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Jun 21, 2012
Area V Selection Trials
Fleeceworks is proud to announce their Sponsorship of the Area V Young Riders Teams. They would like to invite all of our fans to follow the journey to the North American Junior/Young Riders Championships in Kentucky on their website as well as the USEA site with Area V Young Rider, Jacob Fletcher.
Greetings from Bartonville, Texas! A lot has happened to the Area V Good Shepherds since my last entry, and I’m here to tell you all about it! Area V is the only Area this year to have held a selection trial, which was at the Texas Rose Horse Park. All of our Area V Selectors were on-site, so the pressure was on to deliver our best performance. Mike Huber, the coach of the vast majority of our young and junior riders, was not at Texas Rose because he was in Bromont conducting the United States’ very own Olympic Selection Trials. It is quite spectacular to see these two different selection trials being held juxtaposed to each other. (And I must confess that most of us all dream about being in the other someday!)
The vast majority of the riders had respectful, if not spectacular, dressage tests. Many of the junior riders were in the upper 20s, and no one was above 34, making the selector’s jobs no easier. Despite the higher scores in the intermediate, I feel that all of the young riders had respectful tests, and Mary Frances Cargile trumped the class on a 38. In the dressage department, Area V looks to be in good shape and we’ll only get better since we’re all attending our various boot camps. Speaking of boot camp, Heather Morris has a new torture method: push-ups. When anyone repeats a mistake with their horse that said person has to do 10 push-ups. Needless to say, we’re not only going to be riding well at Young Riders, but we’re also going to have amazing “guns”. Watchout, if you see one of us coming by in an awesome Fleeceworks pad, we may just challenge you to arm wrestle!
Carston Meyer, the show jump course designer, built the course with Young Riders in mind, which resulted in some interestingly challenging questions including long distances to short combinations. All of the Young Riders showed that they meant business, putting in stellar rounds. Avery Klunick and In It To Win It had quite a great round at the beginning of the division, showing everyone else how to ride it. A few problems sprouted up in the Junior Riders’ show jump rounds, but overall the riding was still quite good. The show jumping test most definitely required a fair bit of riding and a good, forward rhythm, and most of the riders rose to the challenge. Tragically, that night, Mary Frances and I suffered an unfortunate injury. I would not suggest riding with no hands on a moped to anyone ever again. Other than a few scrapes, and our pride going down the toilet, we were fine as we were only going at a walking pace. It was actually quite embarrassing because all we needed to do was put our feet down. I never said I was the brightest crayon in the box. It provided great entertainment for those around us….although not as much as Jon Holling provided in Bromont! Go Jon!!
The cross country in the Young Riders division rode quite well overall, but there were a few uncharacteristic run outs that were no doubt a freak accident and will not happen again. I decided to withdraw Theo from the cross country to save him for another day. Avery Klunick ended up winning the Young Rider division after a great weekend for her. The prelim cross country had a few rough edges as the up bank out of the water to a skinny proved to be quite difficult.
Once again, there were unique challenges presented at the Texas Rose Horse Park, and overall, our Young and Junior Rider groups did quite an impeccable job, making the selectors job that much harder. From the sound of it, Mike Huber’s Olympic Selection Committee had just as hard of a time at Bromont with the stellar weekend some of our riders had in the CCI3* and CIC3*. Until next time, we will be down here trying to keep the lambs in line!
Jul 02, 2024
Educational Activities
USEA Educational Activity Highlight: Sherwood Forest Hunter Pace | Sherwood Oregon | July 13, 2024
What’s a Hunter Pace? The Sherwood Forest Equestrian Center's Hunter Pace is a cross-country-style course around Sherwood Forest over various natural obstacles/terrain. The course ends with a final treat for riders to take in stunning views of Mt. Hood with a loop through the old Far Hill Farms field. The beginning of the course will first start with a warm-up loop around show jumping obstacles in the outdoor ring at Sherwood Forest and then riders will continue directly onto the course. Sign up as a solo rider, pair, or team.
Jul 02, 2024
Profile
No Longer Dreaming: Claire Allen's Goal of Qualifying for USEF Eventing Young Rider Championship is Now Reality
Claire Allen remembers when she was 11 years old, having just made the switch from the hunter/jumper ring to three-day eventing. She told her new eventing trainer that her goal was to one day compete in the United States Equestrian Federation’s Eventing Young Rider Championships.
Jul 01, 2024
Competitions
Alliston’s Busy Weekend, Braitling’s Reuniting with Five-Star Mount, & Kalkman’s Advanced Victory Highlight Twin Rivers Summer H.T.
As he was finishing tacking up his horse in preparation to navigate the cross-country course at the 2024 Twin Rivers Summer Horse Trials, James Alliston expressed concern about navigating the 101 Freeway. That’s because as soon as he crossed the finish line aboard Intermediate level winner Addyson (Ampere x Nickerbocker) at 10:38 a.m. on Saturday—his fifth cross-country round of the morning with three at Preliminary and two at Intermediate—the West Coast-based five-star rider had to drive 185 miles on the 101 Freeway from Twin Rivers Ranch in Paso Robles, California, to San Francisco International Airport to catch a 4:35 p.m. flight to Frankfurt, Germany.
Jul 01, 2024
Education
USEA Podcast #364: All Your Grooming Questions Answered
There is so much more to proper grooming than keeping your horse picture-perfect for the horse inspection. Good grooming practices are critical to proper horse management, no matter if you are planning for your next FEI appearance or your Starter level debut. To help you maximize your knowledge of grooming practices, we opened up the opportunity for USEA members to submit any questions they might have on our Instagram and Facebook stories. In this week's episode, Host Nicole Brown sits down with three of the highest-regarded grooms in this industry, Max Corcoran, Emma Ford, and Stephanie Simpson, and asks them all of your questions and more to help you perfect the art of grooming.
