Mid-South Young Rider Shines at AEC Alexis Pannel and Sebastian By Meredith Wilkes Tipton The first weekend of September brought many of America's brightest eventers to Carl Bouckaert’s beautiful Chattahoochie Hills Farm at Fairburn, Georgia for the 2010 American Eventing Championships (AEC), September 9-12. This year's AEC had over 700 entries, making it the largest Horse Trials in the world, where competitors ranging from Beginner Novice (BN) through Advanced level competed for their division's championships. It is also one of the few competitions where BN young riders can stable and work alongside Advanced level greats like Phillip Dutton or Becky Holder. While many were watching online the live scores of eventing greats, one Mid-South teen was competing successfully at this year's Championships. Alexis “Lexi” Pannel, a senior from Tupelo High School in Tupelo, MS, and her horse Rock with Bach, aka Sebastian, rode in the Junior Novice Division. The AEC proved to be a fantastic experience for her, and was the apex of a journey that started over a year ago. Alexis is a C2-rated Pony Clubber in the Southern Run Pony Club, and she loves Eventing. Prior to riding Sebastian, she competed through Novice level on her mare, Isn't She Something. Last year she decided to purchase another horse to campaign, and found Sebastian, a talented gelding, at a farm in Tupelo. Sebastian is a 10-year-old, 15.3 hand Anglo Arab, formerly owned by Stephanie Wright. He had been evented by her daughter she went to college, and had won a recognized Novice event. However, it was not an easy road for Lexi and Sebastian. It took five months for Sebastian to learn to trust his new rider, but the slow work paid off. For their first event in April, 2010, Lexi and Sebastian competed in the Novice division at the Deep South Regional Pony Club Event Rally. They were first after dressage and finished second overall, with one rail down in the stadium jumping portion. Their clean cross-country round and second place finish qualified them for U.S. Pony Club (USPC) National Championships. But when the opportunity to compete at AEC arose, Lexi chose AEC over USPC Nationals. In order to quality for the AEC at the Novice level, a horse and rider must finish one event in first or second place; two horse trials in third place; or finish in first through fifth place at an area championship. They must also complete in three horse trials within the qualifying period with no cross-country penalties. Lexi and Sebastian completed Spring Run Horse Trials, the May Daze Horse Trials, and finished second at Jubilee Horse Trials. These horse trials qualified them for the 2010 AEC. In addition to qualifying horse trials, months of intensive training and conditioning are required to get one to the AEC. Lexi and Sebastian frequently travel from their home in Tupelo to Florence, Alabama to train with international event rider and judge Jim Graham, and his partner, Advanced rider David Adamo, at Meadow Run Farm. Lexi spent several months as a working student at Meadow Run Farm. Jim's extensive upper level experience in riding and judging benefitted Lexi in building her skills and confidence, and preparing both horse and rider for eventing competition. David is currently long listed for the U.S. Olympic team, and competed alongside Lexi and Sebastian at the AEC, while coaching Lexi and riding several horses in other divisions. After months of preparation, Alexis and Sebastian joined the best in the sport at the AEC. After walking the cross-country course, she was impressed with the quality and difficulty of the course. The course was championship level and most obstacles were at maximum height. Lexi also found riding alongside former Olympians very exciting! She was thrilled when her coaches Jim and David introduced her to Olympic rider Karen O'Connor! The AEC Junior Novice Division began on Thursday, September 9 with 59 competitors riding their dressage tests. Alexis and Sebastian finished in a tie for 11th place with a score of 32.5 penalties. With much anticipation, they rode the Novice cross country course on Friday, September 10, jumping clean and incurring only .08 time penalties to maintain their 11th place standing. On Saturday, September 11, they rode the Novice stadium jumping course. They finished in the allotted time, but had one rail down to finish with a score of 37.3 penalty points. They finished the Junior Novice Division Championships in 17th place, out of 59 riders. The AEC proved a great success for Lexi and Sebastian! Their clean cross country ride showed their trainers that they can move up to Training level. But they also need to work on cleaning up that stadium course! Look for them in the Training division at the Middle Tennessee Pony Club Horse Trials, October 9-10 in Nashville, TN. Lexi hopes to keep Sebastian through college and to qualify for a Training Level Three Day Event. She has plans in the future to move up to Preliminary division. Alexis credits much of her success to her highly experienced trainers, Jim Graham and David Adamo at Meadow Run Farm. Alexis is especially thankful to her mother, Bridget, for her support, which has made all her efforts possible. Look for more great things from this talented young rider and her impressive gelding! For information about Southern Run Pony Club, visit http://southernrunponyclub.webs.com/home.htm For more information about the AEC and Chattahoochie Hills Bouckaert Farm, visit http://useventing.com/competitions.php?section=aec&id=1966 and http://www.chatthillseventing.com/index.html. For information about the Middle TN Pony Club USEA Horse Trials, visit http://www.mtn-ponyclub.org/.