The third full day of competition at the 2024 North American Youth Championship saw athletes in the Junior and U25 ranks vie for individual titles at Flintfields Horse Park on 2 August 2024.
Juniors: Virginia Woodcock Wins Gold
The junior division saw a trio of chestnut horses and their riders populate the podium after their second test. Region 3’s Virginia Woodcock (Atlanta, Ga.) added another gold medal to the one she and her team earned earlier in the week, riding her own Mollegardens Sans-Souci (by Sir Donnerhall out of Sascha), a 2014 Danish Warmblood mare to a 71.088%. Their score was not only the best in the class, but a personal best for Woodcock.
“Going in, I just really wanted to ride as well as I could,” said Woodcock. “I didn’t feel like I really gave it my all on Wednesday. I pushed myself as much as I could, and the horse really stuck with me. I was really, really happy with my canter work. I thought the canter half-passes were the best I had done. All the changes were nice and clean and through. I was just so happy that she stuck with me and did everything.”
Woodcock and “Souci” have been competing together since early 2023, developing their respective skills through persistence and overcoming challenges.
“She is so amazingly talented and really great, but she struggles a little on the ground, and that was big when we were first building our partnership,” said Woodcock. “It was difficult getting here in the beginning. I was able to work with a horsemanship expert and really develop that side of my riding. It completely changed how I thought about dealing with horses and the riding itself and the trust that’s been built there is just exponential compared to what I’ve had in any other partnership.”
Woodcock does groundwork in a roundpen with Souci at least twice a week, working on strengthening their communication. That work on the ground has paid off for the Woodcock and her chestnut mare, who enjoy a rewarding partnership in the show ring and back home in the barn.
“That’s one of the things that is so important to kind of activate her body so that I don’t have to ask so big and so much,” she said. “She’s a cuddle bug. I call her Bear because she’s like my little teddy bear. She loves affection, and I can go in her stall and sit there for hours and just love on her. She’s just such a sweet horse.”
After earning the top score in the team test on Wednesday, Olivia Martz (Gig Harbor, Wash.) made Region 6 proud, earning a 70.706% and the individual silver medal with Rihanna Ymas (by Relius out of Akira), a 2008 Brandenburger mare owned by Dressage4Kids.
“Honestly, today I was not expecting the score I got. In the trot work, I felt like we didn’t have quite the thoroughness that we had two days ago,” said Martz. “It still felt really amazing, and it was clean, but there was just that little missing piece. Then when we got to the canter work, I was like, ‘Wow!’ She really delivered for me in there today and showed up. I was so proud of her.”
Matz competed at the 2023 NAYC riding her mom’s horse, and returning this year with her own horse that she leases from Dressage4Kids has helped make this year’s experience extra special. Matz has had “Rihanna” since early 2022, but a tendon injury a few month’s into their partnership changed the course of their career together.
“She has a full year off, and I rehabbed her completely bareback,” she said. “It completely changed how we work together and really made our movements one instead of separate.”
First-time NAYC competitor Claire Tucker (Lincoln, Neb.) and her 2016 Hanoverian gelding Finnur (by For Romance I out of Wapi Yo) earned their bronze with a score of 70.029% after earning silver as part of the combined Region 4/5/7 team.
“I’ve never been to a show like this. I love the team experience,” she said. “When I was with my combined team, I feel like we really bonded; we’d never met before.
“My horse has loved the environment,” said Tucker. “It really pumps him up, and I feel like when the competition is so incredibly high, everyone’s so good, it really pushes me to do my best and pushes my horse to do his absolute best. I’m really happy with our results.”
Under 25: Josh Albrecht Rises to the Top
The U25 combinations returned for their second test, the FEI Grand Prix 16-25, on Friday afternoon. Josh Albrecht (Oroville, Calif.) and Goldenboy Vinckenburgh (by Apache out of Tandafanory), a 2011 KWPN gelding owned by Coalcyn Equestrian LLC, put down a good test to earn a personal-best score of 69.103% and the gold medal.
This year is Albrecht’s first in the U25 ranks, and he was happy to have the opportunity to compete at NAYC.
“The Under-25 division is really good for me. I got to come here last year as a Young Rider, but I aged out,” he said. “The fact that there’s still an opportunity to come back and do this competition here and be a part of this. If I couldn’t do this, I would have to basically compete in CDI4* competitions to get basically the same kind of experience.”
Fellow Californian Christian Simonson (Ventura, Calif.) earned the silver medal riding Son of a Lady (by Soreldo out of Western Lady), a 2011 Danish Warmblood gelding owned by Christina Morgan and Clifton Simonson.
“I’m very, very happy with him as a whole,” said Simonson. “I think the best part about him is that, no matter what, he just tries his heart out. Even if we have a miscommunication, he’s like, ‘What are we doing?’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t know, either!” And he still says, ‘Okay, let’s try this!’ Some of the major highlights today were the right pirouette, and I was really happy with the twos and the ones [tempis]. And the last centerline, I was really happy with him. He was really trying each step there.”
While not a perfectly clean test, Simonson saw it as a learning experience to put toward Saturday’s freestyle test and beyond.
“In my test today, I had a couple of little blips, but as a rider you kind of understand when it’s your first year at Grand Prix—for me as a rider and for Son of a Lady—that’s just how it goes sometimes,” said Simonson. “The best part is, you get to learn from it, which is what kind of fires me up. So now I have a better understanding of certain things, and now we’re fired up for tomorrow.”
Sophia Schults (Ocala, Fla.) clinched bronze with her longtime partner Conocido HGF (by Cosaco XI out of Luz De Luna HGF), a 2012 PRE gelding owned by Hampton Green Farm.
“Having a medal around my neck is kind of an honour; I didn’t know we could make it to this competition and being here is a privilege for both of us,” said Schults. “Today was only the third time I’ve ever ridden this test, so over the moon. I’m very proud of my horse. He and I have been together since he was three years old, so the fact that we’ve made it here is unbelievable.”
Schults has only been riding at this level for a few months, and the test are new to Conocido as well.
“We’re learning together. Every time I do these tests, I’m learning something new about them,” she said. “Coming into this competition, my expectations for both of us were to just learn something from every single movement, every single corner, every turn on the diagonal. What do I have and what can I make better?
“He’s a warrior; he gives me everything he has every ride, and that’s the biggest thing I’m thankful for,” Shults continued. “He will never stop trying. I found one of our highlights today to be our final centerline, which can sometimes be a little tricky, but he gave it everything he had. He knows it’s the end of the test and he does his best.”
Dressage competition at NAYC continues tomorrow with the Young Riders individual championship in the morning and the U25 Grand Prix Freestyle in the evening.
Related Links
Scores: 2024 North American Youth Championships
Region 3 and Region 3/5 Win Team Gold at 2024 North American Youth Championships