Champions Crowned at 2026 USEF Eventing Young Rider National Championships at Loch Moy Farm
Adamstown, Md.—June 28—An exciting show jumping finale in the rain brought the U.S. Equestrian Federation Eventing Young Rider National Championships to a close at Loch Moy Farm on Sunday morning.
Read on to hear more from the champions!
USEA Emerging Athletes Under 21 program (EA21) rider Lauren Crabtree (Area VI) led the dressage on Friday in the CCIYR2*-S with the 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding (Carrick Diamond Lad x Dianes Cruse Clover) Derroon Diamond, owned by Traci Crabtree, but 4 time penalties on cross-country yesterday dropped them to silver-medal position. Today, they jumped a double-clear round over Chris Barnard’s track, and when overnight leaders Eleanor Winter and Mosstown Rebel dropped a rail, they earned individual gold.
A nursing student at the University of Utah, this event was Lauren’s last event with her horse as she’s lending him to another rider, Seth Chapman, while she’s at school.
“I feel so incredibly lucky and so grateful, especially since this is my last show, that I was able to take on the gold,” she said through tears. “That's such an incredible feeling. I'm so proud of my horse. He did not have to jump that well at all, but he did, and he really showed me why he's such an incredible, incredible horse.”
She’s had “Jocko” since he was 6 and put a lot of work into their partnership. “I just wanted to go around this weekend and give it my best—put it all out on the table—and I feel like he really showed up for me,” she said.
The California native loved being on her combined team from Areas VI and I, who finished in bronze on a score of 127.00.
“I know we're not in the same area, so it's kind of hard to be so connected not knowing each other, but I feel like we got to spend some time together,” she said. “We walked the course together, and I really got to know each of the girls. I really enjoyed being around them. [Riding for a team], I felt a little bit of a relief, almost. Like, I have to get through this for my team, but I felt good knowing that they also had me in their scores, no matter what happened to me, that they were also doing their best. That was really cool.”
Finishing with individual silver was Area I’s Winter (31.0) and bronze was Area VIII’s EA21 rider Madyson Hsue and ISO Cmabria (31.6).
In the team competition, the combined team from Areas VIII and IX won gold on a score of 108.5, while the team from Area II finished in silver (125.60).
Sterling Pollard (Area III) had two rails in hand this morning in the CCIU253*-S with Tinto, and she didn’t need any of them as they jumped in the worst of the wet weather to clinch a double-clear round and the individual gold medal on a score of 31.1.
The 16-year-old rider was confident in her show jumping skills as she’s headed to the FEI North American Youth Championships (Traverse City, Michigan) in show jumping next month aboard a different horse, and she’s jumped to the 1.20-meter level with Tinto. “I was really surprised with how well he was jumping,” she said of the 7-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding (Bremen Plan x Pieke van de Achterhoek), owned by her father, five-star rider Michael Pollard. “He does like to be expressive and show how big he wants to try for me, and, and I really enjoyed the course, and he was jumping really well, so I felt really, really good about it.”
She said she didn’t feel too much pressure jumping last, with advice from her father and coaches John and Beezie Madden in her head.
“I've heard of a bunch of really cool stories of, just brush it off and take a deep breath, it's gonna be OK,” she said.
Tinto had some success as a young horse, winning the Belgian Young Horse Championships before being imported by her grandfather, Carl Bouckaert.
She brought him up from there, alongside her other horse, Ultra T. “It's been really special,” she said of their journey. “I really can't describe how amazing my horse is. He's just so brave and so talented. He really wants to try.”
When asked to pick a favorite discipline, Sterling said each one has its highlights.
“They’re both awesome,” she said. “I love show jumping. It feels like you're flying with a horse, and cross-country is just a different mood. I feel free, especially on Tinto; it's just so fast, and they're both just amazing. I love it all.”
Sterling’s combined team from Areas III and V finished in second place (1085.70) behind the combined team from Areas III and VI (139.90).
She enjoyed the camaraderie all weekend, along with the festivities. “I knew all my teammates, except for Kelsey Seidel, and she seems really sweet. I really love the team experience. It's my first Young Riders, so I thought it was really cool experience, and it was really fun.”
EA21 rider Riley Zgrebnak (Area II) and Cooley Criminal Mind finished on a score of 40.9 to earn individual silver, and EA21 graduate Sarah Ertl (Area VI) and Redwood Quality finished with the bronze on a score of 42.4.
EA21 rider Kennedy Langmo (Area III) led the CCIJ1*-S from start to finish on Jennie Jarnstom-Dennis’ and Mike Dennis’ Knock Out, an 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding (Canabis Z AKZ x Upaleen). They finished on a score of 28.0 despite a rail in show jumping.
“I was feeling pretty confident,” she said. “I knew I had one rail to spare, and he's been jumping really good.”
Langmo leases the gelding from her trainer, Jarnstrom-Dennis. “I feel so lucky to be able to lease him. I'm so thankful to Jenny and Mike,” she said. “The partnership I feel like we've built over the past few months has been a lot of trust. He started out a little bit more tense, and he was a little panicked in the show jumping sometimes. So, over time, building trust has helped us to get it smoother rounds.”
This was Langmo’s first Young Rider Championship, and she was on the gold-medal winning team from Area III. “It was so much fun. It was a blast,” she said. “I loved all of the team spirit and how all of the young riders get to come together and meet each other and become friends. I hope to be back next year, hopefully in the two-star, and win as much as I can, while also staying as confident and as safe as I can.”
Lula Carney (Area VIII) made the move from fifth after dressage to individual silver on a score of 30.7 with Excel Star Vero Amore ahead of bronze medalist, EA21 rider Kaitlyn Cobey (Area III), and Redfield Need For Speed (33.6), who moved up from seventh after dressage.
In the team competition, it was gold for the team from Area III (100.60), silver for Area VIII (104.10), and bronze for Area V (143.90).
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