Sara Canter
I am 15 years old from Massachusetts. I ride with Jessica Halliday and lease her mare, Jasmine. We are currently competing Novice. This year I am hoping to be a part of the team as a groom, and hopefully one day as a rider. I am so grateful for this opportunity!
Katerina Garcia-Chope
I am fifteen years old and I am a returning groom candidate, having been apart of the Area 1 team last year. I hope to gain more experience and skills grooming for Area 1 this year, and to again be apart of the intensity of NAJYRC. Currently, I am competing at the training level with Jessica Halliday’s preliminary horse, Quinn. My goal as a young rider is to represent Area 1 on the 1* team next year at NAJYRC.
Jack Curtis
I am extremely excited to be a potential groom for area 1 in Montana! I hope to learn new skills and strategies for grooming, and meeting amazing riders! I am currently going training level and hope to try out for the 1* team in the coming years!
Sam Curtis
I’m very excited to be a potential groom for NAJYRC 2018! I want to experience Young Riders as a groom so I can be prepared for what’s to come when I try out for the 1* team in the coming years! I want to learn more about grooming skills and to support my friends who are riding!
Madison Dasti
I am a hopeful groom for NAJYRC this summer in Montana. My horse’s name is King and we currently compete at training level together. King is a thirteen year old OTTB that has been my partner for four years now. My goal is to learn more about FEI events in hopes to compete at NAJYRC in the years ahead of me. It will be an amazing opportunity to further my grooming skills and to meet some very talented young riders!
Penelope Giesen, 15
I am applying to be a groom for the Area I team of young riders going to the Young Rider Championships in Montana this summer. Horses have always been a huge part of my life from the time when I first started riding at age four to ten years later. I’ve joined Pony Club, competed at training level and now am going to bring my new five year old off the track thoroughbred up the levels. When I was four years old I just took some lessons, on a little pony named Squishy and I loved him and riding so much that from that point on it has become the most important thing in my life. When I was six years old, I joined Pony Club. It taught me so much about taking care of horses and riding that although even though the six ratings I have done including my C3 were extremely stressful, I can thank Pony Club for many amazing friends, my extensive knowledge of horsemanship and how to present a horse to a diligent horse management judge that I could contribute to our team of young riders. As well as my introduction to the awesome world of eventing. Since I stopped braiding my hair and wearing bows, and took my pony to my first event,Young Riders has been an amazing dream and goal of mine. So, although someday I would love to ride there with my horse, I need to make slightly smaller goals like going Beginner Novice this spring. Being able to experience such a big event, meeting new people, and the excitement of being on a team, and representing the area that I have grown up riding in would be amazing. When I started eventing I had an extremely sassy 14.2 hand rescue quarter pony mare and although it took us a few tries when I finally made it around a Beginner Novice cross country course, I knew I was hooked on eventing because it is so fun and exhilarating. Since then I competed beginner novice, novice, and training at events all over Area I on the mare I leased and even at Pony Club champs at the Kentucky Horse Park. I love eventing, I am so excited to meet so many dedicated, talented people this year.
Tove Goldstone
I am fifteen years old. This is my first time applying to groom for NAJYRC and I am very excited for this opportunity. I am eager to gain knowledge and skills for this experience that will help me improve as a rider. As of now, I am leasing a horse, Toby, and I ride with Jessica Halliday. One day I hope to be a part of the Area 1 team.
Gillian Maynard
I am applying to be a groom at NAJYRC this year. I am 14 and am from Lincoln, Massachusetts. I am currently competing at novice level and am planning to move up to training in the spring. I board my horse Atlas at Scarlet Hill Farm in Groton, MA, and train with Denise Goyea. Atlas is a 16.1h 7 year old warmblood cross who I have had since he was four. My horse and I have both learned a lot and grown up in the years. In the future I hope to compete him up to 1* and hopefully compete at Young Riders!
I am so excited to have the opportunity to go to NAJYRC this year as a groom. There is so much I can learn from this experience, from how to fundraise to improving my grooming skills. I am hoping to learn from buck and all the rider who have accomplished what I hope to someday accomplish myself, and will help prepare me to become a young rider one day. There is so much this opportunity has to offer but the thing I forward most to being part of this team. Everyone who is part of this team so much to offer and I look forward to meeting, and getting to know everyone.
Phoebe Niland, 15
This is my first time applying as a groom for the Area 1 young riders on their journey to NAJYRC. I helped out with a lot of the stall cleaning and raffles last season at shows, such as; GMHA trials, Groton House, and UNH trials. I had lots of fun helping the team get to Montana last year, even though I wasn’t an applicant. It was an awesome feeling knowing I had raised money and supported some of my closest friends with getting them to compete at NAJYRC. I’m so excited for going through the selection process and getting to spend the beginning of the season fundraising and helping th ese incredible riders dreams come true, as well hopefully pursuing one of mine, getting to groom for Area 1 at NAJYRC.
I grew up riding at Green Acres Stables in Madbury, New Hampshire, as a little blonde girl at summer camp. I took lessons once a week on my favorite pony ever, Aslan, who passed a few years ago, then started to half lease lesson ponies, such as; Riley and Blackjack, who all lead me to the rider I am today. I continue to train at Green Acres with Dawn Dascomb, and own a beautiful mare named Dahlia. She was out for the majority of the season last year due to a tendon injury, but managed to bring her up from a spooky hunter horse to the awesome Novice packer she is now.
I’ve always loved helping others at shows, because I understand the stress and craziness that comes along with eventing. I groomed for Rain Anderson, as well as others, on multiple occasions at local shows last season as my horse was injured, and I’ve gotten the honor of learning what it means to be a hard worker under Rains wing. I love the feeling of completing tasks for others, even if it’s just braiding their horses mane, or cleaning their tack, every little thing helps.
Libby Scruton
This is my first time applying for a grooming position at NAJYRC. I am fifteen years old, and currently competing at Training with aspirations to move up to Preliminary with Abby Hamblin’s 3* horse Brighton, who I am very fortunate to be leasing. In a sport focused mainly on the partnership between horse and rider, I would like to experience being a part of a larger team and the Area 1 family. From this experience, I hope to gain skills that will further my understanding of horse care and team work. My goal is to compete for Area 1 on the 1* team next year, and grooming this year would be a wonderful insight into what it means to go to NAJYRC.
Emma Stiller
I am 15 years old. I event my chestnut mare, Winnie, training level. When I started riding at a local lesson barn, naturally, as any other 5 year old believes, I thought I was the best rider ever. As soon as I was introduced into Pony Club and eventing at age 10, I soon learned otherwise. I learned how to properly take care of a horse and learned to always want to get better no matter how frustrated, angry, or just exhausted I am. And believe me, Pony Club has frustrated me more times than I can count, but has also shown me that all you need is drive, determination and never ending patience to achieve a goal. Watching all the older Pony Clubbers and Prelim eventers at local shows and clinics, I was fascinated by what once seemed impossible. Soon after this I got the eventing bug. My first recognized show was on a horse named Ben There Done That (yes the name definitely suited him). After Ben, I catch rode until I found my partner in crime, Winnie, who has taught me so much. For one, I learned how to deal with a chestnut mare (why did nobody warn me before I bought one??) and she (very patiently) has helped me improve throughout the past two years.
This past summer Winnie and I competed in Pony Club Eventing Championships at the Kentucky Horse Park, with kids from across the country. My team ended up winning our division based on 3 days of riding, horse care, grooming and cleanliness (1 poop in the stall is fine, 2 poops is borderline, and 3 poops you better get cleaning!). All tack and horses had to be spotless at all times even just half an hour after galloping cross country. One of the best parts about Champs was the team aspect. I hope to be included in this new team of NAJYRC.
Even after my very first event, I immediately knew that I wanted to become one of those upper level riders who showed the younger generations that their dreams could come true as long as you have the determination and courage to accomplish it. While I have to work a little longer to hopefully make it to my own NAJYRC debut, I definitely want to help someone else accomplish their childhood dreams this year at NAJYRC.
Allie Webster
I am a sixteen year old based out of Scarlet Hill Farm in Groton, Massachusetts. I attend Lawrence Academy, ride with Denise Goyea & Meredith Scarlet all year around and in Florida for during the winter. I’m competing novice level this year and have plans to move up next year. Someday I would like to try out for the 1* team. Being a groom for NAJYRC will give me new experiences and knowledge to help me improve my own horse care skills and riding. I am excited to use my current skills and talents to add to the success of the team.
Instagram: @webstereventing
Grace Wilson
I am 15 years old and I do school online. I am spending the winter in Aiken as a working student for Jane Sleeper, and for now I will compete some of Jane’s horses. During the Area 1 season, I’ll continue going training level with one of my trainer’s mares that I introduced to eventing last year. Not being able to have a horse of my own makes moving up the Eventing levels much more difficult; however, I know that when the day comes where I finally go Preliminary, “rewarding” will be an understatement. I think about this every time that I set my decades old hand-me-down polo saddle on the back of a horse I don’t own. Struggle is something that every equestrian has to face in order to meet success, and this is one of mine. I look back on everything it’s made me learn so far, about frustration, jealousy, appreciation and hard work, and frankly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Being part of the NAJYRC team as a groom would give me valuable knowledge and experience for future Eventing jobs and competitions. A goal of mine is to eventually try out for the 1* or 2* team. I’ve been going training level for two years and I am working towards this goal one show, one minimum eligibility result, and one ride at a time. Going to NAJYRC as a groom and witnessing it as a career milestone for other young riders would be a great way to first experience the Championships. At the same time, it would allow me to use my existing horsemanship and turnout skills in a way that contributes to the hard-earned success of other Area 1 young riders.
