United States Eventing Association

“In union there is strength.” – Aesop

The strength of a team working together is something that horseback riders have an opportunity to experience on a frequent basis – the teamwork between horse and rider. However, some of us are blessed enough to experience teamwork with other people in conjunction to the partnership shared with our horse. The past week of the North American Junior Young Rider Championships have been an experience I will never forget.

For me, the two days after Pony Club Championships consisted of riding early in the morning, and taking naps in the afternoon to catch up on the sleep I had lost waking up at the crack of dawn and going to sleep at midnight (I normally go to bed around 9 p.m. at home). Monday, past teammate, Rowdie Adams, and I greeted Mike Huber’s packed trailer full of kids and horses around 1 p.m.. It was exciting to get to see all of the horses come out of the trailer looking fit and happy! After helping unload and settle the horses in, my groom, Lindsay Westerfield, my mom, and I took the short trip to pick up Mitch from Cathy Wieschhoff’s farm.

Once Mitch was in his prepared stall, Dr. Newton came to watch the horses jog. Afterwards we took our horses out to grazed as we watched the beautiful Kentucky sunset. The team met later that night to talk to Mike, and get the low down. He talked about how the week would work and explained why we should check the white board daily for important information such as what to wear. “You don’t want to be the black sheep, or the red sheep, when you are supposed to be the blue sheep.”

On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday the CCI* riders schooled our horses on the flat, working a little each day so that the horses wouldn’t be sick of dressage when it came time for our test on Friday. While that was going on, my mom randomly started finding four leaf clovers around the horse park. She ended up finding five for me (one for each part of the competition), and then went on to find one for every member riding for Area V, CCI* and CCI** riders included. We were set for the competition to begin.

Friday morning was cool, but by the time I had to ride it was quite toasty, and I was thankful that we were wearing polo shirts instead of our heavy shadbelly jackets. Coming up with the amount of time I needed to warm-up was more difficult than I had thought it would be because of the 15 minutes it took to hack from the stabling to the dressage complex at the front of the horse park. Warm-up went well, but Mitch was feeling very tired. When we went in for the test I wasn’t sure what to expect. The test ended up being a 60 putting us in the middle of the pack, something that left me feeling like I had let the team down. The rest of my team mates had fantastic dressage scores, and our team was sitting in first. I was so unbelievably proud of them, and thankful that we were doing so well. The rest of Friday consisted of walking cross country for a third time, and helping get all of the equipment organized for the next day (with a little bit of dance practice for the competitor party that was coming the next night).

Saturday’s weather was almost perfect! The weatherman had said that it was supposed to rain around the same time as the end of the cross-country, but the down pour held off until everyone was back in the barns icing and giving fluids. Back to the beginning of the day though – the clouds were sitting on top of us, blocking the sun out and keeping everyone fairly cool (as cool as you could be with the wicked humidity). Cross country started with Area V CCI** member Jacob Fletcher and his trusty stead, Falcon Splash. They finished with a double clean run to set the pace for all of the Area V team members from both the one and two star. Tori New, and Avery Klunick put in fast double clean rounds, while Alyssa Phillips and I put in clean rounds with a bit of time. The day ended with both Area V teams sitting in first; the two star being closely chased by Area III and the one star leading by about 26 points. We were all more than happy with our ponies and each other. We finished up in the barn at 7:30 (the time that the competitor party was starting), so we hurried back to our trailers in the campground to do a quick rinse off and change. Somehow all of the girls managed to make it down to the party by 8:15-ish. We spent the next few hours laughing with Gina Miles, Mike Huber, and Jon Holling while dancing, singing along to the songs playing, and showing off our “moves”.

Sunday morning was started early. We had jogs at 8:00, and our team vet wanted horses ready to jog for him by 6:00. It was a sigh of relief when all of the horses jogged great first thing that morning. The riders helped look after our horses while they were braided and then ran up to change into our jog outfits. We all passed the jog even in the muddy conditions left from the rain storm from the day before. The horses were put back into their stalls to rest for the Show Jumping that would take place five hours later. Most of us piled onto the golf cart to ride over to the competitor tent so that we could eat breakfast and watch the Junior Show Jumpers finish their last rounds.

The CCI* riders walked our course at 12:30 in the Rolex arena, and I ran back to the barn to grab Mitch. Lindsay had him tacked and waiting for me (she’s the up in coming Elizabeth Crowder if that tells you anything about how amazing of a groom she is). Mitch warmed up really well, and Mike gave me a pep talk as I rode down the ramp to the arena. It was unbelievably surreal to walk down the ramp feeling the complete opposite of how I felt last year – I had so much more confidence. I rode to the best of my abilities, and Mitch jumped like a rock star. We pulled the last rail of the triple (the last fence of the course), but I was still so proud of him! After my boots were weighed Lindsay and I stood under a tree holding Mitch, and watching each of our team mates ride as well as they could. Avery had a silly rail, but was still in the top five. Tori had an unlucky fall at the second fence in the triple (but was riding a perfect round up to that), and

Alyssa jumped a clean round to win the gold medal individually.

We rode as a team, together, into the Rolex arena for the awards, and the only thing I could think of was when I was eight-years-old and my mom was driving me to school. I told her that I wanted to ride at Young Riders and get a medal. She told me that that was a great goal, but something that would take a lot of hard work to achieve. It was that next year that I met a girl, Taylor Wood, with the same dream as me. We vowed that we would compete in Young Riders together. She was selected to ride as our individual member. It was amazing having my friends by my side, and just as amazing to see most of my family (brother, sister, both sets of grandparents, aunt and uncle, and family friends) up in the stands cheering for Area V. After our awards we went back to the barn and got ready for our press conference (yet another thing I have dreamt about, but never actually thought possible).

When the day was over Area V walked away with many things – the CCI* team gold, the individual gold, fifth, and tenth, while the CCI** team silver, the individual silver, fourth, and ninth. Not only did we have ribbons and medals to walk away with, we had many other things. All of the Area V riders left with more experience, and friendships that will last forever.

The past few weeks have been fantastic, and having other people to lean on has been absolutely amazing! I want to thank everyone for supporting Area V, and I want to thank my family, team mates, coaches, and everyone else that have helped get me to where I am today. Congratulations to those who rode at Young Riders, because getting there is a feat in itself. Good Luck to everyone competing this fall, I hope to be back at NAJYRC once again next year!

-Mitch & Alexa