United States Eventing Association

The much coveted and long-awaited medals were determined and awarded this morning in the 2013 Adequan/FEI North American Junior and Young Rider Championships in the CH-J* division. The show jumping course, designed by Richard Jeffery, knocked some riders down and boosted others up, redesigning the lineup of CH-J* medalists.

Maintaining her untouched dressage score of 48.1 throughout both jumping phases was 15-year-old Nicole Doolittle from Matthews, North Carolina. Doolittle and Tops, her 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding, claimed the 2013 NAJYRC CH-J* gold medal after a beautifully ridden show jumping round. The pair was in second place following dressage, but moved up to first after a double clear cross-country ride. According to Doolittle, after she jumped the last stadium fence, she had a series of thoughts flood her mind.

“Well the first thought was to see how the time went,” Doolittle said. “I didn’t want to celebrate too early, but once I knew that I had made the time, it just was a very surreal moment. I didn’t really know what to think at the time, so I gave myself a few seconds and I was like ‘Wow, here we are.’”

Moving up from 14^thplace after dressage to claim the CH-J* silver medal is 18-year-old Ann O'Neal Pevahouse from Little Rock, Arkansas. Riding her 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding, Don Bosco, Pevahouse added no cross-country or show jumping faults to her dressage score of 54.4. Pevahouse and “Crunchy” have been together for five years, and returned to Young Riders this year after finishing sixth place in the 2012 NAJYRC CH-J*.

The pair have been competing together since they were showing at Novice, and have moved up to the 1* level smoothly. Pevahouse set her sights on Young Riders a while back, but did not anticipate anything too extraordinary.

“I hoped [to be a medalist],” Pevahouse said. “I didn’t know it would actually happen though.”

Working up the ranks from 13^thplace after dressage to third place in the CCI* is 15-year-old April Simonds from Ontario, Canada and her 8-year-old Thoroughbred gelding, Impressively Done. The pair added just 1.2 cross-country time penalties to a dressage score of 53.7 to end the event with a 54.9 and the CCI* individual bronze medal. Simonds and “Preston” rode a double clear show jumping round in a course which, according to the riders, was fairly forgiving.

“I thought it was a great course,” Simonds said. “It was very flowy and you could ride very positively to every combination. And I think as long as you went forward you could make time very easily.”

Bringing home the gold medal in the CH-J* team competition is Area III, coached by Kyle Carter. The team ended on a total score of 165.7, and had four very successful performances. Other than Doolittle’s top finish, other impressive performances came from 17-year-old Diane Portwood from Marietta, Georgia and Cinerescent, who finished on a 61.6, 16-year-old Ashley Dodds from Canton, Georgia and her mount, Manhattan, who finished on a 56.0 and 17-year-old Victoria Clayton from Pine Mountain, Georgia and The Secret Agent, who finished on a 67.9. Though all team members agreed that being on a team adds a heavy amount of pressure to the competition, since other team members depend on each other to succeed, the Area III team reported growing very close over the training sessions and the NAJYRC.

“When we got here, I didn’t really know what to expect about this week, so I was really nervous. I had never groomed and I didn’t know how it was going to be,” Clayton said. “I’m so lucky to have all these girls for teammates, because we got a lot closer this week than I think we really could have. So I think we’re going to be good friends coming out of this.”

Winning the silver medal in the CH-J* team competition is Areas VII & VIII, finishing with a score of 175.7. Although Margaret Ragan unfortunately had to withdraw Surefire’s Anwar after the second horse inspection this morning, three other strong rides kept the team strong. Mary Peabody Camp and Rave Review ended on a 58.6, Emily Macauley and Canadian Exchange finished with a 58.8 and Ashlynn Meuchel and Morning Star came home with a 58.3, all contributing to the Area VII & VIII success.

Rounding out the 2013 NAJYRC medal recipients was Area II with a final team score of 195.2. The bronze medalists who contributed to the team were Chase Shipka and Victory Shetan with a 72.4, David Pawlak and Just Bailey with a 59.8 and Madeline Parisan and Hope to Star with a 63.0. Unfortunately Morgan Booth aboard Lucky Little Spy had a fall on the cross-country course, but both horse and rider are safe and sound and back supporting their team.

After 28 juniors navigated the CH-J* stadium course, the NAJYRC moved on to the final 11 riders of the day in the CH-Y**. And with such young, talented competitors in the 1*, the 2014 NAJYRC should have some future 2* riders coming its way.