Parker,
CO - August 3, 2008- The 2008 CN FEI North American Junior and Young Rider Championships
at the Colorado Horse Park Presented by Gotham North culminated with the final
competitions determining individual medalists as well as the team medalists in
eventing. The Championships are the
premier equestrian event in North America for riders age 14-21. Run in a format
similar to the Olympic Games, the Championships feature riders competing for team
and individual Medals in the three Olympic disciplines of show jumping, dressage
and eventing, as well as the western discipline of reining, which was added to
the schedule for the first time this year. The
NAJYRC operates under the rules of the Fédération Equestre Internationale
(FEI), the international governing body for equestrian sport. It is the only FEI
championship held annually in this country.
Eventing Jennifer
Brannigan of Area VI won the individual Gold in the USEA Eventing Division's
CCI**, finishing with a three-phase total of 36.3 penalties on Cooper. Brannigan
rode a clean jumping round and, coupled with a clean cross country on Saturday,
finished on her dressage score. She was followed by Karen Shull of Area
I/IV/V who scored 55.7 on Just My Style and Stephanie Rhodes-Bush, of Canada,
who finished with 57.9 penalties on Port Authority.
"He
is such a great show jumper that I had some confidence coming in, but I still
worried about making mistakes," said Brannigan, who stood second following
cross country last year but was unable to proceed to show jumping when her horse
Cosmo failed the veterinary inspection.
"Cooper recovered very nicely
from the heat and I thought he felt really good."
Brannigan
credited working with U.S. veteran show jumper Susie Hutchison on
her show jumping for helping her. "Riding with Susie at the big jumper shows
at Thermal made a big difference." Shull
was happy to hold on for second place. "His strength is dressage and
he's not the best show jumper," she said. "His dressage here was just
average for him and I was hoping for clean and even though we didn't get it, I'm
happy we held our position." In
the CCI*, Callie Judy, of Area IV, won the individual Gold with 48.8 penalties
on Irish Odyssey. She finished on her dressage score after a clean jumping round
to go with a clean cross country ride on Saturday. Lindsay Crnkovich, of
Area VIII/X, won the Silver with 49.1 penalties. She kept the pressure on Judy
with a clean jumping round and also finished on her dressage score on Right Back
Atchya. Sarah Talaga, of Canada, won the Bronze with 50.7 penalties on
Vena.
"I
am in absolute shock," said Judy, who rode in the Championships in
2006 but found herself without a horse last year and groomed for her teammates
instead. "It really has not sunk in. We had some problems stopping on cross
country last spring and we worked really hard to get it corrected. I'm so happy
that our hard work paid off." Crnkovich,
whose 14.1 hand mount is a Quarter/pony, said she wouldn't change a thing about
him. "His personality is absolutely the best. I love everything about him!" In
the team competitions, Brannigan's Area VI won the Gold in the CCI** with
a team score of 170.4 penalties, followed by Shull's Area I/IV/V team with
a score of 1122.8 and Area VIII/X with 1158.5.
In the CCI*, Judy's
Area IV team won with 161.4 penalties, followed by Crnkovich's Area
VIII/X team with a score of 166.6 and Talaga's Canadian Team with 170.1.
Brannigan's
Gold Medal teammates - Tiana Coudray on Ringwood Master, Max McNamamy
on Beacon Hill and David Koss on Candy-praised her riding and emphasized
how much fun they had as a team. "Being the only guy with three girls, let
me tell you, I need some help!" said Koss who took ribbing from his
teammates for getting them all to talk like Borat. Koss noted that his
horse doesn't show jump well, " - so I just left it all up to the girls." Judy's
Area IV teammates, Hannah Ross who rode Fantasia, Jessa Lux who
rode Car Tanga, and Edith Lee who rode Ballycormac Petrocelli, joined her
in saying that riding as a team changes things quite a bit. "It really increases
the pressure when you know that what you do affects others," said Lux.
"But there's also a benefit because I knew that if I blew it that my teammates
would get the job done."
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