Some of the champions at the Pennsylvania National Junior Weekend, Oct. 18-20 in Harrisburg, Pa., surprised even themselves, and some were confirmed winners adding another line to their resume. In just her first year of riding horses, Taylor Ann Adams, 13, guided Don Stewart’s veteran gray gelding Lyle to the small junior hunter, 15 & under title.
Two wins and a second place over fences earned Adams and Lyle 26 points—the same tally that small junior hunter, 16-17 champion E.L. Raymond amassed under Maria Schaub’s guidance. They’re tied for the grand championship, but all of Adams’ points came in over fences classes, while Schaub and E.L. Raymond collected 6 of them from the under saddle.
“He’s taught me everything—he teaches me every time I get on him,” Adams said of Lyle. Stewart offered her the ride on the elegant gray, who has been a consistent contender in the junior divisions for years, this summer. “I just wanted to go around nicely on him. I get anxious when I get nervous, but he always makes sure I don’t do anything ridiculous. I have plenty of confidence in him.”
Adams and Lyle also won the junior hunter winners stake class with a score of 90. “He feels amazing. For a horse to be able to put in a score of 90 with someone like me just up there hanging on, it’s pretty incredible,” Adams said very modestly.
Adams, of Eads, Tenn., grew up riding backyard ponies and started showing under David Pellgrini. She brought the pony Gayfield’s Steamy Windows along from a green pony to winning ribbons at the 2003 Pennsylvania National. Her talent caught the eye of trainer Bill Schaub, who started using her extensively as a catch rider. And this year, Don Stewart invited her to ride horses and ponies for him as well. She doesn’t currently have a horse or pony of her own. “It means a lot that Bill and Don have made such an effort to help me,” Adams said. “I don’t think I can ever give back to them what they’ve given me.”
Other junior hunter champions were Addison Phillips on the young Morocco, who topped the large junior, 16-17 division with first, second and third places over fences. And Californian Lucy Davis continued her winning streak, guiding Harmony to the large junior, 15 & under title with two wins over fences and a fifth place in the under saddle.
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The pony hunter divisions all belonged to Lillie Keenan. The talented youngster, 10, accomplished the clean sweep of all three divisions, just as she did at the Wild Horsefeathers/USEF Pony Hunter Finals in August. Two of her champions were the same—large pony Vanity Fair and medium pony Enchanted Forest. But her small pony champion—Pink Floyd–was a real surprise.
Keenan has been riding Pink Floyd all year, and this is the 5-year-old roan gelding’s first year of showing. In the first class at the Pennsylvania National, Pink Floyd seemed overwhelmed and showed his greenness with spooking and crookedness. But Keenan kept up a forward, positive ride, and Pink Floyd came back to win the second class on the first day. “He’s not a big fan of being by himself. I think he was surprised by the ring,” Keenan said. “But when he came back in, he calmed down and was great.”
Keenan won the first two over fences classes on Day 1 with Vanity Fair, and ended up clinching the grand pony championship on him as well as the large pony tricolor. “When I started today, I didn’t think it would go this well,” Keenan said. “I never thought this was possible.”
Tonight, Oct. 20, marks the conclusion of the Adequan/USEF Prix des States Junior Jumper Championships individual phase, and California’s Karl Cook is in the lead after winning the welcome speed class and anchoring the Zone 10 team victory last night with a clean Round 1. But he’s followed closely by teammate Aurora Griffin on Tucker, who was second to Cook in the welcome class and put in double clear rounds for Zone 10’s team victory.
Danielle Paradyzs, 13, concluded her pony jumper career with a win in the NAL Pony Jumper Finals aboard the veteran Indigo. She jumped the only clear round of the six-horse jump-off, besting them all, including last year’s winners, Wilhelmina Horzepa and Exhiliration. Paradyzs has had Indigo since the spring of 2006, but she’d taken a break from showing the firey black mare this summer. After showing her at Devon (Pa.) in May, she and Indigo took a break from each other, and Paradyzs started to learn to ride horses. They reunited for the NAL Finals, their grand finale together.
