Midwest Region 4 Win North American Youth Championship Junior Team Gold, All-California Region 7 Silver, Southeast Region 3 Bronze

3 years ago StraightArrow Comments Off on Midwest Region 4 Win North American Youth Championship Junior Team Gold, All-California Region 7 Silver, Southeast Region 3 Bronze
North America Youth Championship junior rider medals podium – gold Region 4 (Midwest), silver Region 7 (West Coast) bronze Region 3 (Southeast). Photo: US Dressage

TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan, Aug. 12, 2021–The Midwest Region 4 trio of Kylee Kment on the American-bred Honor, her kid sister, Lexie on Montagny von der Heide and Ella Fruchterman on Holts Le’Mans won the North American Youth Championships Junior Rider team gold Thursday. The all-California Region 7 team took silver and the Region 3 Southeastern states team received bronze.

Kylee, 17 years old,  and the nine-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Honor placed first individually on 69.606% while Lexie, 15, and the 17-year-old Trakehner gelding were third on 67.394% and Ella, 17, on the 10-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding placed eighth on 65.667% for a winning total of 202.667.  None of the three combinations–the Kments are from Palmyra, Nebraska and Ella from West Lakeland, Minnesota–had any previous international competition experience and the team had no drop score.

The California Region 7 team of Nicole Ellsworth of La Jolla on Rower Be, Jospehine Hinnemann of Murietta on Breanna, Lily-Rose Bacon of Atherton on Warm Night and Ellanor Boehning of Rancho Santa Fe on Banderas SK were awarded 197.787.  Region 3 earned 194.303 with results from Elaine Grubbs of St. Matthews, South Carolina on Enebro XIV, Misha Cohen of Southwest Ranches, Florida on Fuerstenglanz and Kat Fuqua of Atlanta on Dream Girl.

No Canadian teams competed in the championships because of travel restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Today I thought Honor was so good. He worked really hard and the one thing I was so proud of was that he stayed collected and supple, which is obviously always good,” said Kylee Kment of her ride.

“This is my very first time at NAYC. It hasn’t sunk in yet that I’m on a gold medal-winning team. I’m just so proud of all of us. I’ve ridden Honor for a year and a half, and he’s my mother and grandmother’s horse. We kind of grew up with him and he’s just kind of part of the family.”

Results:

Junior Team