Kassie Barteau Best of the Young Riders
by Joanie Morris for USEF

The Young Riders completed their championship to lead off the third day of competition. Kasandra Barteau, of Gilberts, IL, the winner of the first test on Thursday stood out again and was much the best with Gabriella – finishing the second day of competition with a score of 68.55%.

Gabriella, a 15-year-old Hanoverian mare moved happily through the test, and although they lacked a little of the accuracy demonstrated on Thursday, both horse and rider seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves. Gabriella was rewarded with a huge hug at the end of her test. Their two-day score of 69.3% left them the clear winners of the Young Riders Championships.

"I'm very, very happy and excited and pleased with my horse," said Barteau. "She worked really well. It's definitely exciting, I'm really excited, even more so now, for young rider's next month. My goal is to keep being here and hopefully do the Brentina Cup and then it would be amazing if I could eventually do the small tour. I really know my mare and I think that's a real benefit."

Overall, Ashley Schempp and the 13-year-old KWPN gelding Mowgli from Encinitas, CA were fifth in Saturday's competition but were able to hang on to their second place finish overall with their score of 65.6%.

"Today was not as up to par as it was on Thursday," said Schemmp. "He got a little long which makes it a little harder to get the changes. It's definitely a little hard for me. Overall I can't believe it was a possibility to rank that high. They really make you work for it. It's a great group of girls."

Schempp was impressed with the camaraderie and professionalism on the East Coast and with the Festival in general.

"It's top notch," she said. "I'm very gracious just to be here, coming from California, I've heard the names and it was great to get a chance to meet some of the riders,"

Third overall in the Young Riders Championship was Hannah Shook and Capetown, Like Schemmp, they didn't quite match their performance of the previous day but it was good enough for third.

Runner-up on the day with a score of 66.6% was Jocelyn Weise from Keene, NH. With her 11-year-old Danish Warmblood Lamborghini she executed very good trot work and lots of 7s for her flying changes. In third was Caroline Roffman and Rigaudon. They put in a very workmanlike performance and improved their score by three points from the first day. On a final mark of 66.35% they slipped into third.