Lexington, KY—The audience was in for a treat as both Junior and Young Riders laid it all on the line and put on a show during the CN North American Junior & Young Rider Championships presented by USHJA. In the juniors, it took two separate jump-offs to decide the winners of the Individual show jumping medals and all four horses and riders jumped their hearts out in an attempt to reign supreme.

Kaitlin Campbell and Connery 9 jumped clean and quick in the Gold-medal jump-off to take home the coveted top honors. Campbell and Connery, hailing from Zone 2, left all the rails in the cups and rode fast to finish with zero faults for the her entire competition.

“I went before Samantha, so I had to give it my all and not ride it too carefully,” Campbell said of her jump-off round. “I rode as fast as I could and just hope I didn’t have a rail.”

Campbell said that Connery was a bit tired, but he gave it his all.

Although the time allowed wasn’t a problem for Campbell in the jump-off, she cut it close in all the other rounds.

“I came pretty close to the times,” she added. “The time was tight in the other rounds, so that made me a little nervous. But it doesn’t matter how far off you are as long as you’re under.”

This also wasn’t Campbell’s first time riding in the big arena. She spends about six months out of the year schooling right next door to the Horse Park.

In addition to her Individual Gold medal, Campbell and Connery took home the Team Silver medal earlier this week.

Taking home the Silver was Samantha Harrison and Santika. The pair jumped clean all week, but had two rails down in the jump-off and was bumped to second. Harrison and Santika were also on the Gold medal-winning Zone 10 team.

“I gave it my all, but my horse was a little tired,” Harrison said after the jump-off. “She tries all the time. She’s been clear all except for the jump off. She’s been the best this week. It was really amazing.”

There was also a jump-off for the Bronze medal between Richard Neal and Luke Skywalker S and Annie Laura Cook and Gina. Both pairs had just four faults for the week, but Cook pulled a rail in the jump-off to relinquish the Bronze medal. Neal and Luke had a fast and clean round in the jump-off, with which he was very pleased.

“She’s really quick on that little gray mare,” Neal said of Cook. “I knew that I had to go fast and clean and if I didn’t, she was going to slip by me with no problem. Luke isn’t the biggest or the scopiest horse, but he’s very careful. He really stepped up.”

Neal agreed that his mount was growing tired as the competition drew on. “It’s a lot for these horses, but they’re all fit and in great shape,” he said.

Despite finishing just outside the medals, Cook was thrilled with Gina’s performance here at the NAJYRC.

“Gina just turned eight,” she explained. “We were just going to do the low jumpers this year, but we moved up. This is really the biggest she has ever jumped. She always jumps really careful and really fast. I was really proud.”

All of the Juniors are still eligible for qualifying next year.

It was a fight to the finish in the Young Rider division. Everyone came out fighting for the Gold, and although the horses had already jumped four rounds, they came out looking fresh and ready to jump.

Jennifer Waxman and Venturo wrapped up their weekend with a big win to take home the Individual Gold medal. The pair, from Zone 5, jumped flawlessly all week and did so again today to wrap it up on a final score of 7.36.

“I was a little worried coming into today because he’s already jumped four rounds,” Waxman said after finishing her courses. Getting over the water has been hard all week. After he went clear this morning, he had tried so hard, I couldn’t let him down in the second round. He just tried so hard all week.”

Although Venturo and Waxman have been together for a year-and-a-half, their success only came recently when something “clicked” at Devon.

“He’s come a long way,” she said. “He did a lot of flat work, but we still weren’t able to post clear rounds. But something clicked at Devon. It was like he started to understand what I wanted. I think any he made were because he was just trying to please me.”

The Silver medal went to Lucy Davis and True Love from Zone 10. The pair has been successful all week and, despite the fact that he was starting to tire, True Love was able to jump solidly for Davis to keep her in second place with a score of 10.3.

“I was a little nervous today,” Davis said after her ride. “We were all so close in points, so I was just trying to go clear. My horse felt great, a little tired, but I couldn’t have asked for more from him.”

True Love is 13 years old, and Davis said that he has taught her so much since she started riding him.

“He has the biggest heart and tries so hard,” she said. “He truly enjoys going out and jumping. He has a little more experience, so it’s been him helping me rather than me helping him.”

Finally, taking home the Bronze Medal was Joelle Froese and Condor from British Columbia. Condor jumped well all week and consistently moved up the ranks. The pair only had one rail down today to bring their total score to 17.11.

“I tried not to think of the scores too much,” Froese said. “I just tried to jump every fence one at a time. I wasn’t sure how he was going to do because he’s done so much jumping this week, but he was great.”

Froese said that Condor loves to jump and that they have been lucky enough to be successful coming up the levels together.

All the medalists agree that they had a great time this year and gained so much from the experience.

“It was really exciting,” said Waxman. “As far as an experience, Young Riders is so important. To go under pressure, to go under the lights, it’s just so important for us to do that. The advantage that the professionals have is experience and now we have it too.”

To learn more about the event, visit www.youngriders.org.