PrintThe leaders behind this new U.S. Hunter Jumper Association program hope to discover and nurture our gold medalists of the future.
Californian Annie Lufkin has a dream. Some day the 16-year-old would love to see herself standing on the podium, a gold medal hanging around her neck.
Lufkin’s goal, one shared by thousands of other young riders around the country, is a distant dream at this point, but a group of show jumping’s most experienced and influential members is helping kids like Lufkin get a jump-start on fulfilling that dream through the new Emerging Athletes Program.
USHJA President Bill Moroney, the U.S. Equestrian Federation Developing Riders Program Chairman Emeritus Ronnie Beard, and Olympic Show Jumping gold medalist Melanie Smith Taylor are the leaders behind this new idea, which has evolved over the past year into a fully formed program with designated steps intended to discover the next riders who can represent the United States in show jumping.
When the U.S. Equestrian Team had some of their most prosperous decades and was growing into a powerhouse in the show jumping discipline, the sport was led by the team’s chef d’equipe, Bertalan de Nemethy. De Nemethy hosted regular clinics and training sessions at the team’s headquarters in Gladstone, N.J., throughout the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s.
Riders who came out of these training sessions would often go on to represent the United States in international competition, and some became legends of the sport, such as Taylor.
Lufkin, currently a student at the Ethel Walker School in Connecticut, is one of the first young riders who has applied to participate in the Level 1 Training Sessions. Lufkin grew up riding dressage and has only started jumping in the past three years.
She chose to apply for the educational opportunities. “To be able to [take a] clinic with Melanie Taylor is very cool,” said Lufkin. “I know she’s an awesome rider.”
Lufkin also noted that she wants the chance to watch the other junior riders at the Screening Trial. “Just being able to watch them in the lesson would be a great opportunity for me,” she added.
Strong Supporters
In addition to committee co-chairmen Taylor and Beard, the program has drawn other equally impressive names in the sport, such as USEF Show Jumping Director Sally Ike; grand prix riders Candice King, Georgina Bloomberg, Katie Prudent, Alison Robitaille and Eliza Shuford; as well as Kathy Moore and USHJA Vice President Chrystine Tauber. U.S. Chef d’Equipe George Morris and John Madden will serve as advisors to the committee.
“We were trying to figure out how to develop a national, grassroots program that was similar to what was so successful back in the ‘70s with Bert de Nemethy,” said Taylor. “There were a lot of things that Bert did that worked. We built a lot of depth to the teams.
