July 28, 2008
Young Riders From Around the World Gather for 2008 Youth Dressage Festival
Hundreds of young riders gathered in Saugerties, New York for the 2008 Youth
Dressage Festival and the Mushroom Matrix, a sponsor of the event, joined them.
The annual event, founded by Olympic dressage rider Lendon Gray, celebrated
its 10th anniversary at this year's event, held at the HITS show grounds.
Teams of young riders flew in from throughout the Western Hemisphere, with
one team even arriving from Guatemala. After three days of competition that
included a written test on horsemanship, an equitation test that judged riding
skills and a dressage test that challenged both horse and rider, Brooke Molde,
a 20-year-old from Pennsylvania, emerged as the overall champion. And Brooke
happily noted that her new Mushroom Matrix hat, donated to every rider who
placed in each of the eight divisions, matched her team shirt just beautifully.
"It looks great with my shirt, doesn't it," asked Brooke who was
happy to have a Matrix hat to "cover up my messy hair for photos." Helping
Brooke take the win was her equine partner, a nine-year-old Hanoverian gelding
named Mojo. "He kept a really good attitude throughout the competition
and enjoyed it and that was the biggest thing," she said of Mojo. "He
had a good time and there were no incidents and he's so much fun to ride when
he's having a good time."
When not riding, Brooke is in college studying geology. In addition to competing
in dressage, she's also busy competing in the sport of eventing with her new
horse, a Thoroughbred named Ron Burgundy. In addition to her Matrix hat, Brooke
also received a one-month supply of Matrix for her horse. And every competitor
at the event received a free sample of Matrix Daily Life Essentials for humans
to help get them off to a healthy start in life.
Young riders who compete in the annual Festival do so not only as individuals,
but also as part of a team and one team that traveled a distance to attend
was from Guatemala. The four team members – Isabella Corletto, Nina Santos,
Alexandra Dominguez and Ana Cristina Andrade – arrived in New York a
week before the show. Riders who travel from afar are usually loaned horses
and the early arrival gave the Guatemalans a chance to get to know the horses
on which they competed.
The Guatemalan youngsters, ranging in age from 11 to 16, are all accomplished
riders back home. Still, they learned much during their time at the Festival,
mostly about horse care as Festival founder and organizer Lendon Gray insists
that competitors care for their own horses.
"We had a wonderful time and our kids learned a lot," said team
coach Silvia Luna. "It was a big experience for them. For them, it was
a new thing having to cope with taking care of the horses from sun up to sun
down." At home, most of the Guatemalan youngsters have grooms who help
care for the horses.
Despite the hard work required to qualify and to compete in the Youth Dressage
Festival, hundreds of youngsters work hard each year to earn the right to attend
and the Matrix is proud to be part of the event. This was the second year that
the Matrix helped sponsor the Festival.
"The Matrix and the Youth Dressage Festival are a good fit, because both
support the development of young riders," said Matrix Vice President Keith
Manfred. "The Festival works to develop the horsemanship and riding skills
of young riders and we're proud to be a part of that while we also work to
promote the health of young riders and their equine partners."
The Matrix congratulates all the participants in this year's Youth Dressage
Festival for a job well done! |
