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August 23, 2007

Ninth Annual Dressage For Kids Youth Dressage Festival

Rachel Chowanec Cleans Up at Youth Dressage Festival
By Lynndee Kemmet for DressageDaily.com

Saugerties, New York – Just call her a repeat winner. This year’s overall champion at the Youth Dressage Festival is 13-year-old Rachel Chowanec. Add to that her many division and special award wins at the Festival and the young rider from Columbia, Connecticut went home with an armload of prizes.

It was the second win for Chowanec. Her first was two years ago when she was only 11. And she looked mighty tired at the awards ceremony, although one couldn’t tell if it was from six days of competition or from getting up and down to accept awards.

This year’s Youth Dressage Festival, created by two-time Olympian Lendon Gray, was held August 20-23 at the HITS-on-the-Hudson show grounds. It followed right on the heels of the Centerline Events CDI-W and that meant that many young riders, Chowanec included, had spent six days at HITS competing.

“We’re just tired of living in a hotel and ready to head home,” said Chandra Chowanec, Rachel’s mother.

The young Chowanec trains with both her mother and with Lendon Gray. When asked why she did so well her answer was, “I practice a lot.”

Her mother concurs. “She works very, very hard.”