My Dressage Journey 2009

What a year, and what a journey I have had.  I must start by saying I am Jessica Hainsworth, I am a C1 in the Genesee Valley Pony Club.  I love dressage, and have had a great partner in my 10 year old paint mare named Monday's Child.  We have been competing together for a few years and this year our goal was to compete at the USPC Championships in Virginia.  I qualified, and had a great time there, but that was just the beginning of my journey.  I found out that I had been selected to represent USPC at Dressage4kids in early summer and what an experience it was!

I want to thank Pony Club for sponsoring a team to go to Dressage4kids held at the HITS grounds in Saugerties, NY, it was one of the best experiences of my life!  I met wonderful riders from all around the country.  I had a great time being part of the USPC team, setting up our tack room, meeting everyone's family and hearing where they were from, what level in PC they were etc... it was all so much fun!  I had an amazing time there, my favorite memory was of riding with one of the "roaving trainers' who like us, were young dressage riders too, but most are now top national level Young Riders.  The work that I did with my "roving trainer", led me to a 4^th place finish in my division overall.  The experience of meeting great people like Laura Aiken, Lendon Gray, and so many more who have a real love of dressage and are so tremendously supportive of young riders and their dressage goals was so moving.  Even though it was my first time there, I felt like family it was such a great, kind, supportive environment.  Everyone was so nice throughout the entire week, from the judges to the other competitors; it was just one of the best experiences of my life.  The end of the weekend was the special awards and special classes like dressage trail, Prix Caprilli, and lead line.  It was a great way to end the weekend helping my little sister Faith, a D1 in Pony Club, get my horse ready for their lead line class.  She was judged by Lendon Gray and was asked lots of questions about horse knowledge, which thanks to what she has learned in Pony Club, she knew them all from where the pommel was to that my horse was a piebald paint!  She came in 2^nd out of about 10 kids and it was so much fun to see her enjoy the weekend as much as I did. 

I would like to thank USPC for sending me to Dressage4Kids, and Lendon Gray and Dressage4kids for their support of young riders and sending a girl from Western NY, on her paint mare, who loves dressage to what has definitely been the best time of her life!

My Lendon Gray Experience

Dear United States Pony Clubs,

My pony, Scooter Pie, and I had tons of fun at the Lendon Gray Dressage For Kids Festival! I met so many new people and met many new friends while competing and volunteering. Being on the United States Pony Clubs Team was truly an honor. I met Katherine, Chelsea, and Jessica. Their horses were all great!  As a team we were 4th in section A (13th overall). We also got 6th place in the tack room competition. I entered Training 4 and placed 12th. I rode a musical freestyle and got 12th which was rather impressive, I think, because all levels of dressage were judged against each other instead of by level. I entered dressage trail (walk/trot/canter) and placed 3rd. In Prix Caprilli I got 1st. Prix Caprilli was definitely the highlight of my weekend because my judge, Jill Kuc, said I got the first 9 she gave out that day.  I got a book as one of my prizes that is titled "Equine Sports Massage". I have been giving my pony one every once in a while and he loves it.  Before D4K I had been taking lessons with Susanne Hassler and she was definitely a huge help. After I started riding with her my dressage scores improved dramatically. There is still some room for improvement though. She would be happy that I got a roving trainer award.  I can't wait until next year to go again. I had so much fun and I had a great time meeting new people and being on the United States Pony Clubs team. I'm definitely going to work toward a spot on the regional or national team again next year. Thank you for all your support and effort put into this competition, and for the scholarship. Once again, it was SO much fun!

Sincerely,

Madison Sycalik D-3, Delaware Pony Club

p.s. the team didn't get the chance for too many whole group pictures because we were so busy, but I'm attaching some good ones. Jessica, Chelsea and I all had siblings competing too and Katherine had two horses, so as you can probably guess we didn't get a lot of time for pictures.  I hope everyone else writes too. If not, please let me know and I'll write a summary of their accomplishments too. They did really great and got some honorable awards.

2009 Pacific Coast Championships Results

Training Level Best Average Score-Kiki Statzer, Oregon Region 69.838

First/Second Level Best Average Score-Chelsea Weaver, Northwest Region, 70.424

Training Level Best Freestyle-Alicia Mahowald, Northwest Region, 77.396

First/Second Level Best Freestyle-Emma Stevens, Oregon Region, 73.54

2009 East Championships Results

2009 East Championships Training Level Score Sheets

2009 East Championships First Level and Up Score Sheets

Winners of the 2009 Dover "I love Pony Club pin" 

Congratulations to the winners of the 2009 Dover "I love Pony Club pin".  This special award is for Dressage competitors in the Musical Kur and Pas de Deux divisions.  The winners received a replica of the gold "I love Pony Club" pin that belonged to Robert Dover's mother.  The original pin has been donated to USPC and is on display at headquarters in Lexington, Kentucky. 

Training Musical Kur - Erin Lehman Gamble,  Midwest Region 71.04%

Pas de Deux Training Level -Shelby Ritacco and Rachel Wood, Carolina Region 67.25%

First Level and Up Musical Kur - Meredith Baker, Maryland Region 69.79%

 2008 Championships Results

Winners of the 2008 Dover "I love Pony Club pin" 

Congratulations to the winners of the 2008 Dover "I love pony club pin".  This special award is for Dressage competitors in the Musical Kur and Pas de Deux divisions.  The winners received a replica of the gold "I love Pony Club" pin that belonged to Robert Dover's mother.  The original pin has been donated to USPC and is on display at headquarters in Lexington, Kentucky. 

Training Musical Kur Cory Schuver, Carolina Region

Upper Level Musical Kur Eliza Culbertson, Carolina Region

Quadrille  Hayley Galloway, Cara Goode, Rachel Fanta SM, Adriane Alvord, Celia Lee, Virginia Region

Pas de Deux Training Level Kimberly Hildreth and Sara Seeba, Delmarva Region
 

My First Lendon Gray Experience

Hello - My name is Sara Martin and I am a C2 with the Delaware Pony Club in the Delmarva Region. I wanted to take a moment to share my wonderful experience at the Lendon Gray Dressage festival 2008.
 

Earlier this year I was surfing through the USPC Dressage website and came across a scholarship opportunity to attend the Lendon Gray Dressage 4kids Festival. Immediately I went to the Lendon Gray website to do a little research and see what the festival was all about and I knew that this was something that I wanted to do. I discussed it with my parents and they agreed that it would be a wonderful opportunity for me and my pony, but they said that I could not depend on the scholarship - if I wanted to attend I needed make the commitment to go and to prepare myself and my pony. If I was able to prepare myself we would attend with or without the scholarship. I set my sights on showing First Level which was something new for "Keeper" and myself. We contacted our Regional Supervisor - Bodgie Read and she was so supportive, we sent in the necessary paperwork to the USPC and I began to prepare Keeper and myself for the festival.

Keeper and I worked extremely hard to prepare, he can be very difficult and very naughty at times but my mother called on an old friend and wonderful Trainer Kate Hutchings to help me along. So Kate, Keeper and myself spent hours preparing and riding our First Level tests. My pony had always been shown in the Hunter Ring so trying to school him in Dressage has been quite challenging but also very rewarding.
The wait for news on the scholarship seemed like a lifetime but just a few weeks before the festival I finally received word that I was a member of the USPC team and I would be attending the festival. I was so excited and immediately began planning and communicating with my teammates online. Before I knew it we were packing the trailer and heading for New York.
 

Congratulations to

2008 Betsy Raine Fund Recipient

Bluegrass Pony Club in the Midsouth Region