Louise Labrucherie Going for Gold Again?
The North American Young Riders' Championships is a major goal for all enthusiastic young riders, who want to compete and achieve.
One week of total pressure on rider and horse, disappointment or tremendous happiness, team spirit or rivalry between the regions are all common factors on international events like the NAYRC. Featuring Dressage, Showjumping and Three-Day Event riders from the age of 16 to 21 compete for team and individual medals. This is the closest experience to an Olympic Games these talented young equestrians will have. In fact many young rider competitors have gone on to represent their countries in the Olympics.
Nineteen year old Louise Labrucherie considers herself ready for the 1998 NAYRC. With Artiste, her 15 year old Brandenburger chestnut (by Arsenal), she won the 1997 individual gold medal and contributed to the Region 7 Team Gold Medal victory.
Last year has been a very exiting one for her. As the reigning Young Rider Dressage Gold Medalist many opportunities have opened up for her. This year she showed Artiste only once but was immediately selected for the USDF Region 7 Team, which covers California and Nevada. Region 7 has dominated the Dressage Young Riders' Championships and is the team to beat.
Is Louise going for the individual gold again? "I'm just going to do my best and it would be fun to win, but competing is an individual thing and anything can happen. There is a good atmosphere in the team and everyone is very relaxed; this will only contribute to a better performance of all Region 7 riders."
Under the guidance of her trainer Gerard Politz (pictured right), Louise is training three other horses. One older schoolmaster and two nice youngsters. One recently became training level champion at a Californian show.
Louise is looking ahead to a bright future. At the moment she's pursuing a legal program and a course in correspondence in college. Her future career will exist in riding horses and her dream goal, like every enthusiastic dressage rider, is representing her country in the Olympic Games.
Nicole Perry
Three years in a row the Californian Nicole Perry was part of the Region 7 Young Riders' team at the North American Young Riders' Championships. Small mistakes in her tests kept her from winning an individual medal, but 1998 has been a turning point in her life. With her Thoroughbred Masterpiece she rode a NAYRC to dream of. Scores like 63.74% and 65.05% gave her the opportunity to be awarded with the silver individual medal and the gold team medal. Why did it work this year?
At age 7 Nicole Perry started riding dressage, although her parents are western riders and are training performance Quarter Horses. Mommy Perry has always been helping out Nicole but Robert Dover gave her a big push in the back. By riding in his clinics and taking private lessons with him, Nicole moved forward a lot. Even though they disagree on several training points, the combination Dover-Perry seems to be working. Nicole also participated in several Conrad Schumacher clinics and one day she hopes to go to his barn in Germany.
Nicole is still doing some western gaits classes and she prefers reining as western discipline, but she still says that she feels more conforatble with dressage: "By doing dressage you create a better relationship with your horse. Animals teach you to put your priorities straight and that's an important aspect of life."
Besides eating, drinking and breathing horses, Nicole has a passion for oceanography and she likes flying airplanes with her uncle.
Next year will be Nicole's last year as a Young Rider and her "joie de vivre" makes her mentally very strong and thus she can be considered as a serious competitor for the gold medal.
Ryan Hites and Staatsmann
It's not happening everyday that you find your trainer in the yellow pages and become the bronze medal winner at the North American Young Riders' Championships only three years later. Ryan Hites, his trainer Roxanne Christensen and the Hannoverian Staatsmann (by Sandstrem out of Akelei) have proven to be a successful combination.
This is the story of the nineteen year old Ryan Hites, whose parents own a sight seeing company in Alaska. Two years ago he started competing at First level, but in the meanwhile he was riding his trainer's FEI horses and felt challenged by the complexity of the higher levels. In September 1997 he purchased Roxanne's Prix St. Georges horse Staatsmann and did two show seasons with him in California. As Roxanne Christensen is emphasizing the fundamentals of dressage and the aspect of riding 100% correctly, Ryan Hites was able to achieve every single title during last show season.
When we asked him how he felt after having won the bronze medal, he replied:
"I'm very happy with my test and Staatsmann was a good boy. At the NAYRC you learn much by competing against all U.S. Young Riders. I like dressage because of the mental aspect and the feeling you need to ride well. Not anyone can do dressage and that's special."
Do most riders have another life besides horses? Ryan does! When he's not working at Roxanne's barn, mucking out stables and training horses, he likes to go fishing, playing some football and do some skiing. Even though he's very calm and sober while he's riding, he does like the action and commotion of the Jerry Springer show, which is his favorite TV-show.
Amanda Cargile
For the twenty year old Amanda Cargile, the 1998 North American Young Riders' Championships were a blast. She didn't intend to ride the Young Riders' test at all, but at the CDN Flint Ridge she qualified immediately for the Region 7 team by scoring twice 67%.
With Hurricane she made an impression the first day of the NAYRC. She won the preliminary test with 65% and defeated team mate and North American Dressage Champion Louise Labrucherie. "Winning the Preliminary test was a great feeling. Hurricane and I trust each other more now that he has mellowed out a bit. He was very spooky in the beginning but the FEI movements were challenging for him as he had more to concentrate on."
Hurricane is a KWPN gelding by Casanova, who recently got re-approved by the KWPN studbook. He was bought through her trainer Kathleen Raine and David Wightman at Johan Hinneman's stable in Voerde, Germany.
Hurricane is only eight years old and with his quality and potential, Amanda can definitely reach for the individual gold next year at the 1999 NAYRC at Tempel Farms in Wadsworth, Illinois
These articles are also featured on Horsesdaily.com
Photos © Phelpsphotos.com
Related Links
Scores 1998 North American Young Riders Championships