Maddie Tosh, 18, of Milton, Georgia, made her Adequan/USEF Junior Hunter National Championships debut a winning one in the USHJA Gladstone Cup Equitation Classic—East, held Wednesday, June 26, in Traverse City, Michigan.

After the first round, Tosh sat third of 126 riders on a score of 89.25 aboard Betsee Parker’s Daktari, behind the leading score of 91 set by Sydney Raidy, 17, of New York City, and Mac One III over Meghan Rawlins’ course. With determination to move up the podium, Tosh laid down a round that earned the high score of 90 to take over the lead after Round 2. Impressing again in the third round, where the top six riders switched horses and completed the first eight fences of Round 2 again, Tosh took the win.

“I went a little later in the order, which was nice because I had more time to come up with my plan and get my horse and myself prepared,” said Tosh. “I know my horse very well. We’ve grown up together in the equitation—which is super special—so I wanted to go in and have a nice confident round and basically stay out of his way because if I do that he’s always on it.”

Tosh swapped onto Taylor Ashe Cawley’s horse, Oki D’Eclipse for the third and final round.

“Taylor’s horse is amazing and both Taylor and [trainer] Stacia [Madden] and everyone at Beacon Hill were so helpful going into the second round. They gave us lots of pointers for him about what he likes and what he doesn’t like,” Tosh said.

Watch Tosh’s second round aboard Daktari, courtesy of USEF Network/ClipMyHorse.TV:

Watch Tosh’s third round, where she rode Oki D’Eclipse, courtesy of USEF Network/ClipMyHorse.TV:

The finalists were allowed 90 seconds of schooling and two warm-up fences to get to know their new mounts, a format familiar to Tosh, who won the 2023 Washington International Horse Show Equitation Final (Maryland) last year, which requires the top 10 riders to swap horses. She also won the EMO Insurance/USHJA 3’3” Jumping Seat Medal Final (Maryland) in 2022, with Daktari.

Tosh started riding the 9-year-old Hanoverian gelding (Diacontinus—Escarla) in 2021, when she was searching for a horse to show in the age-group equitation at Capital Challenge (Maryland). Missy Clark and John Brennan of North Run loaned her “Doc,” and Parker later purchased him so Tosh could continue to show him.

“He was a green equitation horse that knew nothing, and I was a green equitation rider that knew nothing, and we’ve made it all the way to this point; [it’s] our third finals win together,” said Tosh. “That’s something that’s really special, and we have a super special partnership.”

Cawley, 16, of Wellington, Florida, who returned with Daktari for the third round, took reserve after posting the second-highest score of a 90 in Round 1 and staying consistent through the second round with an 89. Taking third with an impressive Round 3 was Olivia Sweetnam, 15, of Wellington, Flordia, riding Class Act to scores of 88 and 84.25. Raidy ended in fourth on a second-round score of 86.25.

“After I won a final last year, I wanted to be able to recreate that this year,” said Tosh. “This is actually my first time at the Junior Hunter [National Championships] and first time doing the class, so coming in I just wanted to have a good experience for myself and for Doc to put our best foot forward and I couldn’t have asked for anything more from him today.” 

While her focus this week is Adequan/USEF Junior Hunter National Championships—East, Tosh will soon make plans to attend the University of Georgia and compete on their equestrian team. 

View complete results here.