The VHF Junior Team of Alison Coyle, Catie Wiener, Emily Pate, and Stephanie Bristol had a great outing at the Dressage in The Sandhills show on May 8th–10th, 2009.

Alison and her horse “Bariton” won her F.E.I. Jr. Individual and Team tests with scores of 62.43% and 63.28% respectively, and then were placed 2nd in their F.E.I. Jr. freestyle on Sunday with a 63.87%. After successful shows at March Magic and FENCE as well, she is now qualified to compete at the North American Junior Young Rider Championships (NAJYRC’s). Congratulations Alison!

Catie and her horse “Jonson” earned a 60.69% in her division of 4th level test 1 Open on Saturday, placing 4th, and then on Sunday earned a 60.23% in 4th test 2, placing 3rd. This was the pair’s second outing at 4th level. Way to go Catie!

Emily Pate and her horse “Aravis” earned a 65.2% and 65% on Friday, placing 5th and 1st in Training level test 4 and First level test 1. On Saturday they were 3rd in 1st level test 1 with a 62.66%, and also won Training level test 4 with a 77.6%. Emily was the Junior Training level high scorer. We were all envious of the judge’s remarks, “That was the nicest test I’ve ever judged.” Look out for these two as they progress up the levels.

Stephanie Bristol and her horse “Dalton” earned a 67.2% and 67.2% on Saturday, placing 3rd and 4th respectively in Training level tests 3 and 4. On Sunday they blew away the competition and placed 1st in training level test 4 with a 70.4%, and earned their first qualifying score for Region 1 championships. Awesome job Steph!

Elizabeth and “Summer Berry” also made their debut together at Training level. This was Summerberry’s first recognized dressage show. She won her division on Saturday of the OpenTraining level test 2 division with a 70.35%, and then on Sunday received a 68%, placing 3rd in the Open Training level test 4. SummerBerry is currently offered for sale and/or for lease. Elizabeth hopes to compete her in June at 1st level unless some lucky person buys her first!