Lexington, KY - It's "all hands on deck" as the final touches are being made and the horses and riders are arriving at the Kentucky Horse Park for what has become a celebrated annual event - the Adequan/FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Championships presented by Gotham North. And for the 2011 competition, there are some exciting additions to this highly-regarded series of international championships.

In addition to championships being contested in dressage, eventing, and show jumping, for the first time at the NAJYRC, the discipline of endurance will contest a CEI4* 100-mile championship race (a CEI2* 75-mile, non-championship race will also be run concurrently). Additionally, reining, which joined the championships in 2008 for the first time, will have two divisions for the first time in 2011. Non-championship events will also take place in the form of a vaulting demonstration during the Opening Ceremonies and a pair of para-dressage freestyles prior to the dressage freestyle championships on Saturday.

In all, some 250 riders spanning six countries have made the pilgrimage to the Kentucky Horse Park to battle for medals. Among them include:

•174 riders from the U.S. (57 dressage, 19 endurance, 39 eventing, 52 jumping, 7 reining)
•59 riders from Canada (21 dressage, 3 endurance, 9 eventing, 12 jumping, 14 reining)
•10 riders from Mexico (3 endurance, 3 jumping, 4 reining)
•2 riders from Columbia (endurance)
•1 rider from Germany (endurance)
•1 rider from Spain (endurance)

Each of the championships will see exciting competition from the many teams that have come to showcase their talents. Per discipline, they include:

Dressage - Junior Rider

Canada East (Marah Gaudet, Julie Channell, Tanya Strasser Shostak, and Nicole Babich Morin)

Canada Ontario (Anneka Sutton, Noemie Gagnon-Bergeron, Ashley Phipps, and Jonah Freedman)

Canada West (Monika Zillinger, Monica Houwelling, Megan Overwater, and Dalyce Gagnon)

Manitoba (Sarah Loewen)

U.S. Region 1 (Kya Endreson, Julia Burtt, and Dominique Cassavetis)

U.S. Region 2 (Rosemary Julian-Simoes, Allison Gerlt, Matthew Manibusan, and Megan Wisniewski)

U.S. Region 3 (Rebecca Cohen, Sean Sierra Keasler and Mallory Kent)

U.S. Region 4 (Codi Harrison)

U.S. Region 5 (Devon Wycoff, Brook Santangelo, Talia Hershaft, and Taylor Lindsten)

U.S. Region 6 (Brooke Bayley, Molly Eastridge, Sadie Lahey, and Meghan Slaughter)

U.S. Region 7 (Maggie Charbonnet, Leah Myers, Stephanie Early, and Morgan Wolfe)

U.S. Region 8 (Rachel Chowanec, Katelyn Kok, Jannike Gray, and Ciara Cummiskey)

U.S. Region 9 (Courtney Clary Bauer, Ayden Uhlir, Anna Campbell, and Benjamin Winger)

Dressage - Young Rider

Team Ontario (Megan Lane, Alexandra Dvorak, Bronwyn Barlow Cash, Kristin Sutton)

Team British Columbia/Quebec (Esmee Ingham, Anne-Mylaine Messier, Mathilde Blais Tetrault, and Emily Fownes)

U.S. Region 1 (Chase Hickok, Nicole Del Giorno, and Melanie Montagano)

U.S. Region 2 (Katie Foster, Emily Wright, Victoria Retamoza, and Jennifer Harding)

U.S. Region 3 (Alexandra Kitchen, Bryn Cahill, Abby Pritchard, and Anne Ferris Yanney)

U.S. Region 4 (Clare Krska and Katie Cumberford)

U.S. Region 5 (Brandi Roenick, Catherine Chamberlain, Madeleine Birch, and Aylin Corapcioglu)

U.S. Region 6 (Brooke Bayley, Molly Eastridge, Sadie Lahey, and Meghan Slaughter)

U.S. Region 7 (MacKinzie Pooley, Kelli McLean Newton, Ari Lopez, and Jaclyn Pepper)

U.S. Region 8 (Ali Potasky, Isabelle Leibler, Madeleine Van Vleet, and Marlee O'Neil)

U.S. Region 9 (Julia Handt and Mary Kathryn Nommensen)

Endurance - CEI2*

U.S. Central (Sophie Bashir, McKinzie Flanagan, Kelsey Kimbler, and McCamey Kimbler)

U.S. Northeast (Meghan Delp, Katherine Gardener, Forest Green, Steven Hay, Liz Morgan, and Alayna Wagner)

U.S. Pacific South (Frances Chase-Dunn)

U.S. Southeast (Mallory Capps and Cassandra Roberts)

Canada (Jessica Yavis and Emma Webb)

Columbia (Francisco Quintana Barrera and Camilo Andres Villa)

Germany (Pauline Wadewitz)

Mexico (Mariana Meixueiro Guzman, Gabriel Mendoza Gagnier, and Christopher Ugarte)

Spain (Maira Capdevila de Chopitea)

Endurance - CEI4*

U.S. Central (Devan Horn)

U.S. Mountain (Jessica DiCamillo)

U.S. Northeast (Kyle Gibbon and Lindsay Bean)

U.S. Southeast (Mary Kathryn Clark and Kelsey Russell)

Canada (Lee Hutten)

Eventing - Junior Rider

Canada Ontario (Haley Armstrong-Laframboise, April Simmonds, Sable Geisler, Liza Igochine, and Brooke Pickering)

U.S. Area 1 (Jennifer Lyford and Shannon Quigley)

U.S. Area 2 (Jeanna Begbie, Savannah Fulton, Jacqueline McGuinness, Chase Beach, Clare Green, and Jordan Litter)

U.S. Area 3 (Hanna Begue)

U.S. Area 5 (Victoria New, Alexa Ehlers, Alyssa Phillips, Avery Klunick, and Taylor Wood)

U.S. Area 6 (Zacharey Brandt, Madeline Sexton, Kaitlin Veltkamp, Madison Loving, and Piper Leddick)

U.S. Area 7 (Florence Miller)

U.S. Area 9 (Madline Backus, Ashlyn Dorsey, and Ellie Gilbertson)

 

Eventing - Young Rider

Canada (Christian Bennet, William Dow, Melissa Boutin, and Joelle Baskerville)

U.S. Area 1 (Imogen DeLavis)

U.S. Area 2 (Benita Strini, Caroline Martin, and Arden Wildasin)

U.S. Area 3 (Libby Head, Mary Hollis Baird, Emily Renfroe, Devon Brown, and Sarah Kamensky)

U.S. Area 4 (Lexi Scovil)

U.S. Area 5 (Emma Kate Fisher, Jacob Fletcher, and Rowdie Adams)

U.S. Area 6 (Scott Kuhlman)

U.S. Area 7 (Lizzie Snow)

U.S. Area 9 (Kendyl Tracy)

Show Jumping - Junior Rider

Canada Alberta (Emma Irwin, Alexandria Smith, Carly Kist, and Sydney Greene)

Canada Ontario (Jacqueline Steffens and Jake Krembil)

Canada Quebec (Daphne Picard)

Mexico (Jose Antonio Chedraui, Jorge Canedo, and Juan Jose Zendejas)

U.S. Zone 1 (Sydney Shulman, Avery Waite, and Dana Scott)

U.S. Zone 2 (Charlotte Jacobs, Maria Van Buskirk, Callie Smith, Gabrielle Bausana, and Leah de Martini)

U.S. Zone 3 (Chloe Reid, Samantha Schaefer, and Sara Kethcam)

U.S. Zone 4 (Hayley Barnhill, Hasbrouck Donovan, Michael Hughes, Frances Land, and Elizabeth Patz)

U.S. Zone 5 (Kalvin Dobbs, Nora Laue, Gabriela Mershad, Catherine Tyree, and Ali Boone)

U.S. Zone 6 (Brooke Cudmore)

U.S. Zone 7 (Katie Cox, Savannah Talcott, Jodran Appel, Megan Bifano, and Lindsay Moss)

U.S. Zone 8 (Alicia Gasser and Bryn Sadler)

U.S. Zone 10 (Madion Bradshaw, Brittany Albrecq, Kilian McGrath, and Hanna Warde)

Show Jumping - Young Rider

Canada Alberta (Kristy Yopyk and Kennedy Ellingson)

Canada Ontario (Miranda Travers-Cavill and Sarah Bagworth)

U.S. Zone 1 (Robert Lee)

U.S. Zone 2 (Katherine Dinan, Karen Polle, Danielle Cooper, Francesca Bolfo)

U.S. Zone 3 (Kaitlin Campbell, Alise Oken, and Paulena Johnson)

U.S. Zone 4 (Taylor Land, Liza Finsness, Jordan Coyne, Chase Boggio, and Samantha Senft)

U.S. Zone 5 (Lisa Kent and Douglas Masters)

U.S. Zone 8 (Brooke Kennedy)

U.S. Zone 10 (Cayla Richards, Danielle Korsh, Kendall Skreden, and Sage Flynn)

Reining - Junior Rider

Canada Ontario (Lane Wilson and Emily Wilson)

U.S. Northeast (Tiffany Wynn)

Reining - Young Rider

Canada Alberta/Manitoba (Nancy Pratch, Lisa Hiebert, Kylie Wasiuta, Jessica Green)

Canada Ontario/Quebec (Starr Boisvert, Lyndsay Kloster, Darcy Wilson, and Antony Jolin St. Laurent)

Canada Saskatchewan (Lindsay Wankel, Bretty Dembisky, Jonathan Katzman, and Shelbie Friesen)

Mexico (Alberta Aguilar Raz, Jesus Arturo Leal Marroquin, Gerardo Leal Garza, and Giblerto Leal Alanis)

U.S. Northeast/South Central (Raquel Roberts, Jake Letner, and Will Letner)

U.S. Southeast (Michael Pope, Laura Sumrall, and Jonathan Timberlake)

The NAJYRC is the premiere equestrian competition in North America for Junior and Young Riders age 14-21. The competition is run under rules of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI), the international governing body for equestrian sport.

Many of North America's best equestrians got their start at the NAJYRC including Olympic medalists Greg Best, Karen O'Connor, Chris Kappler and McLain Ward.

The NAJYRC began in 1974 as an eventing challenge between the United States and Canada. A dressage championship was added in 1981, and show jumping was added in 1982. The first complete Young Riders championship was held in British Columbia, Canada, in 1982. The championships were expanded to officially include a championship division for Juniors in 2006. The discipline of reining was added to the official schedule in 2008.

Opening ceremonies begin at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 27, and admission is free of charge (there is a nominal parking fee for the Kentucky Horse Park). For more information, visit http://www.youngriders.org.

Don't forget to read blogs, watch video and follow the competition at:
http://www.usefnetwork.com/featured/NAJYRC2011