SEPTEMBER 2019 THE RIDER /33 NAYC 2019 Signals Bright Future For Up-And-Coming Canadian Talent


Ottawa, ON, Aug. 8, 2019 – Canada’s rising stars gained in- valuable international competi- tion experience at the 2019 Adequan/FEI North American Youth Championships (NAYC) presented by Gotham North, picking up a handful of medals in the process. The maple leaf was repre-


sented by 37 athletes from three disciplines at NAYC 2019, start- ing with the eventing champi- onship, which took place during The Event at Rebecca Farm, held July 24-28 in Kalispell, MT.


Dressage and jumping followed from July 30-Aug. 4 at Old Salem Farm in North Salem, NY. Keep reading for an


overview of Canada’s highlights in each discipline.


Canadian Jumpers Take


NAYC by Storm, Led by Gold Medalist Young Riders As the eldest competitors at


NAYC, Canada’s Young Riders brought their experience to bear for a gold medal finish. The Team Competition for all jump- ing divisions followed the FEI


Creech-Terauds and Fleur de Lis L Photo Credit: Meg McGuire Photography


L to R: Elise Hicks, Sierra Hincks, Olivia Terdik Photo Credit: Red Bay Group LLC


Nations Cup format, with teams completing two rounds over an identical course. The final plac- ings were determined by the low- est number of combined faults from both the Team Competition on Aug. 2, as well as the one- round Individual Qualifier on Aug. 1, and teams of four had the ability to drop one score from each round. Team Canada, comprised


of Dannie Murphy, 19, of Char- lottetown, PEI, Sam Walker, 17, of Nobleton, ON, Samantha Star- ratt, 20, of Calgary, AB, and Mackenzie Wray, 20, of Loretto, ON, maintained their composure to come out on top of an ex- tremely competitive field. The team was led by an-


L to R: Walker, Sophie Gochman, Natalie Dean Photo Credit: SEL Photography


Tosca Holmes-Smith and Tom Riddle Photo Credit: Red Bay Group LLC


chor rider, Walker, who won last year’s team bronze medal as a Junior. Returning to the ring with his NAYC 2018 partner, Coralissa (Com Air x Corrado I), a nine-year-old Holsteiner mare owned by MarBill Hill Farm, Walker accumulated only a sin- gle time fault over the three rounds counting towards the Team Competition to help Canada emerge victorious. His teammates, Murphy, Starratt and Wray, contributed their own fo- cused performances for a final team score of 19.25. US Zone 10 followed less than one rail behind on a team total of 22.49 for silver, while US Zone 2 collected bronze on a score of 36.36. “It was an amazing experi-


L to R: Stephenson, Isaac Parada Urtaza, Ella Bikoff Photo Credit: SEL Photography


ence for me; there are not that many people that get to make it on the Canadian team and com- pete down at Old Salem, so I’m very grateful,” said Walker, who was named Equestrian Canada’s 2018 Equestrian and Junior Equestrian of the Year. “My team was phenomenal this year and we got the team gold, which is the most important to me because this is a team event. I think every- body that came down was a bit nervous, but we handled the pres- sure really well. We all just look forward to a very bright future; we have some great riders for Canada. I’m very, very proud of my team and my horse, and look forward to maybe competing for Canada next year, as well.”


L to R: Julie Barrett, Jade Morrissette,


Vanessa Creech-Terauds, Sophie Dean-Potter Photo Credit: Meg McGuire Photography


With his near-perfect score


of one, Walker held on to the leading Young Riders armband moving into the Individual Final on Aug. 4, but lost the lead after incurring two rails in the final round. While a total of nine faults over three days and five rounds of competition is no easy feat, this moved Walker and Coralissa into the silver medal spot, while Sophie Gochman and Carola BH of US Zone 2 took over gold on a score of 2.80. US Zone 10’s Natalie Dean and Don’s Diamant placed bronze on 9.36. The Children’s division


also saw its share of medals for Canada, first with a bronze medal in the Team Competition. Olivia Blaber, a 14-year-old from Ot- tawa, ON, Joseph Carruthers, a 13-year-old from Millarville, AB, and Olivia Stephenson, a 12- year-old from Calgary, AB, beau- tifully handled the added pressure that comes without a drop score to secure their spot on the podium. Stephenson held her faults


to two for time over the three rounds of Team Competition rid- ing Chaccana (Chacco Blue x Kannan), Cheree Stephenson’s 12-year-old Oldenburg mare with whom she won the 2018 team and individual gold medals. Stephenson then went on to add a silver medal to the list after two double-clear Individual Final rounds left her score of two un- touched. Isaac Parada Urtaza and Tarnot of Mexico rode each round double-clear to capture in- dividual gold on a score of zero, while US Zone 2’s Ella Bikoff and Basidmodo were relegated to bronze after a last-minute rail in the final round brought their final score to five. Canada also fielded a team


in the Junior division, which placed fifth in the Team Compe- tition. Their final score of 41.02 was produced by Emma Berg- eron, 18, of Wellington, FL, Jenna Lee Gottschlich, 16, of Ed- monton, AB, Carly Stevens, 16, of Foothills, AB, and Sara Tin- dale, 17, of Campbellville, ON. Gold went to Team Mexico on a score of 20.62, while silver was allotted to US Zone 2 for their


L to R: Sam Walker, Dannie Murphy,


Mackenzie Wray, Samantha Starratt, Dayton Gorsline. Photo Credit: SEL Photography


score of 26.71. US Zone 5 took home the bronze medal on a final score of 41.02. Gottschlich was also the


top-placing Canadian in the Indi- vidual Final, scoring 16.80 for eighth place aboard Evita P (Vingino x Niveau), her 10-year- old Dutch Warmblood. She com- mented, “I want


to thank


Equestrian Canada for this amaz- ing experience; it has been an amazing opportunity for both my horse and myself. It’s been amaz- ing to have a team here – you never feel alone when you’re on Team Canada, and you always feel like you’re a family.” Jumping Chef d’Équipe,


Dayton Gorsline, concluded, “For my first time officially in charge, I’m very happy with it all. Even when we didn’t medal, the kids improved throughout the week and their results got better and better. I think if you sat here for three or four days and watched, you’d see the nervous- ness of riding in a team competi- tion and the process of everyday score accumulation. It’s not just a one-off day, so I think experi- ences like this are invaluable in this sport because obviously over the years, we are looking for some of these kids to step up to the big time, and what better place to learn than here against their peers? It was really a fun, nice group of people that helped this year, from the parents to the kids to the trainers and grooms. Such a great group made it so much easier.”


Vanessa Creech-Terauds


Makes Herself at Home on the Dressage Young Riders Podium


The Young Riders Team


Competition featured thrillingly close scores, with Team On- tario/Quebec ultimately earning the silver medal in a historic fin- ish on Aug. 1. Vanessa Creech- Terauds, 19, of Caistor Centre, ON, Sophie Dean-Potter, 21, of Caledon, ON, Julie Barrett, 20, of Cobourg, ON, and 20-year-old Jade Morrissette of Racine, QC, left it all on the centreline while the standings shifted continu- ously throughout the day’s com-


petition. Ultimately,


(205.706), all three


podium teams sat within one per- centage point of each other – US Region 1 in the gold medal posi- tion


Ontario/Quebec in


(205.676), and US Region 3 in bronze (205.088). Creech-Terauds went on to


complete a podium hat trick with her talented chestnut mare, earn- ing silver in the Individual Com- petition on Aug. 3 (71.029%) and bronze in the Freestyle on Aug. 4 (73.490%). Each day, Creech- Terauds was joined on the podium by back-to-back gold medalist, US Region 2’s Callie Jones, who scored 72.647% with Don Philippo in the Individual, and 74.710% in Freestyle. Kayla Kadlubek and Perfect Step of US Region 1 rounded out the domi- nant trio with scores of 70.353% for


Individual bronze and


73.505% for the Freestyle silver medal. “Up until this year, I’ve


taken a different horse to the championships every year, but this was my first time taking the same horse,” said Creech-Ter- auds, who has collected an im- pressive total of seven medals over five years of NAYC atten- dance. “Every year it’s a whole new ball game, a new challenge, but this championship is the best week of the year so I always look forward to it and push myself. I’m very competitive, so that very helps me stay motivated, and this year I really wanted to do well with Fleur in Young Rid- ers because we had done so well in Juniors [earning the Freestyle silver medal at NAYC 2016]. I’m happy to say she exceeded my expectations. I’m so proud of this mare, that really keeps me going and I love her so much.” In the Junior division, Team


Quebec/Nova Scotia earned a re- spectable fifth place in the Team Competition on July 31. Through the efforts of Ariel Boesener, 17, of Canning, NS, Chloe Vanden- plas, 17, of Sherrington, QC, Marilie Roy, 17, of Outremont, QC, and Lily-Rose Lemaire, 15,


Continued on Page 34


Team silver


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