Active Riders
Adult Riders
Affiliates
Organizers
Young Riders
YRAP
USEA Site

AECs
ATCs
Calendar of Events
Championships Info.
Event Evaluations Online
Omnibus (USEA)
Points & Awards Program
Results
Training 3-Day

Area Affiliates
Area Contacts
Barns
Boarding
Classifieds
Clinics/Schooling Calendar
Links
Schooling Facilities
Stallion Listings
Trainers
Volunteers

Area II Annual Meeting
Forms
Newsletter
News Archives

Area II Young Rider Program
 

Wine Tasting & Silent Auction

May 3, 2008

Wed. June 11, 2008 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Flagship Farm and the Wine Cellar of Southern Pines are putting on a wine tasting to benefit the Young Rider Program. This catered event features great food, great wine, door prizes, and wonderful auction items. Tickets are $25 each or $40 per couple. Please contact Audrey Wiggins for ticket information at 910-315-3032 or email

Stallion Auction benefits Young Riders

April 23, 2008

The Area II Stallion Auction has ended, and we would like to thank everyone for their bids, and thank the stallion owners for their generous donations. Because of the generosity of these people, almost $5,000 was raised for YRs!.

We will keep the stallion listings live on the stallion page to promote these fine Area 2 Eventing Stallions, and encourage you to consider them for your breeding program."

Clinic with David & Lauren O'Brien, Charlottesville, VA

The Area II Young Rider program would like to extend invitations for our May 17-18 training session with David and Lauren O'Brien to anyone in the area schooling novice level or above. The clinic will be held at River Lawn Farm near Charlottesville, VA. This facility is a fantastic site with a cross country course built by Eric Bull, a spacious show jumping area and a covered dressage arena. The cost of the clinic is $250 which includes stabling, lunch on both Saturday and Sunday and dinner on Saturday evening. The more entries we receive, the more money the Young Rider program will raise on our quest to the NAJYRC  in Parker, CO this summer. All the information and entry forms can be found in links on the right. If you have any questions, please or call Gwen at  or 910-315-6179.

Young Rider Training Clinics

Hotel Information and Directions are available here.

2008 USEA Area II Young Rider Program Leaders

2008 Young Rider Welcome Letter

Dear Young Riders,

Happy New Year and welcome to 2008 JR/YR season. Gwen and I are already in the trenches working hard for this upcoming year. 2008 membership applications and eligibility forms are now up on the Area II website (see links to the right). We want to remind everyone that the JR/YR program is not only for those who wish to be considered for team competition but also for those who wish to get some advanced training with our fantastic coaches, David and Lauren O’Brien, and those who wish to gain camaraderie with their peers. We offer 2 training clinics a year with the O’Briens that all members are invited to register.

New this year is the JR/YR mentorship program, which allows junior and young riders to apply for mentor positions during the 2008 NAJYRC with officials, FEI veterinarians, course designers, technical delegates, etc. More information about this unique program is now on the website. You will also find the current list of observation trials for the spring season. These are the horse trials where selectors for the 2008 NAJYRC JR/YR teams will most likely be present. This list is TENTATIVE and will be until we get final approval from USEF on our selection process. This approval should come some time in March so keep watching the website for updates.

We are excited and grateful to announce that both of our training clinics will be held at River Lawn Farm in Charlottesville, VA. Pan and Austin Ligon are graciously allowing us to come back in ’08 and use their beautiful facility! We will have use of their covered dressage arena, spacious showjumping field, and amazing cross-country course built by Eric Bull. The cross-country course is designed with a variety of jumps from training through the intermediate level. The dates for these clinics are May 17-18 and June 14-15 and the applications have been posted on the website. We welcome all members of the JR/YR program to register, and any YRAP members who are successfully competing at the novice level or above. The clinic fee is $250.00. Many Thanks go out to the Ligon family!

The NAJYRC in 2008 is going to be held at the Colorado Horse Park in Parker, CO July 30 – August 3rd. Gwen and I met with several of the administrators of the park at the USEA annual convention and were pleased with what we heard. It will be a long and expensive trip, and our year will be busy raising money to offset those expenses. Anyone interested in sponsoring the JR/YR program please feel free to contact either me or Gwen and we will be happy to discuss our program needs. Tax-deductible donations can also be made through us or the Area II treasurer.

I would like to take this time to introduce our team manager for the 2008 NAJYRC. Alex Curtiss was a member of the 2007 YR ** team and has volunteered to help us this year at training camp and at the summer Championships. She is also assisting us with team apparel. We are grateful for her help!

Our Area II YR representative is Nate Chambers, silver medalist at last years NAJYRC YR ** CH, and he is available to answer any questions new members may have. His contact info is on our web page. We would also like to congratulate Nate on being appointed the USEA representative to the USEF Youth Council. We are very excited for him and will continue to support his efforts. Congratulations are also in order for Nina Ligon. Nina was invited to compete for Thailand (she has dual citizenship) in the South East Asia Games on the Junior/Senior CCI* team. She crossed the pond this past December and performed flawlessly and was rewarded with a team and individual gold medal for her efforts. We are so very proud of you Nina!

We wish everyone good luck on their spring competition season and hope to see you on cross-country!

Audrey Wiggins and Gwen Dean
Area II Young Rider Coordinators

2008 USEA Area II Young Rider Program

We are looking forward to a great year!  The Junior/YR program is for young adults age 14 – 21 that are competing at the preliminary and intermediate levels.  Our  program is focused on providing these young adults with the guidance and instruction that will eventually lead 12 dedicated and qualified riders to the NAJYRC team competition in July and 6 riders to National JR/YR CCI * team championship in the Fall (tentative).  Although this is the main focus, we encourage kids competing at the Preliminary level looking to gain knowledge and experience through educational training sessions provided through out the year to join.

Our JR/YR coaches are David and Lauren O’Brien who have both competed nationally and internationally for over 20 years.  Along with their huge amount of experience, they bring an enthusiasm and dedication that will no doubt enhance our Team medal chances.  They invite all members to call with any questions at their farm in Southern Pines, 910-245-2388, or you can email them at . 

Official Area II young rider gear! With or with out our motto "Go Big or Go Home".  Shirts, polos, cups, hats, bags and bumper stickers! With every purchase through our website, the young riders program gets 17% of the proceeds, if the purchase is made through www.zazzle.com the program gets 10% of the proceeds. Tell your friends and families and go get your gear!

If you are interested in joining our program please fill out the Area II YR membership form and send that with a $50.00 membership fee.  If you also want to be considered for the NAJYRC’s in July or the JR/YR National CCI* championship in October, please also fill out and send the Area II YR Eligibility form with a $50.00 eligibility fee.  Along with those two forms, you will also need to sign and mail in the Guidelines for Conduct in order to participate in any YR sponsored programs.

Area II Young Rider Membership Includes:

• • Invitations to educational clinic’s with team coaches.
• A chance to qualify for NAJYRC in July and the JR/YR Team Challenge CCI* in October.
• A chance to be nominated to the JR/YR mentor program.
• A Young Rider program baseball cap.

For those members looking to qualify for the NAJYRC or the JR/YR team challenge, you will need to view the list of tentative observation trials  These are the horse trials where the selectors will be observing you and your horse.  All members wanting to qualify must compete at least 2 of these events.   We will host 2 training clinics and require that each horse/rider combination attend at least one in order to be considered for team competition.  All members are invited to attend the clinics, whether you are trying to qualify or not.

We look forward to meeting all of you and to a great year!

2008 USEA Area II Young Rider Documents

• Young Rider Welcome Letter
• Guidelines for Conduct
• Young Rider Program Membership Application
• NAJYRC Team Eligibility Application
• NAJYRC Selection Process
• 2008 Tentative Young Rider Selection Trials
• 2008 NAJYRC Mentorship Program
• 2008 Training Session One - May 17-18, 2008 - Charlottesville, VA
• 2008 Training Session Two - June 14-15, 2008 - Charlottesville, VA
• Directions and Hotel Info for Training Sessions

Young Rider Sponsorship Packets

• YR Sponsorship
• Fundraising