By Leigh Ballard
Two teams of mid-south area young riders enjoyed top honors at the Reining Team Championships competition at the Adequan/FEI North American Junior and Young Rider Championships (NAJYRC) held at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY, July 17 - 22, 2012. The competition venue was the Alltech Arena, site of the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. NAJYRC is the premier equestrian competition for junior and young riders in North America, offering a total of nine championships across five disciplines.
Team USA Southeast Reining Juniors won the Gold Medal. Team USA Southeast Young Riders won the Silver Medal for their age group.
The Gold Medal team was composed of Meloney Morris riding Mr Loney 2006 (age 15, Germantown, TN); Savannah Ostner aboard Sparkin Hat Skidmark (age 13, Memphis, TN); Nick Taylor showing Outlaw Whiz (age 14, Martin, TN), and Stephen Timberlake riding Whiz Bang Boom (age 13, Millington, TN). A very strong team for years at the NAJYRC, Team USA-Southeast is always a skilled set of riders and with a team score of 594, they bested the also very strong Team Canada by 1.5 total team points - a very tight margin in the sport's scoring system.
The Silver Medal team, Southeast Reining Young Riders, consisted of Jacklyn Hoyt, a member of the University of Georgia Equestrian Team; Laura Sumrall, from Summit, MS and a member of Texas A&M Equestrian Team; and Jonathan Timberlake of Millington, TN. All of the Silver Medal team members were returning competitors.
Selection for a championship team is based on a ranking achieved while showing at National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) sanctioned shows which offer a special United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) class. The riders accrue points from showing in this class, and they are ranked according to their points. If they are in the top ranking for their age group, they are invited to the USEF Reining Championships held at the NRHA Derby in Oklahoma City. Then, based on their scores from the Derby, the top competitors are placed on regional teams according to their home state. These regional teams then go to the Championships.
Because the riders show regularly, preparing their horses for the NAJYRC was not too much different than preparing for a regular show. The major difference was that the riders were accustomed to competing as individuals. For the NAJYRC they work as a team to achieve combined scores that would win the medal. Their coach, Randy Schaffhauser from Jonesboro, AR helped the team put their game together.
For three of the four riders on the Gold Medal team, it was their first time showing at the NAJYRC and the first time they had competed on a team. Morris noted, "It was kind of scary, but it's really fun now that I'm here. It was a little more pressure to show on a team."
Thirteen-year-old Ostner added, "We all show in kind of the same region because we live near each other, so we know each other well. We knew our strengths and weaknesses so we could build off of each other."
Nick Taylor attributed the team's success to "really good practice shows back home" and "really good horses."
Stephen Timberlake contributed, "We had a really good coach, Randy Schauffer, to help us through." He went on to say, "I came here just wanting to finish strong and I didn't really expect to win. Everyone wanted to do well. It was just a great experience, the entire thing."
Two teams of mid-south area young riders enjoyed top honors at the Reining Team Championships competition at the Adequan/FEI North American Junior and Young Rider Championships (NAJYRC) held at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY, July 17 - 22, 2012. The competition venue was the Alltech Arena, site of the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. NAJYRC is the premier equestrian competition for junior and young riders in North America, offering a total of nine championships across five disciplines.
Team USA Southeast Reining Juniors won the Gold Medal. Team USA Southeast Young Riders won the Silver Medal for their age group.
The Gold Medal team was composed of Meloney Morris riding Mr Loney 2006 (age 15, Germantown, TN); Savannah Ostner aboard Sparkin Hat Skidmark (age 13, Memphis, TN); Nick Taylor showing Outlaw Whiz (age 14, Martin, TN), and Stephen Timberlake riding Whiz Bang Boom (age 13, Millington, TN). A very strong team for years at the NAJYRC, Team USA-Southeast is always a skilled set of riders and with a team score of 594, they bested the also very strong Team Canada by 1.5 total team points - a very tight margin in the sport's scoring system.
The Silver Medal team, Southeast Reining Young Riders, consisted of Jacklyn Hoyt, a member of the University of Georgia Equestrian Team; Laura Sumrall, from Summit, MS and a member of Texas A&M Equestrian Team; and Jonathan Timberlake of Millington, TN. All of the Silver Medal team members were returning competitors.
Selection for a championship team is based on a ranking achieved while showing at National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) sanctioned shows which offer a special United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) class. The riders accrue points from showing in this class, and they are ranked according to their points. If they are in the top ranking for their age group, they are invited to the USEF Reining Championships held at the NRHA Derby in Oklahoma City. Then, based on their scores from the Derby, the top competitors are placed on regional teams according to their home state. These regional teams then go to the Championships.
Because the riders show regularly, preparing their horses for the NAJYRC was not too much different than preparing for a regular show. The major difference was that the riders were accustomed to competing as individuals. For the NAJYRC they work as a team to achieve combined scores that would win the medal. Their coach, Randy Schaffhauser from Jonesboro, AR helped the team put their game together.
For three of the four riders on the Gold Medal team, it was their first time showing at the NAJYRC and the first time they had competed on a team. Morris noted, "It was kind of scary, but it's really fun now that I'm here. It was a little more pressure to show on a team."
Thirteen-year-old Ostner added, "We all show in kind of the same region because we live near each other, so we know each other well. We knew our strengths and weaknesses so we could build off of each other."
Nick Taylor attributed the team's success to "really good practice shows back home" and "really good horses."
Stephen Timberlake contributed, "We had a really good coach, Randy Schauffer, to help us through." He went on to say, "I came here just wanting to finish strong and I didn't really expect to win. Everyone wanted to do well. It was just a great experience, the entire thing."
