The northern racetracks cancelled their races and the carriage horses in New York’s Central Park stayed in their stalls, but the 100-plus-degree sizzle of Virginia in August didn’t dampen the young riders (and juniors) at the CN North American Junior and Young Riders Championships.

For four days, they competed in jumping, eventing and dressage, and not even the offer of riding without jackets made any headway with them. They were “psyched,” their competitive juices were flowing. They even approached the challenging weather by caring for their horses with more concentration to empower them for the effort at hand.

This NAJYRC, which included juniors in dressage for the first time, was a success as both a display of “good sport” and as a display of proper horse management, which may become a must in the future days of global warming.

For the second straight year, Penny and Brian Ross produced the FEI-sanctioned championship at the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington, Va. With about 250 horses and riders accompanied by parents, coaches, friends, dogs and visiting aunts to keep track of, the Rosses had their hands full. Add to that hundreds of officials and volunteers, and you can imagine the planning and preparation that went on for months to create the show.

Deeply involved in the dressage part of the arrangements were Linda Zang, the FEI technical delegate, and Janine Malone, the FEI steward. These ladies worked long hours to be sure everything was well under control before the first dressage horse walked off a van.

The Virginia Horse Center is ideal for hosting an event of this magnitude. It features 600 permanent stalls, two covered arenas, dressage arenas on the barn level and up on the hill adjacent to the cross-country course, and a lovely indoor pavilion with plentiful seating and all the bells and whistles. This is where the opening and closing ceremonies took place, and during the show it was the home of the jumpers.

The dressage soundness inspection took place on Tuesday, and right away we members of the ground jury and the FEI veterinarians had to deal with a bit of drama. To our horror, one horse after the other belonging to the Canadian team trotted up rather stiff. Three out of four of the Canadian horses were held for re-inspection the next morning. At the dawn’s early light, all three looked a lot better, and our relief was enormous when we were able to pass all three. Amazingly, it was the team from Canada that emerged as gold medalists in the team competition on the first day!

At the jog, one of our jury members pointed out that there was not a single male rider among the almost 70 dressage riders. Strange, and a little sad, but true. But among the ground jury it was just the opposite, since I was the only female of five.

After Canada took the top team honors, Pia Fortmuller from British Columbia emerged victorious in the individual test. But then runner-up in the individual test, Bobbie McKee from Arizona, moved on to win the freestyle on Saturday.

By then, the horses, who had given their all in the two previous days, started to look a bit worn and tired, with the exception of Bulgari 5, who vacillated between brilliant and over the top to keep his rider, Caroline Roffman, on her toes. Still, the impressive chestnut grabbed the bronze for his rider by placing in every test.

A special mention goes to Kassandra Barteau, who took first place in the team test with a strong and confident go on her big bay Bentley, but was met with some resistance from the horse in the tests that followed.

As we expected, the quality of the riding varied more among the juniors. And three different riders exchanged positions on the medal podium, each winning one class: Amanda Stearns, Hannah Holland Shook and Julie McKeen. Those three lorded over the junior field of 30. The juniors today are well mounted, know their tests, and bring some pretty fancy trainers from all over the country. It can only get better from here!

Actually, I was amazed at the quantity of “big-name” riders and trainers involved with these kids. One of the dressage coaches told me she’d brought two “first year green” kids this year, and I remembered how much fun that can be.

In that first year, the awe of having qualified at all is still a major factor, and, because of that, the whole event is magic for them. The second year, the riders are looking to kick butt, but they won’t let that stop them from enjoying the process, even if it doesn’t pay off in gold.

The third year, though, we deal with Miss or Mr. Ambitious, who knows everyone and everything and finds it difficult to soar with eagles while surrounded by turkeys. Trainers, parents and officials are all annoying at best, and then some second-year snot goes and wins.

Well, I’ve had them all in tow, and I must say I enjoyed every year and every stage, because I could see the riding improve.

The NAJYRC is also a very good training ground for future FEI-sanctioned senior competitions, when it will come in handy to have gone through vet check, dealt with horse passports, and lived by the FEI dressage rules, which aren’t always identical to our rules. Some of our competitors had to find this out the hard way at this show, but they won’t make the same mistake when they compete at the senior level.

I’d like to add that this year the dressage officials took real action to prove that we’re not as stuffy as everyone thinks. On our initiative, the U.S. Equestrian Federation hosted a cocktail party on Saturday evening at a charming old inn. The judges, veterinarians, and other officials from each discipline had a chance to meet socially and compare notes. David O’Connor, the USEF president, gave a speech, in which he proposed that this get-together become an annual event, and John Long, the USEF’s chief executive officer, seconded the motion. And we all had a great time!