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.

The trip to Kentucky was rather painless, although we did have some truck issues that were dealt with upon arrival! I will say that the Kentucky Horse Park was much quieter than last year as much of the construction for the WEG was either finished or put on hold for the duration of NAJYRC. As expected the arenas, warmups, hacking areas, and cross-country course were immaculate and extremely horse and rider friendly. The footing is better than ever on the XC course as they are tirelessly working on the track for the WEG and we reaped the benefits of it! Dressage day proved tough for both of our teams with the Junior team finishing the day in 8th and the Young Rider team in 5th. Cross country day dawned slightly cooler with a light rain which cleared up to be a beautiful day.  Unfortunately Laura had two bobbles on course as did one of her team mates, which kept the CCI ** team in 5th position. Alex Macleod was the first ride of the CCI* and incurred some time faults after having an unfortunate incident with the roping of the WEG course and got on the wrong side heading to jump 3.  She blazed the trail for the team and had a fantastic round which provided the other riders with the information necessary to go double clear. The team moved up into 7th place after XC. All of the horses looked good afterwards and they all jogged up on Sunday morning. Showjump was in the Rolex Stadium and proved very tough for all who rode it. Rails were flying and the last fence was positioned in a tight roll back turn after a difficult line to the triple combination. At least one rider of the day missed the last fence and ended up being eliminated! Our Junior team put in very solid rounds, with Alex Macleod having one of only TWO double clear rounds (the other was the eventual gold medalist) and ended up finishing in 5th place. Jamie Doolittle was the highest place Area II rider who only added one rail to her score and finished in the 10th place.  Laura had a few rails to add to her score and her team finished 4th. These were very solid showings from a very young group on this incredible international stage!  Congratulations to all.....we are very proud of you!

I want to thank Hyland Hills Golf club for allowing us to use their facilities for dinners so that we had a cool place to sit and have meals. I would also like to thank the tireless effort of the O'briens for once again donating their facilities and letting our young riders take over their farm for 7 days! As always we are deeply appreciative of our 2010 sponsors for supporting our program, some of them for four years now! Cindy DePorter, Sophie duPont, Somerset Saddlery, Riverlawn Farm, Suzzanne and Tom Doolittle, Steve and Diane McBroom, Duncan MaCrae, Carolina Horse Park, and the many more who attended and donated items to our Silent Auctions and fundraisers! Many thanks also have to go out to Tricia Roberts, Lauren Smith and Myra McKitrick for the fundraising efforts at Difficult Run and MCTA this year. Also, thanks to Myra Mckitrick's organization our kids looked beautiful in there coordinated jog outfits, a job I was very happy not to have to do this year!

All being said and done, we had a successful year. I look forward to seeing all of our kids grow through the year and expect most of them to be back with us again in 2011!

Audrey Wiggins

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