United States Eventing Association

Missy Miller's Road To The NAJYRC - Part 2

Being in Kentucky means several things, The delicious Ale-8-1, gorgeous blue grass scenery mixed in with the luxurious racehorse farms scattered everywhere, and of course the Kentucky Horse Park which also means Young Riders has finally arrived!

I apologize for not writing at all during training camp, but with all of that team bonding and putting out finishing touches into our rides, when time to relax rolled around it was usually with eyes shut and brains turned off. The Area 3 young riders were lucky enough to spend our final week preparing for NAJYRC at Carl Bouckarts amazing Chattahoochee Hills. The preparations being made for this years American Eventing Championships are amazing and I am looking forward to seeing it all in September.

Despite weather that would normally only be tolerable at the beach with fruity, frozen drink in hand, my team and I were putting on our riding gear every day and working hard to show our coach, Kyle Carter, what quality horses and riders look like. Kyle has been the Area 3 coach every year I have been lucky enough to make the team so as you can imagine if you've ever met Kyle, he is just as upset as I am about this being my final year as a young rider.

The two-star team has been looking stronger every day and that's all I'll say in utter fear of jinxing us all! My team consists of Devon Brown on Dynamic Image, Dani Dichting on Tops and Emily Renfroe on Walk the Line. During our camp team bonding seemed to be am ever present theme which consisted of eating, napping, eating, singing, eating, dancing and a little baking of a giant cup cake (Pictured right). Our brilliant ideas of paintball, sky-diving, 4wheeling and jet skiing were immediately excused by our safety conscious chef d'equipe, Leigh Littrell. At least until after competition. The deal is I guess, we take care of our horses and she makes sure we are well enough to do that properly? ;)

We all arrived in Kentucky safe and sound yesterday and somehow all of us made it safely with out any major complications. Now that Kyle is also back from his "after camp vacation" to South America the mood is full if anxiety and excitement about the week to come. The 1* and 2* horses all look fabulous thanks to our superstar grooms. To be completely honest I'm shocked no one has felt their life threatened by sweet little Gracie yet, but not to worry she has "introduced" herself to the treating vets here at NAJYRC and our team vet.

It's quite hard getting used to a whole crew of people ready and willing to help you out and cheer you on but it definitely gives you that team feeling that people of our age can rarely experience at such a level! I can't explain how excited I am to be on such a great team of riders, grooms and everyone else that it takes to get here. Looking forward to the week and being able to share it with everyone! Until next time, GO AREA III!

Sincerely,

Missy & Gracie