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Thursday, March 15, 2007

Young Riders Overcome Nerves and Distance to Ride with Some of the Best in Dressage
Text and Photos by Lynndee Kemmet for DressageDaily.com

McKenzie Jenkins was so worried about her ride with Steffen Peters that she couldn’t eat before her ride. Mary Lauritsen and her mother traveled a thousand miles in two days for her chance to ride with Edward Gal. They were among a group of nearly three dozen junior and young riders given the opportunity for a lesson with four of the World’s top riders – Gal, Peters, Volker Brommann and George Williams.

“She’s so nervous,” said Tami Crawford as she watched her young student, McKenzie Jenkins, warm-up prior to her lesson with Peters. “Once the lesson starts, she’ll relax and I think Steffen will have a really good time with her.”

The Fourth Annual Junior/Young Rider clinic was held March 10-11 in Wellington, Florida with the clinic split between Two Swans Farm and Bass Pond Farm. Junior and young riders from across the U.S. apply to ride in the clinic, which works on a first-come, first-serve basis and riders. On their applications, riders list their choices of instructor in order of preference. Lauritsen placed Gal at the top of her list and only when she found out the week before the clinic that she’d gotten Gal did she and her mother make their plans for their thousand-mile journey. It meant traveling from Massachusetts to Florida with Lauritsen’s horse, the eight-year-old Rossignol (by Rampal) in tow.

Photo: McKenzie Jenkins with Steffen Peters