Manitoba equestrians own podium at 2011 North American
Junior/Young Riders Championships!

A huge congratulations to Manitoba's horse/rider pairs at the 2011 North American
Junior/Young Riders Championships (NAJYRC), who achieved the province's
best-ever results at this international event. All 4 pairs that attended the
Championships returned home with gold medals!

Results as follows:

In the discipline of Reining: 

Young Rider Team Manitoba/Alberta - Team Gold Medalists
Total score of 623

Lisa Hiebert and Watch Tiger Jack (Grunthal, MB) - contibuted score of 206.5 to the Team Gold result; also attained 14th place in the Individual competition
Jessica Green and A Genuine Story (Dugald, MB) - contributed score of 201 to the Team Gold result; also attained 17th place in the Individual competition
Kylie Wasiuta and Smart Boom (Winnipeg, MB) -  contributed dropped score (194) to the Team Gold result; also attained 12th place in the Individual competition

In the discipline of Dressage:

Sarah Loewen and Ricardo (Winnipeg, MB)
Junior Individual Freestyle Test - Gold Medal; score of 69.675%
Junior Individual Test - Silver Medal; score of 67.079%

Sarah Loewen and Ricardo held the lead in the above Junior Individual Test until the very last horse/rider performance, where they were edged out of the Gold by an American pair by just 0.789%! After claiming the Silver medal, Sarah and Ricardo bounced back the following day to take Gold in the Junior Individual Freestyle.

The 2011 NAJYRC was held July 25-31 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky USA.

Further pre-event details can be found here: http://manitobahorsecouncil.ca/index.php/latest-news-stories/129-manitobans-selected-to-2011-north-american-junioryoung-rider-championships

Congratulations again on these excellent achievements, and job well done to all riders and horses!

Past Performance 

Manitoba equestrians have now qualified for the NAJYRC Junior Individual or Team Dressage 4 consecutive years (2008-2011). 2008 and 2009 saw Ariana Chia (Winnipeg, MB) participate, with Sarah Loewen (Winnipeg, MB) participating in 2010 and in this year's event. Manitoba has also fielded a Reining team for 4 consecutive years (2008-2011) since the inception of the Reining competition in the NAJYRC as mentioned above.

In addition, riders hailing from Manitoba have participated in the NAJYRC Young Rider Team/Individual Show Jumping on two occasions, with Hayley Alfonso (St. Andrews, MB) in 2007 and Samara Heinrichs (Winnipeg, MB) in 2010.

Results:

2010

Dressage:
4th place Junior Team Ontario - Sarah Loewen, Team Member
10th place Junior Individual - Sarah Loewen

Reining:
6th place Team Manitoba - Megan Robinson, Christine Simpson, Kelsey Wiens, Kylie Wasiuta, Team Members
10th, 12th, 17th place Individuals

Show Jumping:
5th place Young Rider Team Canada West - Samara Heinrichs, Team Member
19th place Young Rider Individual - Samara Heinrichs

Detailed results available here: http://manitobahorsecouncil.ca/index.php/latest-news-stories/64-manitobas-results-at-the-2010-najyrc

2009

Dressage:
4th place Junior Individual Freestyle - Ariana Chia
5th place Junior Team Canada West - Ariana Chia, Team Member
6th place Junior Individual - Ariana Chia

Reining:
4th place Team Manitoba - Alexa Kullberg, Kylie Wasiuta, Christine Simpson, Megan Robinson
8th place Individual - Alexa Kullberg

2008

Dressage:
8th place Junior Team Canada West - Ariana Chia, Team Member

Reining:
Silver Medal Team Canada - Stephanie Gruhle, Kylie Wasiuta, Team Members
6th, 8th place Individuals

2007

Show Jumping:
Silver Medal Young Rider Team Alberta - Hayley Alfonso, Team Member
14th place Young Rider Individual - Hayley Alfonso