Ninth Annual Dressage For Kids Youth Dressage Festival

Winning Team Beats Out a Crowded Field

The winning team was Pegasus Dressage trained by Debbie Lockemeyer of Shortsville, New York. They beat out 40 other teams and they did it with only three riders. Most teams had four riders, which meant they could drop their lowest score. Pegasus Dressage had no choice. The second-placed team was from Lendon Gray’s home base of Gleneden Dressage. The winning team score was 258.533, but the second-place team was close with a score of 258.156.

The win was no surprised to Pegasus team members Samantha Namenyi, 14, of Xenia, Ohio; Joseph Syndennis, 18, of Matawan, New Jersey; and Caroline McCarthy, 20, of Geneva, New York.

“The win was great for us and great for Debbie. It shows that she can train really well,” Syndennis said.

“Debbie put a lot of time into us and everybody worked really hard,” McCarthy said.

News and Highlights

NEJYR: Northeast Junior Young Rider Championships (became Lendon's Youth Festival)
Gallant and Caroline McCarthy
            4th Place Overall Training Level Division
            3rd Equitation Finals
    Region 8 Championships
            3rd ABIC/Region 8 Training Level Championship
            Reserve Champion East Coast Rider's Cup  Training Level
            3rd Equitation Semi-Finals
        WNYDA Year End
            Junior of the Year
            Reserve Champion Training Level
Highlander (What a Feeling)
    NEJYR:
            3rd Level Overall Reserve Champion

 

Caroline McCarthy and Dante winning 2002 Region One Junior/Young Rider Training Level Regional Championship

 

Riders Beat the Heat to Compete in the
2002 NORTHEAST JUNIOR/YOUNG RIDER DRESSAGE CHAMPIONSHIPS
by Theresa Davidson

 

Lendon noted that the overall high score winner of the championships generally did not place first in any phase of the competition, but had a consistently high performance throughout, demonstrating overall competence. “However,” she remarked at the awards ceremony, “one rider changed all that this year. She placed first in the written, first in dressage and first in equitation for her division, earning her the championship of The Paddock Training Level B Division for 14 and 15 year olds and the Overall High Score Champion of 2002!”

Caroline McCarthy of Geneva, New York, with a total of 252.900 out of a possible 300 points, was also the Overall Dressage High Score Champion with a score of 70.400. In addition, the Pegasus Dressage Team, of which Caroline was a member, placed first out of 50 teams that competed for the USDF Region 8 Junior/Young Rider Team Championships. These achievements are made even more remarkable by the fact that Caroline’s horse, Dante, a 7-year-old Swedish warmblood, was started under saddle only last summer by trainer Debbie Lockemeyer, and this is Dante’s first year showing!