Saugerties, New York – The dressage high performance riders may have been the star attractions at the Centerline Events CDI-W/Y/J/P, but junior and young riders were also there in full force – and many of them are still there.

That’s because the Youth Dressage Festival, developed and organized by Lendon Gray, has followed on the heels of the CDI. And at both the CDI and the Youth Dressage Festival, the focus is on equitation. The Saugerties CDI played host to the USEF Dressage Seat Medal Finals presented by Dressage Today® and competition at the Youth Dressage Festival centers around horsemanship and riding skill rather than who can buy the best-trained horse.

Equitation competition has long been a part of hunter/jumper shows, but it’s relatively new in the dressage world. The Dressage Seat Equitation Medal competition judges a rider’s seat, position and use of aids, not the horse. The Youth Dressage Festival has a similar focus but it tosses in a written test to measure competitors’ knowledge of horses and horsemanship.

Junior and young riders qualify by participating in the USEF Dressage Seat Medal Semi-Finals which are held at each of the Great American/USDF Regional Championships. Riders who competed in last fall’s semi’s qualified for these Finals. Therefore, riders who compete in the upcoming Semi Finals at Regionals will qualify for the 2008 Finals which will be held in Lamplight next August.

And when the dust settled in the show ring, the winner in the 13-and-under division was a youngster from Washington state and the winner in the 14-18 division was a young rider from Michigan.