four members, meaning that their lowest score could be dropped.

According to team member Katie Resnick, “We definitely talked about [having one less team member than the other teams]. You just have to put your big girl pants on to get on that podium!”

However, Area V was very lucky to have been paired up with Alexandra Willoughby and Tiki Torch from Davis, California (Area VI). Willoughby and Tiki Torch were the highest placing members of the combined Area V and VI squad, and the pair managed to finish in fourth place just behind April Simmonds of Ontario, Canada riding Impressively Done.

Full results
Video highlights