Zone 4 Makes A Clean Show Jumping Sweep At NAJYRC

July 29, Lexington, Ky.

Young rider and junior show jumping took place on the third day of the Adequan/FEI North American Junior and Young Rider Championships. Zone 4 swept the junior and young rider classes.

The Zone 4 young riders proved unstoppable after four of eight double-clear rides, amassing only 12 penalty points between the four riders’ two rounds.

PUBLISHED

July 29, 2011
11:18 am

WORDS BY

Caroline Culbertson and Lisa Slade

July 29, Lexington, Ky.

Young rider and junior show jumping took place on the third day of the Adequan/FEI North American Junior and Young Rider Championships. Zone 4 swept the junior and young rider classes.

The Zone 4 young riders proved unstoppable after four of eight double-clear rides, amassing only 12 penalty points between the four riders’ two rounds.

Sammy Senft, 20, of Wellington, Fla., rode her mare Early Morning to two double-clear rounds for Zone 4. Clearly her unorthodox show ring preparation is working. “During the week, we only trail ride, and we’re doing well if we can get one or two jumps in the schooling ring,” Senft said. “And I have to sing her Justin Bieber before we go in the ring. I absolutely have to. If I don’t sing it she won’t perform as well. We got her an iHome with my iPod in it, and she listens to it back at the barn.”

Chase Boggio, 18, of Canton, Ga., put in a flawless second round aboard his 13-year-old Mecklenburg gelding Hennessey (Heraldik—Mirabell, Mistral II), even though Zone 4 was already guaranteed gold before his trip.

Jordan Coyne, 19, attends the University of Florida in her home state when she’s not riding her horse Lazaro (Numero Uno—Peliana, Equator). This was her first 1.50-meter competition with the Dutch Warmblood gelding. Liza Finsness could relate, as the Wellington, Fla., native said that Ormsby Hill, her first junior jumper horse, “is the best horse to learn on because he’s very forgiving.” The 16-year-old rider added only 4 jumping penalties to her team’s total score.

The day’s results were record-setting for Zone 4, which had never before won gold in both the junior and young rider classes at the North American Junior and Young Rider Championships.

Danielle Korsh, 20, from San Diego, Calif., spearheaded her Zone 10 team’s silver-medal performance, adding only 2 time penalties between both rounds to the total aboard her Dutch Warmblood gelding, appropriately named San Diego. The 18-year-old Taylor Richards from Calabasas, Calif., rode Faustino to a mere 9 penalties, with 8 jumping and 1 time between both rounds. Kendall Skreden and Esperanto, who were junior Zone 10 team silver medalists at the 2010 NAJRYC, helped the team secure silver with 12 jumping penalties.

The 18-year-old Sage Flynn upped her game on Hot Pants for the second round for her Zone 10 team. “This is the highest I’ve ever competed on him,” she said. “My first round, I had two rails and a stop, so I rode really aggressively, and he got more comfortable.”

Zone 2 took the third spot on the podium, clinching the bronze medal with 16 penalties, only 1 penalty behind the silver medalists. Katie Dinan, 18, went double clear in both rounds on Vancouver, while fellow NAJYRC veteran Karen Polle, 19, added 12 jumping penalties on Cachette Z. Danielle Cooper, of Oyster Bay, N.Y., who is also a senior at New York University, added only 4 jumping penalties to her team’s total on Calantus. Francesca Bolfo, 21, rode her 12-year-old Begian Warmblood Venus TR around her biggest course to date. “I’ve had her since she was 7,” Bolfo said. “This is the biggest I’ve ever shown her, and she really rose to the occasion.”

Juniors

In the junior team show jumping, Zone 4 was victorious after tying with Zone 2 in the first two rounds. A jump-off separated the two teams. The Zone 4 team—Michael Hughes (15) on Shockwave, Hayley Barnhill (18) on Toucan Tango, Hasbrouck Donovan (17) aboard Delilah, and Frances Land (17) on Merlin—earned 8 faults in the first round. They added just 4 in the second round, and 0 in the jump-off to sweep the gold with 12 faults over Zone 2 and their 28 total team faults. Sixteen of Zone 2’s faults came from the jump-off.

The Zone 2 team consisted of Callie Smith (17) aboard Captain Krutzmann, Gabrielle Bausano (16) aboard Ubico H, Charlotte Jacobs (16) aboard Karonda V Schlosslihof Ch and Maria Van Buskirk (18) on VDL Theresa Lady. Competition was fierce in the final round, and many noted the difficulty of the tracks. A four-stride bending line caused problems, as did the open water in the first two rounds. “We didn’t walk the jump-off because we didn’t know there would be one,” said Jacobs. “It was a quick jump-off and kind of twisty and turny, but it rode well.”

Barnhill, Collierville, Tenn., jumped all clean rounds aboard Toucan Tango and will head into Sunday’s individual competition in good standing. “It feels amazing, winning the gold,” said Barnhill. “Our horses all went great.”

Land had one rail down aboard Merlin in the first round. Donovan contributed two 4-fault rounds for the team, and Hughes had one rail down in the first, and one rail and 1 time fault in the second. In the jump-off, Donovan was the only team member to pull a rail, serving as the drop score in that round.

After jumping one round last night, and then two full rounds and a jump-off between Zone 4 and silver medalists Zone 2 today, several riders noted they had tired horses. “I had a rough jump-off, and he’s a little tired,” said Smith. “My horse has the biggest stride in the world. But he was awesome, and he’ll have off tomorrow, so Sunday he’ll be ready to go.”

Frances Land’s mother Kim was chef d’equipe for the Zone 2 team. “Michael, Hayley and Frances have jumped on several teams together before this week,” Kim said. “This has been a building of synergy between these kids. There’s just something special about a team event. Kids really come to the plate and support each other. It’s wonderful to come and support them.” Though Frances, Alpharetta, Ga., admitted it can be difficult to train with her mother, she said it mostly went smoothly at NAJYRC. “We have our issues just because she’s my mom, but we just really worked through it, and we got along great this week,” said Frances.