We had a good meeting and reviewed the details for qualify for YR and the benefits of the YRAP program.  Chris spoke to a number of riders during around the awards banquet.  A few parents attended the forum in the afternoon with Chris and Audrey.  It was informative and very helpful as the riders and their parents navigate the qualification for the NAYRC. 

Download the presentation for that meeting here.

This years North American Junior Young Rider Championship was held at the fabulous Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington Kentucky.  It appears that the KHP will be the home of NAJYRC for the foreseeable future and how blessed all who are apart of this fantastic experience are with such an inspiring location!! The weather was sunny and hot, but all the staff and volunteers, officials and organizers put all their best efforts too horse and rider comfort. The courses, arenas and stabling areas were beyond criticism!

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At the beginning of the 2011 event season, I joined the Area II Young Rider program in hopes of learning what it would take to qualify for the junior/young rider team.  As I was searching the Young Riders website I read about the Mentorship Program. I thought it sounded like it would be a beneficial program to participate in so I applied and was accepted. I was assigned to the course designer David O’Connor which I was extremely excited about.

Area II is pleased to announce that the CCI * and CCI** young riders for this year's NAJYRC have been selected.  There will be a team of 3 for the ** made up of Arden Wildasin, Benita Strini and Caroline Martin.

Two riders tried to qualify at Bromont but unfortunately they didn't make it. But we are very excited to have at least 3!! We are welcoming Arden this year as a transplant from Area I (she moved to VA last year). All 3 of these girls have strong records and we are excited about their potential!

We had 7 qualify for the * and have selected the following young riders tobe the 6 that will go to NAJYRC.

How can I describe NAJYRC camp and championship weeks in 2010?? HOT! As much of you have been experiencing up and down the east coast we hosted our clinic in Vass, NC at David and Lauren O'briens farm in 100+ degree temperatures.  The horses and riders handled the heat well and the coaches made sure that the rides were scheduled early to ensure that they were out of the heat as soon as possible. We did have one casualty at camp, Colleen McKitrick's horse Connor II began to show some soundness issues towards the end of camp and Colleen made the decision to withdraw from contention. Colleen was a member of our 2009 gold medal CCI * team. We were very sad to lose such a horsewoman and competitor! The Junior team consisted of Allison Smith, Chase Beach, Jamie Doolittle, Alex Macleod and our individual was Jordan Litter. Laura Roberts was our CCI ** representative and she was on a combined team with Lauren Lambert from Area VIII and Lexi Scovil from Area IV.

Just a little update from the Area II Young Rider Program...the year is in full swing and I have really enjoyed the opportunity to watch some of our members at a few of the Mandatory Selection trials. I am very excited to see so many new faces! Our first clinic is set for this weekend, May 15th and 16th with the team coaches, David and Lauren O'brien. We have opened the clinic up to the Adult Rider's along with the YRAP member's and we still have plenty of room, so if you are interested please send in an entry! The June clinic will also be open to the Adult Rider and YRAP members and the dates for that are June 12 -13.