Area IV Riders Up

Shelby is 15 years old and has been riding all of her life. Shelby is lucky to keep and train her horses at her home in Hampshire, Illinois. She has been a member of the Wayne Dupage Hunt Pony Club for the past 10 years. She and her Oldenburg mare named Zara train with Kenny Dierks. Shelby competed her mare Gigi last year at the Hagyard team challenge representing Area IV.

Area IV Riders Up

Jane is 15 and has been riding since she was a baby. Jane competes on her new event horse, Silver, at beginner novice. She’s been a member of the Fox River Valley Pony Club since she was a little kid. Jane’s very grateful to train with many great trainers including Kenny Dierks, Berry Fript and Ryan Yap. This is her first year on Area IV Young Riders.

Area IV Riders Up

Nicole is a sophomore at Missouri State University who is pursuing a degree in Animal Science with a minor in Equine Studies. She is a member of the MSU ISHA western team.

Artemis and is a 13 year old thoroughbred. Artemis started Eventing in 2021 when Nicole was a working student for Phyllis Dawson. He is a very goofy guy to be around and he loves going cross-country, playing in water, and eating peppermints.

Area IV YR Lucky Charms

Lucy is a 17 year old event rider. She is currently competing at the Novice level on her horse Benny. He is a 7 year old OTTB gelding. The pair has been together for just over a year and a half now. Lucy has been eventing for 3 years. Lucy and Benny spent the month of June in VA learning from 5* event rider Meghan O’Donoghue. They are also a part of the Young Rider Development Program with Becky Holder. Lucy trains with Jenny Warner, Katie Clapp, and Mark Ward.

Area IV YR Lucky Charms

Sophie has been a member of Fox River Valley Pony Club since age 6. She competed Beginner Novice as an inaugural member of the Area IV Young Riders Midsouth Team in 2017. 2023 marks her 6th consecutive Midsouth Team. She is competing with her new partner, Mission Relaunch at Novice this year after having competed Fernhill Prada at Training in 2022.

Area IV YR Lucky Charms

17 year old, Mia has been eventing since she was six. Her horse Legally Totilart is a 2016 Dutch warmblood who started eventing this season and has grown to love it. They have been successfully competing at the novice level and are enjoying the journey together.

Mia trains with Jennifer Rousseau at L’esprit Equestrian.

Area IV YR Lucky Charms

Cora is a 16 year old eventer from Minnesota who is currently competing at the Novice level with her 9 year old Irish Sport Horse mare “Firefly”. She trains with Kristine Burgess full time both in Minnesota during the summers and Aiken, SC during the winter, and has taken the opportunity to be Kristine’s working student during her gap year between high school and university. She has been a member of the YRDP program with Becky Holder for the last 6 years.

Fast & Furious Area IV YR

Grace is a fifteen-year-old rider from Wayne, Illinois. She is a longtime member of the Wayne Dupage Hunt Pony Club and the Versailles Eventing team. Coltranes Tune (Colty), Grace’s horse, is an OTTB who raced until he was six years old. In the two years they have been partnered together, Grace has taught Colty the foundations of Eventing and has made a lifelong best friend. Grace and Colty have competed throughout Area IV and are excited to climb up the levels of the sport together!

Fast & Furious Area IV YR

Riley M. of Wisconsin, and Gemily, the 2008 Irish Sport Horsemare have been competing since May, 2021. The pair competedat Beginner Novice two weeks after Gemily’s arrival and then moved up to Novice to finish up the season

Fast & Furious Area IV YR

Riley lives in Barrington, IL and is a sophomore at Barrington High School. Starting at age 7, Riley grew up eventing on her Welsh cross pony named Winter. Riley has been fortunate to work with a number of highly regarded local trainers as well as upper level clinicians, including Dom Schramm, Jonathan Holling, Daniel Stewart, Allison Springer, and John Staples. Riley has been building a new partnership with Soulshine (River), an 8 year old OTTB, over the last couple of years and together they have successfully competed up to Novice level. Her goal is to continue growing their partnership and experience and to compete at AECs 2024.

Fast & Furious Area IV YR

Katie T. is based in Illinois. Excel Star Beholden is a 2016 Irish Sport horse. The pair began competing at the Beginner Novice level in February 2021 and have progressed successfully to the Novice level.

The pair competed with the Area IV YR Golden Geldings Mighty Mare team at Midsouth 2021 and the Area IV YR High Rollers in 2022.

B4 Boss

Rachel is a 16 yr old Eventer from Minnesota. She is a C2 Eventing pony clubber from Lead Hound Pony Club. She trains from Olivia Casper’s out of North Brook Eventing Center in Stillwater. FGF Kingslayer (Lanny) is a 10 yr old OTTB Gelding. Rachel and Lanny have been partnered for two years now and have enjoyed the journey of Eventing together.

B 4 Boss

Ava has been riding for 10 years. She recently has a new partnership with Midnight Flight (Eve) starting in the beginning of April 2023. Eve is a 2014 Thoroughbred-Dutch Warmblood cross. Ava and Eve have done multiple horse trials at BN and got first at IEA horse trial. Ava is planning on moving up to Novice at Summer Otter. She trains with Olivia Caspers at North Brook Eventing center.

B 4 Boss

Ezra S. of Illinois represented Area IV at Midsouth in 2020 and 2021 with his 2013 thoroughbred gelding, Lazaretto.

This pair placed 10th individually in ON-B while competing for the Area IV YR Golden Geldings, Mighty Mare team. We are excited to welcome this partnership back for the 2023 competition.

Area IV YR Lucky Charms

Lindsay is a 17 year old event rider who is currently competing at the Novice level on her 11-year-old thoroughbred named Merlin. Lindsay has been eventing for 7 years and she has been a member of Lead Hound Pony Club since she was 6 years old. She recently completed her HB Pony Club certification. Lindsay is also a member of the YRDP clinic series with Becky Holder and she trains with Kristine Burgess.

Area IV Training Wheels

Fourteen-year-old Meadow and The Alchemist (Topper) are new partners this year. Meadow started her Eventing career in 2021 with consistent progression through the levels. Topper, an OTTB, was developed near Burlington Vermont and has competed with success through Prelim. This team kicked off the season early in Florida at the Novice level with success and several completions in the ribbons. After earning 1st place at the FRVPC Mini in Barrington Hills they moved up to Training level. First time out of the gate they earned 2nd place at Midsouth PC in June. To complete their AEC qualifications, they earned another 2nd at Otter Creek in August in a competitive Open Training round. Meadow has her sights set to climb the levels. She looks forward to seeing her Area IV friends, new and old, in the ring.

Meadow and Topper train with Jennifer Rousseau at L’Esprit Equestrian out of Jigsaw Farms in Woodstock IL.

Area IV Training Wheels Up

17 year old, Kayli has been riding horses for 11 years and after a wonderful introduction to the sport with award-winning eventer- Clifton Peekachu, she has been successfully competing at training level with Fernhill future star, a 2016 Irish sport horse.

Kayli trains with Jennifer Rousseau at L’esprit Equestrian.

Area IV Training Wheels Up

Lily lives in Barrington, Illinois and is a college freshman. She has been riding since she was 6 and mounted her first horse when she was 4. She started her riding experience in Massachusetts, then Colorado, and now in Illinois. Sullivan is a 16.2 hh thoroughbred who is 17 years old. Sullivan aka “Sully” has experience up to the 3* level and has been bringing Lily up the levels for 4 years now. Lily refers to Sullivan as her "partner in crime" and she says he is always getting her out of sticky situations. One fun fact about Sully is that he’s a narcoleptic horse and when he’s not working you can find him sleeping just about anywhere.

Lily’s trainer is Jennifer Rousseau of L’Esprit Equestrian.

Area IV YR Training Wheels Up

Ella is 17 years old. She is from Geneva Illinois. Ella is a member of Wayne Dupage Hunt Pony Club and also a part of the Versailles eventing team. The horse Ella rides and owns is named VC Hèrmes du Landran (Hèrmes). Hèrmes is a 6 year old Selle Francais mare. With Hèrmes she has begun the journey of going through the levels of eventing. This was her second season at training level, hopefully with a move up coming soon. Riding horses has always been her favorite part of the day and her one true passion. Ella hopes she can continue this amazing sport for many years to come!!

Shoot IV the Win

Emma B. is a High School Senior based in the Chicago, IL area. She and Olivander GS have competed together for two seasons. They are currently competing at the Novice and Training levels.

Area IV Mane Attraction

Jaelyn is 18 years old from Minnesota. She has been fortunate to be involved in Area IV, Pony Club, Vaulting and a substitute for the Young Rider Development Program taught by Becky Holder. She joined forces with her new partner, Loughnatousa Yours Truly (Louie), in December 2020 when she imported him from Ireland. Louie is a 10 year old ISH gelding who fame from a show jumper background before finding his love for Eventing with Jaelyn in 2021. This will be their third season Eventing together. The two of them are currently competing at Training level and train with Meghan O’Donoghue at Enduring Farm in Virginia.

Shoot IV the Win

From green as grass to the American Eventing Championships, seventeen-year-old, Abby and her horse, C-Note, have been eventing together for 6 years. Training under Jennifer Rousseau at L’Espirit Equestrian in Bull Valley, IL, this pair is enthused to compete along with their Area IV friends at the 2023 Hagyard Midsouth Team Challenge!

Shoot IV the Win

This is Addie’s and Clara’s first season together as a pair. Addie purchased 7yo Corona Life from Sharon White in VA who started producing Clara for herself. Clara has only been in the US for 2 years.

Addie represented Area IV YR’s at Midsouth in 2022 at the training level with Dandelion Gryphon.

Addie trains under Olivia Caspers in Minnesota and Meghan O’Donoghue in Florida and Virginia.

Preliminary: Gray 4 Days

Ava is a 17-year-old AREA 4 YR. Ava Works and rides daily at her farm where she was born and raised in Hampshire Illinois. Ava has been a part of the Wayne Dupage Hunt Pony Club since 2011, she has been training with Versailles equestrian since 2015. Ava is riding Cooley Caviar, her 13-year-old Irish sport horse that she became partners with this past June. Last year at the Hagard Team Midsouth Challenge Ava helped her team “Training Wheels” secure a second place.

CCI**

Seventeen-year-old Camila Saenz has been eventing for four years. She competes with her horse Grey Stone Lad (Dylan), a 2011 Irish Sport Horse at the Preliminary Level, and Laplander (Dancer), a 2010 OTTB at the Novice/Training Level.

Earlier this year Camila with Grey Stone Lad, competed at their first FEI, finishing 8th in the CCI1* at Terra Nova. They also attended the EA21 Clinic at Holly Hill in Louisiana. Camila trains with Jennifer Howlett Rousseau of L'Esprit Equestrian in Woodstock, IL. She has plans to continue eventing with her horse Dylan as she attends Penn State University this fall.

Groom

Seventeen-year-old Addison H, Kansas, is a member of Horse and Hound Pony Club and has achieved her HB rating. She has ridden for 12 years and evented for 3. She trains with Julie Wolfert and rode Windsong (Winnie), a 2009 American Warmblood mare (WakeUp/Make a Wish). Windsong took Addison from her first event - to multiple successful training events within a year.

Groom

16 years old Kaela from Minnesota has been eventing since 2019. She is a rider in the YRDP program taught by Becky Holder, a C2 level pony clubber and competed in the Hagyard Midsouth Team Challenge for Area IV Young Riders in 2021 and 2022.

TN My Halo is a 2015 OTTB who came into Kaela’s life from TerraNova Equestrian Center in 2022. He completed his first novice with Kaela in May 2023.

Kaela trains with Olivia Caspers out of North Brook Eventing Center in Stillwater MN.