The U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation has announced Jenny Caras, of Cartersville, Ga., as recipient of the 2016 Amanda Pirie Warrington Grant.
The Amanda Pirie Warrington Grant is awarded through the USET Foundation Amanda Pirie Warrington Fund. In 2015, 19-year-old Caras, with her talented mount Fernhill Fortitude, took the eventing world by storm as one of youngest riders in the country successfully competing at the CCI*** and CIC*** level.
As the recipient of the grant, Caras will receive up to $5,000 to help offset expenses associated with her training over the next year.
“It’s a huge honor. I was not expecting it at all,” said Caras. “It’s really exciting and an honor that people recognize the horses that I have and they want to give me a shot.”
Her main target will be to travel with “Forty,” an 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding, to the Bramham Horse Trials in England over the summer.
“That’s my big goal for the summer,” said Caras. “I’d really like to use this grant to open up opportunities for me to get more training that I wouldn’t have necessarily gotten without it, especially in the show jumping because that’s my weakness. I’d like to use the money to go to jumper shows and get jumper lessons to supplement everything else that I’m doing.”
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The Amanda Pirie Warrington Fund was established by Pirie’s family in her memory with the purpose of helping to provide financial assistance to an eventing rider who has been identified as a rider with great talent and ability to represent the United States in the future. On Jan. 15, 2015, Robert S. Pirie, Amanda’s father, passed away. It was Robert who made the Amanda Pirie Warrington Grant possible. Amanda meant the world to Robert, and this was his way of keeping her memory and spirit alive in the eventing community. They will always be remembered through this grant.
The recipient of the grant is a person who will benefit from the opportunity of continuing their training with top coaches and competing against the world’s best horse-and-rider combinations in eventing.
After earning the team gold and individual bronze medals in 2013 at the North American Junior and Young Rider Championships (Ky.), Caras and Forty began consistently competing at the CIC*** and CCI*** level in 2015. Competing against riders with much more experience, they placed sixth in the CIC*** at Jersey Fresh International and fourth in the CCI*** at Jaguar Land Rover Bromont (Quebec). She also won the Markham Trophy as the highest-placed young rider in the United States that had not competed at the CCI**** level during Fair Hill International (Md.).
“I started working for Phillip Dutton last December, and we moved Forty up to advanced. He handled it like a pro,” Caras said. “Cross-country goes easily for him. He jumps it if at all possible, sometimes probably when it’s not! I had a really, really good year, and I couldn’t have done it without the help of Phillip Dutton and David O’Connor. Leslie Law, the under-25 coach, helped me tremendously with Forty on the flat. I’m really excited for this year, and hopefully we can keep things going in the right direction.”
Beyond continuing her education with Forty, Caras hopes to be a part of the U.S. team internationally during her career.
“That’s what I’ve wanted to do since before I even knew really what the sport was about,” she laughed. “I knew that I wanted to go to the Olympic Games for eventing. It’s just something that I’ve always been working toward and hopefully someday it will happen. It’s opportunities like this that will make it more possible for me. I’m really honored to have received this grant, and I’m really honored that people believe in me.”
