- Kelly Pugh and Copycat Chloe were unbeatable, winning the individual young rider eventing championships at the North American Junior and Young Rider Championships. The duo finished with a score of 55.9 faults. “The whole weekend was amazing,” Pugh, 20, said. “Dressage was unbelievable. In cross-country I couldn’t have asked for more. It was the first time it all came together.”
- Missy Miller and TSF Amazing Grace came from behind to win the silver medal. The duo, from Gulf Shores, Ala., have been together since 2007. “I’m so happy she stepped up the plate, and I finally rode well enough to do this,” Miller, 21 said. ”I was ready to give up sometimes, and I’m glad I never did.”
- With a total score of 62.0 Danielle Dichting and Tops took home the bronze medal. “Cantering around the arena, Missy and I asked each other: Did we do this?” Dichting, 20, said. Dichting originally purchased Tops as a resale project but says after this young riders victory, he is not going anywhere.
- Area III—Emily Renfroe riding Walk The Line, Missy Miller riding TSF Amazing Grace, Danielle Dichting riding Tops and Devon Brown riding Dynamic Image—won the gold in the CH-Y** team competition. The team got off to a rocky start earlier in the week as Emily Renfroe was eliminated in the dressage competition, after her mare stubbed her toe.
- The silver medal went to the combined team from Area IV and VII—Natalia Gurmankin riding Tequesteris, Tessa Beckett riding Sound Prospect and Kelly Pugh riding Copycat Chloe.
- The team from Area V & IX overcame a few disappointing show jumping rounds to take home the bronze medal with a combined score of 238.3.
- With a faultless show jumping round Kelly Loria and Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds won the junior CH-J*. The duo led the competition from start to finish, ending the weekend with a score of 40.0. “It was really intimidating, but it’s a beautiful arena, and it was a good course,” Loria, 16, Lafayette, Calif., said. “It was an honor riding here, especially thinking of all the greats who have ridden here.”
- The silver medal went to Claire Kelley and Clifton Peekachu, who had two rails to end the weekend with a score of 50.5. Kelley, 18, Carbondale, Ill., was concerned for the show jumping phase, but she enjoyed the course set in the grandstand arena at the Kentucky Horse Park. “He’s a tricky horse to show jump,” Kelley said. “He gets really nervous and hollow, so the turns [in the course] helped a lot with his balance.”
- Lizzie Snow and Pop Star came from behind to take home the bronze medal. Pop Star and Snow had only one rail down in the final phase, over a course that proved tricky for many riders. “Show jumping is his hardest phase,” Snow, from Portland Ore., said. “Today was a great confidence-boosting round for me.”
- Way Cool, ridden by Sophie Laframboise, came in fourth with a 55.9.
- Rowdie Jo Adams and No Money Down had two rails down, dropping them to fifth overall.
- Areas VI, VII & VIII joined forces to take home the junior eventing team competition. Lizzie Snow riding Pop Star, Noelle Varga riding BC Great Scot, Kelly Loria riding Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, and Madison Reeb riding Raquel were in the top two slots all weekend and just edged out the win.
- “The team just works to support each other,” Loria said. “It’s harder coming from different areas,” Snow added. “But we’ve all become good friends.”
- For Madison Reeb, the team atmosphere was especially important after a fall on cross-country left both horse and rider bruised. “I had a really rough weekend, and it was really comforting to have these girls with me,” she said. “I think it’s an awesome experience.”
- Silver went to Area IV—J. Taylor Humphrey on Super Nova, Autumn Schweiss on The Real Deal, Michelle Mercier on Sir Malcolm, and Claire Kelley on Clifton Peekachu.
- The Canadian team from British Columbia and Quebec—Nayla Charbonneau riding Princeton Pride, Sophie Laframboise riding Way Cool, and Katherine Martineau riding H.M. As Spirits Go—won the bronze medal with 199.3 faults.
