Metell Masters The USEF Talent Search Finals—East

He and his fellow finalists raise the equitation bar.

Matt Metell, the runner-up in the 2008 Platinum Performance/U.S. Equestrian Federation Talent Search Finals—East, was hoping he wouldn’t have to settle for second again as he led through three phases of the 2009 edition.

“My goal was to get to the top four and ride as best I could,” said the 19-year-old Falmouth, Mass., rider, who turned in stellar trip after stellar trip on a new equine equitation star, Pioneer, in Gladstone, N.J., Oct. 3-4.

This was one of the most outstanding renewals of the class, held at the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation headquarters. Too often in the past, the difficulty quotient of the four-phase test resulted in many sub-par performances and criticism from the judges. But Joe Fargis and Linda Hough couldn’t say enough about the quality of the rides they saw.

“The American style is alive and well,” declared Hough, the mother of Olympic show jumper Lauren Hough. “The future looks great for the U.S. Equestrian Team, and these young people should go on to have great careers.”